''Sailors Three'' (released in the US as ''Three Cockeyed Sailors'') is a 1940 British

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

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

Walter Forde Walter Forde (born Thomas Seymour Woolford, 21 April 1898 – 7 January 1984) was a British actor, screenwriter and Film director, director. Born in Lambeth, South London in 1898, he directed over fifty films between 1919 from the silent era ...

and starring

Tommy Trinder Thomas Edward Trinder (24 March 1909 – 10 July 1989) was an English stage, screen and radio comedian whose catchphrase was "You lucky people!". Described by Cultural history, cultural historian Matthew Sweet (writer), Matthew Sweet as "a cocky ...

, Claude Hulbert and Carla Lehmann. This was cockney music hall comedian Trinder's debut for

Ealing Ealing () is a district in west London (sub-region), west London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. It is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Pl ...

, the studio with which he was to become most closely associated. It concerns three British sailors who accidentally find themselves aboard a German ship during the

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 ...

. Detailed surveys published in Britain in the early years of the war by the " Mass-Observation" organisation, showed the popularity of comedy with wartime cinema audiences. Films with the war as a subject were particularly well received, especially those movies showing the lighter side of service life, largely because many in the audience would soon be finding themselves in uniform. John Oliver writes in

BFI screenonline Screenonline is a website about the history of British film, television and social history as documented by film and television. The project has been developed by the British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and tele ...

, " to prepare such potential recruits for their own possible riotous and fun-packed life in the Royal Navy, Sandy Powell had already taken the shilling in ''All At Sea'' (dir.

Herbert Smith Herbert Smith LLP was a multinational law firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. The firm was founded in the City of London in 1882 by Norman Herbert Smith and merged with the Australian law firm Freehills on 1 October 2012, forming Herb ...

, 1939) before Tommy Trinder did likewise with ''Sailors Three'', following his comic misadventures in the army in '' Laugh It Off'' (dir. John Baxter) earlier that same year." The song "All Over The Place" (words by Frank Eyton; music by

Noel Gay Reginald Moxon Armitage (15 July 1898 – 4 March 1954) known professionally as Noel Gay. was a British composer of popular music of the 1930s and 1940s whose output comprised 45 songs as well as the music for 28 films and 26 London shows. She ...

), sung by Trinder in the film, became one of the most popular of the war.Based on sheet music sales.

Plot

During the Second World War, three Royal Navy sailors on a drunken spree in a Brazilian neutral port mistake a German ship for their own and climb aboard. It turns out to be a

pocket battleship The class was a series of three (armored ships), a form of heavily armed cruiser, built by the officially in accordance with restrictions imposed by the Treaty of Versailles. The ships of the class, , , and , were all stated to displace in a ...

, the ''Ludendorff'', and to the credit of the Royal Navy, the trio manages to capture the ship and all the Germans on board.

Cast

as Tommy Taylor * Claude Hulbert as Llewellyn Davies, 'The Admiral' * Carla Lehmann as Jane Davies * Michael Wilding as Johnny Meadows * James Hayter as Hans Muller * Jeanne de Casalis as Mrs Pilkington * Henry Hewitt as Professor Pilkington * Brian Fitzpatrick as Digby Pilkington *

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 McNab * Harold Warrender as Pilot's Mate * Eric Clavering as Bartender * John Glyn-Jones as Best Man *

John Wengraf John Wengraf (23 April 1897 – 4 May 1974) was an Austrian actor. Early years Wengraf was born in Vienna, Austria-Hungary. Career Wengraf became a matinee idol in the 1930s, and was director of the Vienna State Theatre. He emigrated to Brit ...

as German Captain * Manning Whiley as German Commander * Victor Fairley as German Petty Officer * Alec Clunes as British Pilot * Derek Elphinstone as British Observer * E.V.H. Emmett as Newsreel Commentator (uncredited)

Critical response

* ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...

'' called it "a funny comedy from the propagandistic Ealing studios". *Britmovie concluded director "

’s music-hall training enabled him to see that the gags were well-timed." *In the

, John Oliver writes, "Trinder may have made more distinguished films at Ealing, but Sailors Three was not only a promising start at the studio but the film that would remain his most successful outright comedy."

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sailors Three 1940 films 1940s war comedy films Films directed by Walter Forde Ealing Studios films British war comedy films British black-and-white films Military comedy films World War II films made in wartime 1940 comedy films 1940s English-language films 1940s British films Films scored by Ernest Irving English-language war comedy films