''Inn for Trouble'' is a 1960 black and white British

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

intended as a low budget filler to support a main feature in the days of cinema double features. it was a spin-off of the 1950s sitcom ''

The Larkins The Larkins may refer to: * The Larkins (1958 TV series), a British TV comedy series broadcast between 1958 and 1964 * The Larkins (2021 TV series), a British TV comedy drama that started broadcasting in 2021 * the family which is the subject of Th ...

'' - starring

Peggy Mount Margaret Rose Mount OBE (2 May 1915 – 13 November 2001) was an English actress. As a child, she found acting an escape from an unhappy home life. After playing in amateur productions, she was taken on by a repertory company and spent nine yea ...

David Kossoff David Kossoff (24 November 1919 – 23 March 2005) was a British actor. In 1954 he won the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles for his appearance as Geza Szobek in '' The Young Lovers''. He played Alf Larkin in TV sit ...

and

Leslie Phillips Leslie Samuel Phillips (20 April 1924 – 7 November 2022) was an English actor, director, producer and author. He achieved prominence in the 1950s, playing smooth, upper-class comic roles utilising his "Ding dong" and "Hello" catchphrases. ...

; the title makes allusion to the real Trouble House Inn in Gloucestershire near Tetbury.

Plot

The Larkin family takes over a run-down country

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...

, "The Earl Osbourne". The pub has a resident young French artist, Yvette. Meanwhile a property developer wants to buy the pub to knock it down to build a brand new "roadhouse" instead. He sends his nephew Percy to investigate. Their efforts to rejuvenate business are impeded by the long-standing tradition of free beer being distributed by the local Earl. They try to trick people in with the same promise of free beer. Meanwhile Percy Pirbright continually tries to catch the pub out by dragging the local policeman along to observe alleged breaches of the law (all without success). A natural spring erupts in the cellar causing a flooding problem. However, they are finally offered £20,000 for the pub (which was very generous) and they also sell the formula for their own beer: the secret ingredient being the spring water.

Trivia

The film is notable for the final credited appearance of

Graham Moffatt Graham Victor Harold Moffatt (6 December 1919 – 2 July 1965) was an English comedic character actor. He is best known for a number of films where he appeared with Will Hay and Moore Marriott as 'Albert': a plump cheekily insolent street-sa ...

in the role of Jumbo and the final appearance of A. E. Matthews as Sir Hector Gore-Blandish.

Cast

as Ada Larkin *

as Alf Larkin *

as John Belcher *

Glyn Owen Glyn Griffith Owen (6 March 1928 – 10 September 2004) was a Welsh stage, television and film actor, perhaps best known to British TV viewers for three roles: that of Dr Patrick O'Meara in ''Emergency Ward 10'' (ITV, 1957–61), Edward Hamm ...

as Lord Bill Osborne *

Yvonne Monlaur Yvonne Monlaur (born Yvonne-Thérèse-Marie-Camille Bédat de Monlaur; 15 December 1939 – 18 April 2017) was a French film actress of the late 1950s and 1960s best known for her roles in the Hammer horror films. Early years Monlaur was born ...

as Yvette Dupres * A. E. Matthews as Sir Hector Gore-Blandish *

Ronan O'Casey Ronan O'Casey (18 August 1922 – 12 April 2012) was a Canadian actor and producer. Early life O'Casey was born in Montreal, Quebec, to poet father, Michael Casey, and actress mother, Margaret Sheehy, a Dubliner who had co-starred with the y ...

as Jeff Rogers * Shaun O'Riordan as Eddie Larkin *

Alan Wheatley Alan Wheatley (19 April 1907 – 30 August 1991) was an English actor. He was a well known stage actor in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, appeared in forty films between 1931 and 1965 and was a frequent broadcaster on radio from the 1930s to the ...

as Harold Gaskin *

Willoughby Goddard Willoughby Wittenham Rees Goddard (4 July 1926 – 11 April 2008) was an English actor whose trademark rotund figure was well known on television and in films for more than 40 years. Biography Goddard was born in Bicester, Oxfordshire. He p ...

as Sergeant Saunders * Alan Rolfe as Ted *

Gerald Campion Gerald Theron Campion (23 April 1921 – 9 July 2002) was an English actor. He is best remembered for his role as Billy Bunter in a 1950s television adaptation ('' Billy Bunter of Greyfriars School'') of books by Frank Richards (Charles Hamil ...

as George * Stanley Unwin as Farmer *

Irene Handl Irene Handl (27 December 1901 – 29 November 1987) was a British author and character actress who appeared in more than 100 British films. Life Irene Handl was born in Maida Vale, London, the younger of two daughters of an Austria-born father ...

as Lily *

as Jumbo Gudge * Charles Hawtrey as Silas Withering *

Esma Cannon Esma Ellen Charlotte Littmann (née Cannon) (27 December 1905 – 18 October 1972), credited as Esme or Esma Cannon, was a diminutive () Australian-born character actress and comedian, who moved to Britain in the early 1930s. Although she freque ...

as Dolly *

Edward Malin Edward Ernest Malin (23 October 1894 in Stoke Newington, London – 1 March 1977 in Ealing, London) was a British actor. He is perhaps most famous for portraying the mute and geriatric Walter in the sitcom '' Nearest and Dearest''. He also h ...

as Old Charlie * Barbara Mitchell as Hetty Prout *

Graham Stark Graham William Stark (20 January 1922 – 29 October 2013) was an English comedian, actor, writer and director. Early life The son of a purser on transatlantic liners,

as Charlie * Frank Williams as Percy Pirbright

External links

* 1960 films 1960 comedy films British comedy films Films based on television series Films directed by C. M. Pennington-Richards 1960s English-language films 1960s British films {{1960s-UK-comedy-film-stub