Oh, Mr Porter! ***** (1937, Will Hay, Moore Marriott, Graham Moffatt) – Classic Movie Review 1854

Director Marcel Varnel’s 1937 movie gem Oh, Mr Porter! is an uproarious masterpiece of British comedy, the perfect showcase for the comic talents of the great Will Hay, and his two contrasting stooges, Graham Moffatt and Moore Marriott.

It follows the misadventures of a hopelessly bumbling, officious new station master, confusingly called William Porter – played to perfection by Hay – and his ‘boys’, the sarcastic, tubby young Graham Moffatt as Albert and the snivelling, doddery old Moore Marriott as Jeremiah Harbottle. While the trio are blissfully incompetently running the railway station of Buggleskelly in the wilds of Ireland, they start schemes to put Buggleskelly on the railway map, but get scared by ‘ghosts’ and end up clearing the track of a gang of gun running arms dealers.

At the peak of their skills, the stars’ playing is astoundingly dynamic and energised, and their comedy is infectiously entertaining. Of course it helps enormously that they have got Val Guest, Marriott Edgar and J O C Orton’s splendidly clever, unflaggingly dynamic and consistently funny screenplay (from an original story by Frank Launder) to work with. It comes up as fresh as a daisy even after all these years, and even if some it is clearly derived from the ancient The Ghost Train.

Dismissed at the time by co-screen-writer Val Guest as ‘just another family comedy with three idiots’, the film is the team’s finest hour and now holds a proud place in the comedy hall of fame. Guest reworked it partly as Up the Creek in 1958, transferred to a ship setting.

Also in the cast are Dennis Wyndham as Grogan, Sebastian Smith as Mr Trimbletow, Agnes Lauchlan as Mrs Trimbletow, Percy Walsh as the Superintendent, Dave O’Toole as The Postman, Frederick Piper as railway official Mr Leadbetter, Beatrice Varley, Charles Rolfe, Frederick Lloyd, Betty Jardine, Harry Hutchinson, Bryan Herbert, Wilson Coleman and Frank Atkinson.

Oh, Mr Porter! is directed by Marcel Varnel, runs 85 minutes, is made by Gaumont British Picture Corporation, Gainsborough Pictures and International Film Renters, is distributed by General Film Distributors, is written by Marriott Edgar, Val Guest and J O C Orton, based on an original story by Frank Launder, is shot in black and white by Arthur Crabtree, is produced by Edward Black, is scored by Louis Levy, and designed by Alex Vetchinsky.

It is shot at Gainsborough Studios, Islington, London, and Cliddesden Halt Station, Basingstoke-Alton Light Railway, Hampshire, England (standing in for Buggleskelly Station).

Oh, Mr Porter! is on DVD in A Will Hay double bill with his 1938 Convict 99.

The Will Hay Appreciation Society unveiled a memorial bench to Hay, Marriott and Moffatt on 14 October 2018, in Cliddesden, Hampshire, the filming location for Buggleskelly. Pete Waterman conducted the ceremony.

The Will Hay Appreciation Society was founded in 2009 and now has more than 3000 members.

© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1854

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