The Maggie
Encyclopedia
The Maggie is a 1954
British
comedy film
. Directed by Alexander Mackendrick
and written by William Rose
, it is a story of a clash of cultures between a hard-driving American businessman and a wily Scottish captain.
It was produced by Ealing Studios
, at a time when rural Scotland
was seen as a popular backdrop for light family entertainment (other examples include I Know Where I'm Going!
, Whisky Galore!
and Geordie
, and British Transport Films
such as The Coasts of Clyde).
The story was inspired by Neil Munro
's short stories of the Vital Spark
and her captain, Para Handy
.
. Mactaggart (Alex Mackenzie
), a rascal of a captain, is in dire need of 300 pounds to renew his licence. By chance, he meets Mr Pusey (Hubert Gregg
) at the office of a shipping firm. Pusey, a proper Englishman, complete with bowler hat
and umbrella, is trying to arrange for the transportation of some personal furniture for his boss, American Calvin B. Marshall (Paul Douglas), but the big company has no ships immediately available. Mactaggart gets the job when Pusey mistakenly believes that he works for the reputable shipping company and that the more modern vessel docked next to the Maggie is Mactaggart's.
Marshall eventually learns the truth and sets out in pursuit of the boat by aeroplane and hired car.
When he catches up with Mactaggart, he puts Pusey on board to ensure the cargo is transferred to another boat. But his underling is no match for the captain; he ends up in jail on a charge of poaching
. Marshall realizes that he will have to handle the matter personally. After another costly chase, he boards the boat himself to spur its progress. However, the route and timing of the voyage is determined by local community priorities.
Marshall's hostile attitude gradually softens somewhat. He is particularly touched by the loyalty of the "wee boy", Dougie (Tommy Kearins), to his captain. At one point, when Marshall threatens to buy the boat from the owner, Mactaggart's sister, and sell it for scrap, Dougie drops a board on him, knocking him unconscious.
At one of the stops, to attend the one hundredth birthday of a man, Marshall chats with a nineteen-year-old girl who is pondering her future. She has two suitors, an up-and-coming, ambitious storeowner and a poor fisherman. The American advises her to choose the former, but she believes she will marry the latter, explaining that he will give her his time, rather than just things. This strikes a chord with Marshall. He is having marital difficulties and the furniture is an attempt to patch things up with his wife.
As they finally near their destination, the engine stops working and the boat drifts onto some rocks. The only way to save the Maggie is to jettison the cargo. Despite this setback (and Mactaggart's failure to insure the furniture), Marshall allows him to keep the money he so desperately needs. In appreciation of his magnanimity, Mactaggart renames his boat the Calvin B. Marshall.
boats in the film, the Boer and the Inca. Much of the film was shot on location at Islay
.
The film uses real placenames as far as the Crinan Canal
, then switches to fictional placenames once they get through it.
, Champagne Charlie
, and It Always Rains on Sunday.
In Region 1, it is part of the Ealing Studios Comedy Collection, released in April, 2005, along with Whisky Galore!, Passport to Pimlico
, A Run for Your Money
and The Titfield Thunderbolt
.
1954 in film
The year 1954 in film involved some significant events and memorable ones.-Events:*May 12 - The Marx Brothers' Zeppo Marx divorces wife Marion Benda...
British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
comedy film
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
. Directed by Alexander Mackendrick
Alexander Mackendrick
Alexander Mackendrick was a Scottish American director and teacher. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts and later moved to Scotland...
and written by William Rose
William Rose (screenwriter)
William Rose was an American screenwriter of British and Hollywood films.Although born in Jefferson City, Missouri, after the 1939 outbreak of World War II, Rose lived in Canada and volunteered to fight overseas with the Black Watch...
, it is a story of a clash of cultures between a hard-driving American businessman and a wily Scottish captain.
It was produced by Ealing Studios
Ealing Studios
Ealing Studios is a television and film production company and facilities provider at Ealing Green in West London. Will Barker bought the White Lodge on Ealing Green in 1902 as a base for film making, and films have been made on the site ever since...
, at a time when rural Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
was seen as a popular backdrop for light family entertainment (other examples include I Know Where I'm Going!
I Know Where I'm Going!
I Know Where I'm Going! is a 1945 romance film by the British-based film-makers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. It stars Wendy Hiller and Roger Livesey, and features Pamela Brown, Finlay Currie and Petula Clark in her fourth film appearance....
, Whisky Galore!
Whisky Galore! (film)
Whisky Galore! was a 1949 Ealing comedy film based on the novel of the same name by Compton MacKenzie. Both the movie and the novel are based on the real-life 1941 shipwreck of the S.S. Politician near the island of Eriskay and the unauthorized taking of its cargo of whisky...
and Geordie
Geordie (film)
Geordie is a 1955 British film based on David Walker's novel of the same title, with Bill Travers in the title role as a Scotsman who becomes an athlete at the Olympic Games...
, and British Transport Films
British Transport Films
British Transport Films was an organisation set up in 1949 to make documentary films on the general subject of British transport. Its work included internal training films, travelogues , and "industrial films" promoting the progress of Britain's railway...
such as The Coasts of Clyde).
The story was inspired by Neil Munro
Neil Munro (Hugh Foulis)
Neil Munro was a Scottish journalist, newspaper editor, author and literary critic. He was born in Inveraray and worked as a journalist on various newspapers....
's short stories of the Vital Spark
Vital Spark
The Vital Spark is a fictional Clyde puffer, created by Scottish writer Neil Munro. As its captain, the redoubtable Para Handy, often says: "the smertest boat in the coastin' tred"....
and her captain, Para Handy
Para Handy
Para Handy, the anglicized Gaelic nickname of the fictional character Peter Macfarlane, is a character created by the journalist and writer Neil Munro in a series of stories published in the Glasgow Evening News under the pen name of Hugh Foulis....
.
Plot
The Maggie is a small, aged boat, a typical Clyde pufferClyde puffer
The Clyde puffer is essentially a type of small steamboat which provided a vital supply link around the west coast and Hebrides islands of Scotland, stumpy little cargo ships that have achieved almost mythical status thanks largely to the short stories Neil Munro wrote about the Vital Spark and her...
. Mactaggart (Alex Mackenzie
Alex Mackenzie
Alex Mapoopzie was a Scottish character actor who was born and died in Glasgow. He was a schoolteacher in Clydebank until he was 61, before taking up a new profession.-Filmography:*The Maggie *Geordie...
), a rascal of a captain, is in dire need of 300 pounds to renew his licence. By chance, he meets Mr Pusey (Hubert Gregg
Hubert Gregg
Hubert Gregg was a BBC broadcaster, writer and stage actor. At the end of his life he was probably best known for the BBC Radio 2 'oldies' shows A Square Deal and Thanks For The Memory...
) at the office of a shipping firm. Pusey, a proper Englishman, complete with bowler hat
Bowler hat
The bowler hat, also known as a coke hat, derby , billycock or bombin, is a hard felt hat with a rounded crown originally created in 1849 for the English soldier and politician Edward Coke, the younger brother of the 2nd Earl of Leicester...
and umbrella, is trying to arrange for the transportation of some personal furniture for his boss, American Calvin B. Marshall (Paul Douglas), but the big company has no ships immediately available. Mactaggart gets the job when Pusey mistakenly believes that he works for the reputable shipping company and that the more modern vessel docked next to the Maggie is Mactaggart's.
Marshall eventually learns the truth and sets out in pursuit of the boat by aeroplane and hired car.
When he catches up with Mactaggart, he puts Pusey on board to ensure the cargo is transferred to another boat. But his underling is no match for the captain; he ends up in jail on a charge of poaching
Poaching
Poaching is the illegal taking of wild plants or animals contrary to local and international conservation and wildlife management laws. Violations of hunting laws and regulations are normally punishable by law and, collectively, such violations are known as poaching.It may be illegal and in...
. Marshall realizes that he will have to handle the matter personally. After another costly chase, he boards the boat himself to spur its progress. However, the route and timing of the voyage is determined by local community priorities.
Marshall's hostile attitude gradually softens somewhat. He is particularly touched by the loyalty of the "wee boy", Dougie (Tommy Kearins), to his captain. At one point, when Marshall threatens to buy the boat from the owner, Mactaggart's sister, and sell it for scrap, Dougie drops a board on him, knocking him unconscious.
At one of the stops, to attend the one hundredth birthday of a man, Marshall chats with a nineteen-year-old girl who is pondering her future. She has two suitors, an up-and-coming, ambitious storeowner and a poor fisherman. The American advises her to choose the former, but she believes she will marry the latter, explaining that he will give her his time, rather than just things. This strikes a chord with Marshall. He is having marital difficulties and the furniture is an attempt to patch things up with his wife.
As they finally near their destination, the engine stops working and the boat drifts onto some rocks. The only way to save the Maggie is to jettison the cargo. Despite this setback (and Mactaggart's failure to insure the furniture), Marshall allows him to keep the money he so desperately needs. In appreciation of his magnanimity, Mactaggart renames his boat the Calvin B. Marshall.
Cast
- Alex MackenzieAlex MackenzieAlex Mapoopzie was a Scottish character actor who was born and died in Glasgow. He was a schoolteacher in Clydebank until he was 61, before taking up a new profession.-Filmography:*The Maggie *Geordie...
as Captain Mactaggart - Paul DouglasPaul Douglas (actor)Paul Douglas was an American actor, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as Paul Douglas Fleischer.-Career:...
as Calvin B. Marshall - Tommy Kearins as Dougie, the wee boy
- James CopelandJames Copeland (actor)James Copeland was a Scottish actor.His lengthy career included the ship's mate in The Maggie, the guide in The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, Captain Ogilvie in Operation Kilt, an episode of Dad's Army, and the Scottish customer in Camping In, an episode of Are You Being Served?.James Copeland...
as the Mate - Abe Barker as the Engineer
- Hubert GreggHubert GreggHubert Gregg was a BBC broadcaster, writer and stage actor. At the end of his life he was probably best known for the BBC Radio 2 'oldies' shows A Square Deal and Thanks For The Memory...
as Pusey - Dorothy AlisonDorothy AlisonDorothy Alison was an Australian stage, film and television actress.She was born in Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia, and was educated at Sydney Girls High School. She moved to London, England in 1949 to further her career...
as Miss Peters, the owner of the boat - Geoffrey KeenGeoffrey KeenGeoffrey Keen was an English actor who appeared in supporting roles in many famous films.-Early life:Keen was born in Wallingford, Oxfordshire, England, the son of stage actor Malcolm Keen. He was educated at Bristol Grammar School. He then joined the Little Repertory Theatre in Bristol for whom...
as Campbell, the owner of the large shipping company - Mark DignamMark DignamMark Dignam was a prolific English actor.Born in London, the son of salesman in the steel industry, Dignam grew up in Sheffield and was educated at the Jesuit College where he appeared in numerous Shakespearean plays....
as the Laird who jails Pusey
Production
The Maggie was played by two HaysHays plc
Hays plc is a British company providing recruitment and human resources services. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.-History:...
boats in the film, the Boer and the Inca. Much of the film was shot on location at Islay
Islay
-Prehistory:The earliest settlers on Islay were nomadic hunter-gatherers who arrived during the Mesolithic period after the retreat of the Pleistocene ice caps. In 1993 a flint arrowhead was found in a field near Bridgend dating from 10,800 BC, the earliest evidence of a human presence found so far...
.
The film uses real placenames as far as the Crinan Canal
Crinan Canal
The Crinan canal is a canal in the west of Scotland. It takes its name from the village of Crinan at its westerly end. Nine miles long, it connects the village of Ardrishaig on Loch Gilp with the Sound of Jura, providing a navigable route between the Clyde and the Inner Hebrides, without the need...
, then switches to fictional placenames once they get through it.
DVD releases
The film is available as part of the Region 2 Ealing Comedy DVD Collection, released in April, 2003. Other movies in the set include Whisky Galore!Whisky Galore! (film)
Whisky Galore! was a 1949 Ealing comedy film based on the novel of the same name by Compton MacKenzie. Both the movie and the novel are based on the real-life 1941 shipwreck of the S.S. Politician near the island of Eriskay and the unauthorized taking of its cargo of whisky...
, Champagne Charlie
Champagne Charlie (film)
Champagne Charlie is a 1944 British musical film made by Ealing Studios. It is based on an 1860s play that depicted the real life rivalry between George Leybourne, who first performed the song of that name, and Alfred Vance....
, and It Always Rains on Sunday.
In Region 1, it is part of the Ealing Studios Comedy Collection, released in April, 2005, along with Whisky Galore!, Passport to Pimlico
Passport to Pimlico
Passport to Pimlico is a 1949 British comedy film made by Ealing Studios and starred Stanley Holloway, Margaret Rutherford, and Hermione Baddeley. It was directed by Henry Cornelius....
, A Run for Your Money
A Run for Your Money
A Run for Your Money is a 1949 Ealing Studios comedy film starring Donald Houston and Meredith Edwards as two Welshmen visiting London for the first time...
and The Titfield Thunderbolt
The Titfield Thunderbolt
The Titfield Thunderbolt is a 1953 British comedy film about a group of villagers trying to prevent British Railways from closing the fictional Titfield branch line. The film was written by T.E.B...
.