Watch it, Sailor! is a 1961 black and white British comedy film directed by Wolf Rilla and starring Dennis Price, Liz Fraser and Irene Handl. It was based on the 1960 play of the same name by Falkland L. Cary and Philip King, which was a sequel to their earlier play, Sailor Beware, and was filmed in 1956.
It was shot at Hammer's Bray Studios in Berkshire. The sets were designed by the art directors Bernard Robinson and Don Mingaye.
Premise
Albert, a sailor, returns home to Britain to marry his fiancée. He is getting drunk at a bar rather than going to the ceremony. A drunk at the bar explains the horror of the mother-in-law syndrome. He eventually leaves with his sailor companion Carnoustie and gets in a car to go to the ceremony but the car (an Austin Six) breaks down. They run to the church but the vicar has postponed the wedding to do a funeral..
Everyone is waiting in the church. The bride Shirley chats with her mother. Meanwhile her father Henry is latest of all and enters the pub which the sailors left and starts to get drunk.
Back at the bride's home the maid of honour, Daphne, says she is going back to the church to see Carnoustie.
However a telegram is received from Lt Comm Hardcastle saying the wedding cannot proceed for legal reasons.
Albert and Carnoustie are now at the church with the vicar and organist.
Cast
Dennis Price as Lt. Cmdr Hardcastle
Liz Fraser as Daphne Pink
Irene Handl as Edie Hornett the bride's aunt
Vera Day as Shirley Hornett
Graham Stark as Carnoustie Bligh
John Meillon as Albert Tufnell
Marjorie Rhodes as Emma Hornett
Cyril Smith as Henry Hornett
Frankie Howerd as Church Organist
Miriam Karlin as Mrs. Lack
Arthur Howard as Vicar
Renée Houston as Mrs. Mottram
Brian Reece as Solicitor
Bobby Howes as Drunk
Harry Locke as Ticket Collector
William Mervyn as Ship's Captain
Marianne Stone as Woman with Child
Diane Aubrey as Barmaid
Critical reception
The Radio Times wrote, "A host of familiar British comedy talent fill out the cast including Irene Handl, Miriam Karlin and Frankie Howerd...this is unexceptional, though some enjoyment can be found watching the old pros go through their paces"; and Allmovie wrote, "the two great scene-stealers in this comedy of errors are Irene Handl as the bride's eccentric (okay, she's just plain dotty) aunt, whose ramblings have a surreal quality; and Dennis Price as the droll-witted officer who is forced by orders to interfere with the impending marriage, and then ordered to make it right. With the cock of an eye-brow or the slight curl of a lip, before he even utters a line, Price dominates every scene in which he appears, and even if the rest of the movie weren't as funny as it is, his performance would be worth the price of admission."