The Girl on the Boat

Norman Wisdom - Sam Marlowe
Millicent Martin - Billie Bennett
Richard Briers - Eustace Hignett
Philip Locke - Bream Mortimer
Sheila Hancock - Jane
Athene Seyler - Mrs. Hignett
Bernard Cribbins - Peters
Noel Willman - Webster
Ronald Fraser - Colonel

Farcical comedy adapted from the novel Reuben Ship by P.G. Wodehouse, starring Norman Wisdom, Richard Briers, Sheila Hancock, Bernard Cribbins and Millicent Martin. The film was a departure from Wisdom’s typical slapstick style but still bombed at the box-office.

Set during the 1920s, two English cousins, Samuel (Wisdom) and Eustace (Briers), are returning home from New York aboard a transatlantic liner. Whilst a seasick Eustace is laid-up ill in bed, Samuel falls in love with his cousin’s ex-fiancée Billie (Martin), and attempts to woo her into accepting his marriage proposal. Complications on the journey ensue further when Eustace becomes the target of Jane’s (Hancock) affections; a plain woman who is also coincidently Billie’s cabin mate. When Samuel lands back in Southampton, he mimics his Aunt Hignett’s (Athene Seyler) voice on the phone and manages to deceive Billie, her latest fiancé Bream (Philip Locke) and his father J.P Mortimer, into believing they can rent his aunt’s empty cottage for the summer. When Peters (Cribbins), is naively drawn into Samuel’s conniving scheme to appear courageous, Billie finds herself engaged for a third time – to Samuel! Romantic affairs are resolved when Aunt unexpectedly returns, and Billie’s knight is shining armour duly arrives on horseback.