Oh, Mr. Porter!

Oh, Mr Porter!
(left to right) Graham Moffatt as Albert, Moore Marriott as Harbottle, and Will Hay as William Porter
Directed by	Marcel Varnel
Produced by	Edward Black
Written by	J.O.C. Orton Marriott Edgar Val Guest
Starring	Will Hay Graham Moffatt Moore Marriott
Music by	Louis Levy
Cinematography	Arthur Crabtree
Edited by	R.E. Dearing Alfred Roome
Distributed by	Gainsborough Pictures
Release date	1937 (1937)
Running time	85 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Oh, Mr Porter! is a 1937 British comedy film starring Will Hay with Moore Marriott and Graham Moffatt and directed by Marcel Varnel. While not Hay's most commercially successful (although it grossed £500,000 at the box office - equal to over £30,000,000 in modern-day money), it is probably his best-known film to modern audiences. It is widely acclaimed as the best of Hay's work, and a classic of its genre. The film had its first public showing in November 1937 and went on general release on 3 January 1938. The plot of Oh, Mr Porter was loosely based on the Arnold Ridley play The Ghost Train. The title was taken from Oh! Mr Porter, a music hall song.

William Porter (Will Hay) is an inept railway worker who – due to family connections – is given the job of stationmaster at a remote and ramshackle rural Northern Irish railway station in the (fictitious) town of Buggleskelly, situated on the border with the then Irish Free State.

After taking the ferry from England to Northern Ireland, Porter is aghast when he discovers how isolated the station is. It is situated out in the countryside, two miles cross-country from the nearest bus stop. To make matters worse, local legend has it that the ghost of One-Eyed Joe the Miller haunts the line and, as a result, no-one will go near the station after dark.

Porter's co-workers at the station are the elderly deputy stationmaster, Harbottle (Moore Marriott), and an overweight, insolent young porter, Albert (Graham Moffatt), who make a living by stealing goods in transit and swapping railway tickets for food. They welcome Porter to his new job by regaling him with tales of the deaths and disappearances of previous stationmasters – each apparently the victim of the curse of One-Eyed Joe.