Jakester I'm guessing a fair number of people are coming to IMDb today to read about this film in the wake of its showing last night on TMC (Nov. 30, 2017). I was charmed by the picture. It's a sweet comedy with a nice story arc. I can't say I actually laughed out loud at the low-key humor but I certainly smiled throughout. The movie has a stick-to-the-ribs quality, like a serving of haggis and a dram. The main character, the Maggie, is a "puffer" - a type of coastal tramp steamer beloved in Scotland in the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th, and really, to the present day. The Maggie is a bedraggled little vessel with a loyal crew, including a skipper (played by Alex Mackenzie) who was born on board it, and a boy of about 12 (Tommy Kearins) who has major nautical chops. This laddie is one of the great 12- to 14-year-old boys in fiction. (See also Huckleberry Finn, Harry Potter, Jody Baxter ["The Yearling"], Wart ["The Once and Future King"], Johnny Tremaine, Hugo Cabret, etc. - all of them open to experience, entranced by the glory of the world, discovering their power.) Paul Douglas is a high-powered American business executive named Marshall who needs a modest cargo moved along the Scottish coast. He's Mr. Rush-Rush-Rush. The skipper of the Maggie is Mr. Let's Have a Drink and Ponder the Mysteries of Life and the Sea. Conflict ensues, needless to say. Douglas is hardly the world's most subtle actor but he gets the job done here. Alex Mackenzie is very good as the skipper.The film's settings are splendid - we are immersed in Scottish coastal life and get a deep feeling for the importance of the sea to this great people. The glimpses of small-town life are beautiful, including a multi-generational party where, by looking into the stunning eyes of a young lady who wants to dance, we learn something true about life, love, and the boldness of young women.One of the strengths of "The Maggie" is how it gently reminds us of the value of slowing down. The film anticipates by half a century the "Slow Movement" afoot in the world today, chronicled in such books as "In Praise of Slowness" by Carl Honore. (That said, the film has a nice crisp pace, it never lags.)By the way, puffers are still around, thanks to preservation efforts by Scottish lovers of nautical history. (See the entry "Clyde puffer" at Wikipedia. Also see "Puffer Steamboat Holidays" at Facebook.) Puffers will live forever thanks to this movie and the writing of Neil Munro, whose collected stories I am ordering immediately."The Maggie" seems to be a first cousin to "Local Hero" (1983) starring Peter Rieger and Burt Lancaster, which also has an American business executive rubbing up against Scotland.

jc-osms Here's another entertaining Ealing Comedy from the early 50's. The tale is simple, gruff but wealthy American Calvin B Thomson is desperate to get a minor flotilla of valuable goods to his fiancé on the out of the way island of Kilterra from the River Clyde in Glasgow. With no other boat available, he's inveigled by the crafty captain of an old sea puffer on its last legs to use his old boat for the trip in exchange for a much needed considerable fee.They all eventually get there, if not with the cargo, by a somewhat circuitous route, not without some hair-brained, hair-raising and hair-pulling-out happenings along the way, the journey symbolic of the relationship between the big-mouthed Yank and the couthy crew of the old "Maggie". From the start, Thomson, played with much personality by Paul Douglas, is sceptical and mistrusting of the laid-back captain, as happy with a drink in his hand as the drink beneath him, but they never quite come to the blows you expect them to and by the time of the delivery of the story's moral, something along the lines of "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em", something approaching grudging respect is fostered between them, although it needs the constant interference of the twinkle-eyed ship's boy to help them get that far.The humour is gentle, the photography very fine indeed and the acting by all is also very good. There's a nice interlude between Douglas and a bonnie Scots lass as they discuss matters of the heart, but the main thrust of the film is the canny contrariness of the down-at-heel locals pitted against the bombast of the cash-flashing American. The story is a bit episodic and I'm not sure I didn't have a lot of sympathy for the duped American, as he's continually gulled by his transporters plus I was waiting for a bigger finish than I think I got.Nevertheless, it was a sheer delight for me to see vintage film of two places where I have had homes, namely the River Clyde which I can see from my front window today and the Crinan Canal near where I lived for a couple of years some 25 years ago and which I revisited and walked around last year on my birthday. "The Maggie" may not be the best of the Ealing Comedies but it stays afloat throughout and gets to its ending in an acceptably ship-shape fashion.

l_rawjalaurence THE 'MAGGIE' rehearses a theme highly familiar to most Ealing comedies, that of the powerful person being outwitted by ordinary citizens. The theme recurs time and again, notably in WHISKY GALORE! and PASSPORT TO PİMLICO (both 1949) and THE TITFIELD THUNDERBOLT (1953).In Alexander Mackendrick's droll comedy, the threatening force is personified by Calvin B. Marshal (Paul Douglas), a thickset American with an expensive camel-hair overcoat and domineering manner. He terrorizes hapless bureaucrat Pusey (Hubert Gregg) who obviously tries his best to do his job properly but proves highly unworthy of the task. Pitted against these two are the crew of the eponymous "Maggie," an aging "puffer" carrying Cargo along the Scottish waterways, even though its engine is clapped out, its metalwork falling apart, and its maximum speed is about six miles per hour. The skipper, a canny character if there was one (Alex Mackenzie) spends much of his time in local hostelries along the way, but proves more than a match for Marshal. The true source of the film's morality is provided by Dougie (Tommy Kearins) who looks after Marshal where needed, but doesn't shy away from criticizing the American where appropriate.Given the nature of the story, it's not surprising to find that the screenwriter is William Rose, an American also responsible for the huge hit GENEVIEVE (1953), another likable comedy that shows an old "puffer" - this time a vintage car - triumphing over adversity. THE MAGGIE is sensitively photographed by Gordon Dines, with a fine sense of the Highland landscape, and how it determines the way people lived at that time. Compared to Marshal's life, their sense of values might have seemed antiquated, but they possessed the kind of community and good fellowship that seems markedly absent from Marshal's world.THE MAGGIE is certainly a sentimental piece of work, especially at the end, but is nonetheless well worth looking at as an evocation of a long-lost world.

The_Void Despite not starring studio stalwart, Alec Guinness; The Maggie is a charming comedy film that fully adheres to the classic Ealing style. Through a simple plot, characters that are easy to get along with and some good laughs, The Maggie succeeds as a lovely little comedy film. It's unfortunate that this film isn't better known, as while not as good as other studio efforts such as Kind Hearts and Coronets and The Ladykillers; it's successful for the same reason as many other bigger successes for the studio. The plot is brilliantly farcical, and follows an American trying to charter a ship to carry a precious cargo to Glasgow. However, he gets conned into hiring a 'puffer' (coal ship) captained by Captain Mactaggart; and finds himself in a world of trouble as he tries to track his cargo. The Scottish locations help to ensure the relaxed feel of the picture, while the actions of the captain and his crew always provide some laughs. Standout sequences include the destruction of a harbour, a poaching 'adventure' and the scene in which the Harbour Master learns of Captain Mactaggart's bluff! The dialogue is well written and often very funny, and the film benefits from the assured direction of experienced director Alexander Mackendrick. Recommended to fans of classic comedy!