Review of Up the Creek

Today the Royal Navy could ill afford to lose any ship,even one as badly run and decrepit as "HMS Barclay".In 1958 it was quite feasible for it to have disappeared from the radar without being noticed by The Admiralty. By the time the rather elderly Lt Fairweather is posted there in desperation by Their Lordships,the crew have been leading a bucolic existence for two years under the benign dictatorship of C.P.O. Docherty. A wily veteran,his dismay is soon tempered by the revelation that the new skipper is the clearly loopy inventor of a guided missile he calls the "Fairweather Falcon Mk2",the Mk1's unfortunate fate being the reason for his exile to his new command. With the unquenchable confidence of the deluded,Lt Fairweather continues with his unofficial experiments in return for a laissez - faire arrangement with his bewildered crew.All goes well until a senior officer turns up for a last trip on the ship that was his first command. The rest you can make up for yourself - to be honest it's virtually immaterial.The success of "Up the creek",like so many of its ilk, depends on the deft playing of its cast.No strangers to service comedies,they valiantly play above and beyond the call of duty and do their respective things to our complete satisfaction.Peter Sellers does a splendid CPO Docherty,smart as a whip with a spot - on accent.It is one of my personal favourites of his early performances,before he started looking for deeper meanings in his parts and he was just funny and likable.David Tomlinson comfortably dons his middle - class buffoon outfit,Wilfred Hyde - White smiles benignly and Lionel Jeffries as "Steady" Barker is very funny indeed. I laughed wholeheartedly at "Up The Creek" in 1958 and the subsequent passing of time has only added poignancy to the laughter. It's a lovely little film that you should watch if only to see what made your grandparents turn out twice a week whatever the weather and sit with wet clothes in a smoke - filled cinema and come out feeling happy.