''Rockets Galore!'' (U.S. title: ''Mad Little Island'') is a 1958 British

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

directed by

Michael Relph Michael Leighton George Relph (16 February 1915 – 30 September 2004) was an English film producer, art director, screenwriter and film director. He was the son of actor George Relph. Films Relph began his film career in 1933 as an assista ...

and starring Jeannie Carson, Donald Sinden and

Roland Culver Roland Joseph Culver, (31 August 1900 – 1 March 1984) was an English stage, film, and television actor. Early life After Highgate School, Culver joined the Royal Air Force and served as a pilot from 1918 to 1919. Career After considering ...

. The sequel to '' Whisky Galore!'', it was much less successful than its predecessor. It was based on the novel of the same title by

Compton Mackenzie Sir Edward Montague Compton Mackenzie, (17 January 1883 – 30 November 1972) was a Scottish writer of fiction, biography, histories and a memoir, as well as a cultural commentator, raconteur and lifelong Scottish nationalist. He was one of t ...

. In terms of the film's relationship to ''Whisky Galore!'', Gordon Jackson, Jean Cadell and Catherine Lacey take their same roles.

Ronnie Corbett Ronald Balfour Corbett (4 December 1930 – 31 March 2016) was a Scottish actor, broadcaster, comedian and writer. He had a long association with Ronnie Barker in the BBC television comedy sketch show ''The Two Ronnies''. He achieved promine ...

appears as 'Drooby', with cameo appearances by

Richard Dimbleby Frederick Richard Dimbleby (25 May 1913 – 22 December 1965) was an English journalist and broadcaster who became the BBC's first war correspondent and then its leading TV news commentator. As host of the long-running current affairs pro ...

Michael Foot Michael Mackintosh Foot (23 July 19133 March 2010) was a British politician who was Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom), Leader of the Opposition from 1980 to 1983. Foot beg ...

and Robert Boothby. It was made at

Pinewood Studios Pinewood Studios is a British film and television studio located in the village of Iver Heath, England. It is approximately west of central London. The studio has been the base for many productions over the years from large-scale films to t ...

with sets designed by the

art director Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supe ...

Jack Maxsted. Although not a true sequel to ''Whisky Galore!'', many of that film's locations at Castlebay and on the island of

Barra Barra (; or ; ) is an island in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland, and the second southernmost inhabited island there, after the adjacent island of Vatersay to which it is connected by the Vatersay Causeway. In 2011, the population was 1,174. ...

were utilised again and many of the characters returned, but often played by different performers.

Plot

In the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

era of post-

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Britain, the government decides to establish a guided

missile A missile is an airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight aided usually by a propellant, jet engine or rocket motor. Historically, 'missile' referred to any projectile that is thrown, shot or propelled towards a target; this ...

base in Scotland. The German project leader Dr Hamburger proposes the best location is the Hebridean isle of Todday. The inhabitants are not happy with this disruption of their way of life, and hamper construction as much as they can. An RAF officer, sent to negotiate with the people, falls in love with Janet Macleod, the local schoolteacher and realises what the base would mean to the islanders. A delegation of scientists and air force personnel go to make a presentation to the islanders. When a missile is launched from another Scottish site, the guidance system fails and the missile returns to the land, rather than out at sea. As it is technically on privately owned land, the islanders claim it and celebrate their 'victory' by dancing around the site. The RAF tries unsuccessfully to negotiate, but eventually abandons the base. As a further impediment to the base the locals 'discover' a rare pink

seagull Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the subfamily Larinae. They are most closely related to terns and skimmers, distantly related to auks, and even more distantly related to waders. Until the 21st century, most gulls were placed ...

that only nests on Todday (dyed pink by Janet). The government abandon the idea of the base. Drooby goes to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

for a TV programme with

to discuss the pink seagulls. A separate TV debate "Free Speech" then debates the issue of national security versus wildlife. The gulls prove a tourist attraction and the hotel is renamed the Pink Gull Hotel. The next generation of gulls are born pink.

Cast

* Finlay Currie as narrator * Jeannie Carson as Janet Macleod * Donald Sinden as Hugh Mander *

as Captain Waggett * Catherine Lacey as Mrs. Waggett * Noel Purcell as Father James * Ian Hunter as Air Commodore Watchorn * Duncan Macrae as Duncan Ban * Jean Cadell as Mrs. Campbell * Gordon Jackson as George Campbell * Alex Mackenzie as Joseph Macleod * Carl Jaffe as Dr. Hamburger * Nicholas Phipps as Andrew Wishart * Jameson Clark as Constable Macrae *

as Drooby * James Copeland as Kenny McLeod * John Stevenson Lang as Reverend Angus * Reginald Beckwith as Mumford *

Arthur Howard Arthur Howard (born Arthur John Steiner; 18 January 1910 – 18 June 1995) was an English stage, film and television actor. Life and career Born in Camberwell, London, Howard was the younger son of Lilian (née Blumberg) and Ferdinand "Frank" ...

as Meeching *

John Laurie John Paton Laurie (25 March 1897 – 23 June 1980) was a Scottish stage, film, and television actor. He appeared in scores of feature films with directors including Alfred Hitchcock, David Lean, Michael Powell and Laurence Olivier, generally p ...

as Capt. MacKechnie * Jack Short as Roderick *

as himself

Production

The film was made by the team of Basil Dearden and Michael Relph. Dearden usually directed but Relph directed this one saying:

It always boiled down to my getting the subjects on which he wasn’t particularly keen. And I am not really temperamentally cut out to be a director. A director has to have a tremendous amount of patience and the ability to take detailed pains, and I find it very difficult to do that. I get impatient, start to cut corners, and J am much more at home being a producer.

Donald Sinden said "''Whisky Galore!'' was based on a true story, whereas ''Rockets Galore'', not so good, was on the same location but based on an invented story."

Reception

The film had its premiere on 28 September 1958 at the Odeon cinema in Glasgow, Scotland. Relph said the film "wasn’t a great success. It was rather a silly thing to do — to make a sequel to ''Whisky Galore!''"

Critical

'' Variety'' called it "full of fun". Howard Thompson of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' wrote of the film: "the general tone is good-natured, the fun is wholesome, if spotty and somewhat forced, and the color photography of the remote little island is altogether lovely. … But it's a far cry from those succinct, Scotch-inspired hiccups that put Todday (actually the Isle of

) on the movie map."

References

Bibliography

External links

* {{Basil Dearden 1958 films 1958 romantic comedy films Barra Scottish films Films set in the Outer Hebrides Films shot at Pinewood Studios British romantic comedy films Films set on islands 1950s English-language films 1950s British films Films scored by Cedric Thorpe Davie English-language romantic comedy films