An often overlooked Ealing treasure, this gentle comedy is filmed around the Crinan canal on Scotland's West coast, Glasgow and on the island of Islay, centred around the crew of a little Clyde puffer called "The Maggie".
A real "must" for anyone who wants to see a snip of 1950's Scotland... my kids thought it was great. MacTaggart (the puffer's skipper is a Parahandy figure... and there's the clue... if you recognise the name "Parahandy" from Neil Munro's books (and the later TV series) then you NEED to buy this film.
Funny, heartwarming (without being sickly-sweet) with a real sense of a Scotland which has, sadly, been all but lost. It's not all tartan and shortbread either... Glasgow is shown as she was: a dirty but thriving port, full of life and larger-than-life characters. Island life is also shown for what it was: hard, often lonely, with few luxuries but a strong sense of community.
"The Maggie" offers no special effects, no car chases, no bad language (and there's not much wrong with any of these in the right film)... but what you do get is a film which absorbs the viewer and by the end, you feel as if you've visited some of those little ports with the crew... a thoroughly relaxing and refreshing experience.
Buy it... and hope that if enough of us do, they may also release it on DVD.
