Three Men in a Boat – 1956 | 86 mins | Drama, Comedy | Colour

Plot Synopsis

Ken Annakin’s attractively filmed Three Men in a Boat is the third celluloid adaptation of Jerome K Jerome’s nostalgic comic novel. The Victorian trio are brought to life by the childish approach of Jimmy Edwards, Laurence Harvey and David Tomlinson and an ensemble of British character actors including A E Matthews, Miles Malleson and Robertson Hare.

The film charts the amusing waterborne adventures of three men who decide to escape daily drudgery and romantic complications by taking a long-intended holiday up the River Thames to Oxford. For this to go ahead, George has to cancel numerous engagements with his many girlfriends, the boozy Harris must tell all the restaurants that he is out of town and hypochondriac J must explain to his wife the positive aspects of a men-only holiday.

As they set off from an anarchic Hampton Court maze, the trio meet three attractive young ladies, and as the next few days pass their male bonding is frequently interrupted as they encounter and attempt to impress Sophie, Primrose and Bluebell again. They duly do, disrupting the proceedings at Henley Regatta, but as their adventures progress and ill-fated efforts at self-sufficiency falter, J and Harris encounter their other halves during a chaotic cricket match.