All at Sea / Barnacle Bill

Director: Charles Frend
Year Released: 1957
Rating: 3.0

Seasick sailor (Alec Guinness), who comes from a list of ancestors that sailed the ocean blue, compensates for his nausea by opening a pier for drinks, dancing and 'gambling' that he can commandeer; because it's such a radical concept, the government folk are displeased with him. It seems as if some of Guinness' best films - The Promoter, Bridge on the River Kwai - are the ones in which he is shown as being a brash individualist fighting to live life on his own terms and this is no exception (in River Kwai, however, he symbolically brings about his own project's doom). This is goofy, dry fun for those that like the pictures that came out of Ealing Studios; nothing uproarious, just offbeat enjoyment.