Laxdale Hall | |
---|---|
Directed by | John Eldridge |
Produced by | Alfred Shaughnessy |
Written by | Alfred Shaughnessy John Eldridge |
Based on | novel Laxdale Hall by Eric Linklater |
Starring |
Ronald Squire Kathleen Ryan Raymond Huntley Sebastian Shaw |
Music by | Frank Spencer |
Cinematography |
Arthur Grant Ken Hodges |
Edited by | Bernard Gribble |
Production
company |
Group 3 Films
|
Distributed by | Associated British-Pathé (UK) |
Release date
|
|
Running time
|
77 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Laxdale Hall is a 1953 British romantic comedy film directed by John Eldridge and starring Ronald Squire, Kathleen Ryan, Raymond Huntley and Sebastian Shaw, with Prunella Scales and Fulton Mackay in early roles. Released in the U.S. as Scotch on the Rocks, it was adapted from the novel Laxdale Hall by Eric Linklater.
A British parliamentary delegation is dispatched to the village of Laxdale - a loosely disguised Applecross - in the Scottish Highlands where the residents are protesting at their poor links with the outside world. After a few days amongst them, and initial problems of interaction, the visitors begin to fully appreciate the locals' lifestyle
The Radio Times wrote, "The huge success of director Alexander Mackendrick's Whisky Galore! meant it was inevitable that film-makers would cast around for more stories of wily Scots running rings around the stiff-necked English. However, lightning didn't strike twice and this tale of the battle between Whitehall and a tiny Hebridean island, whose inhabitants won't pay a hated road tax, lacks the magic sparkle of Mackendrick's classic"; whereas TV Guide wrote, "The humor is subtle and gentle, but often very funny, in much the same way as that in Bill Forsyth's pictures (Local Hero, Comfort and Joy) three decades later."