When newly weds Jack and Peggy face eviction, they are tricked into buying a run down houseboat. After rebuilding the engine, they take their friends Sid and Sandra, on a local trip down the river to Folkestone, but somehow they end up in France, and with no fuel and supplies, they resort to desperate actions to get back home.
Acting
Sidney James brings his trademark leer to nautical disaster.
Production
That houseboat is practically a fifth character.
Writing
Gag-packed script keeps the absurdity afloat.
Director
C.M. Pennington-Richards
Ian Carmichael
Jack Goddard
Janette Scott
Peggy Goddard
Sidney James
Sid Randall
Liz Fraser
Sandra Marsh
Dennis Price
Leonard Watson
Reginald Beckwith
Alfred Harper
Irene Handl
Mrs. Harper
Noel Purcell
O'Malley
Miles Malleson
Rev. Thomas
John Harvey
Johnnie
Terry Scott
2nd River Policeman
Bill Shine
2nd Thames Conservancy Officer
Michael Shepley
Granville-Carter
Jacques Cey
French Official
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Director C.M. Pennington-Richards was a former cinematographer who shot The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) for Hitchcock.
This captures peak 1960s British working-class holiday anxiety — abroad was still exotic and slightly terrifying for most audiences.
GB
