Unique for a Brit film, in that the only likeable character is...
the American.
I'm not sure how to feel about this film. I genuinely do like it, it's well made, and an Ealing classic. But the actual message of the film seems quite confused.
The American, Mr Marshall, is genuinely the only likeable character in the film. He's well-mannered, nice to everyone he meets, and doesn't cause a fuss even when he's repeatedly taken advantage of and inconvenienced (except when he's finally pushed too far).
In other words, he embodies all the qualities that a Brit is stereotypically supposed to possess (overly-polite etc.), while avoiding the clichés of American stereotypes (loud, boorish, show-offy). This is refreshing, particularly for a British-made film.
All the other characters though, are generally unlikeable.
Captain McTavish is incredibly selfish, a drunk, and basically a thief.
His crew aren't much better; cowardly deadbeats, drunks and poachers. I could probably let the wee boy Dougie off, as he's just a kid and hardly has any decent role models around (plus he's the only one who ever seems to pay for anything).
Mr Pusey is a pompous twit, and while not all bad, certainly acts entitled and looks down his nose at people.
The other skippers and captains are jumped up tossers who mock those of lower classes.
The reporter is intrusive and only wants to get whatever dirt he can for his story (just like in real life, I suppose).
McTavish's sister is also a loudmouthed crank.
Then there's the locals at the 100th birthday party. I can't say much bad about them, but an interesting scene is when the 19 year old girl is talking to Marshall about who she should marry.
From the wikipedia synopsis:
She has two suitors, an up-and-coming, ambitious store owner and a poor fisherman. The American advises her to choose the former, but she believes she will marry the latter, explaining that he will give her his time, rather than just things. This strikes a chord with Marshall. He is having marital difficulties and the furniture is an attempt to patch things up with his wife.
Now the thing here is, given what we're shown from the characters in the film, it seems like the right choice would actually be to marry the store owner. Why? Well the suitor scenario is clearly supposed to mirror the characters of Marshall and the Maggie crew. But as Marshall is, as previously mentioned, a very nice likeable man it suggests that the store owner would be made of similar qualities. Meanwhile the fisherman could well end up like McTavish; a selfish scheming drunkard.
My problem is that this scene feels like it is suppose to provide a moment of self-reflection for Marshall. That perhaps being so business-mined and succesfull has caused him to lose site of the important thing in life, i.e. other people. Except Marshall already cares about others. He calls his wife throughout his saga, and in fact is going through all this trouble just for her. Meanwhile McTavish is completely self-centred and doesn't care about anyone else. See the problem here? The film seems like its trying to suggest that wealthy successful people may not care about other people, but through its characterisation it actually shows us the complete opposite.
And where does it go from here? Marshall eventually sacrifices his cargo in order to save the Maggie, and McTavish is happy to still accept the payment, even though he lied about insuring the cargo and effectively caused the crash through his own negligence of the upkeep of the ship. Sure he offers to refund Marshall but he never even lets go of the cheque! He holds onto it for dear life until Marshall tells him to keep it.
And the ending: Marshall learns something he clearly already knew; people are more important than things, and one should think of others before themselves. McTavish renames the Maggie after Marshall (even though we know it's his sister's ship so he probably shouldn't even be doing that), keeps the money he earned from the poor guy he scammed the whole time, and heads back to port to find some other poor unassuming decent person whom he can take advantage of.
Does anyone else feel this way? I think it's trying to go for the loveable scamp angle in its Maggie characters, but they just comes off as mean-spirited, ignorant scumbags. Please someone indulge me in discussion on this, I wan't to know what other people think. share