Barnacle Bill (released in the U.S. as All at Sea) is a 1957 Ealing Studios comedy film, starring Alec Guinness as an unsuccessful navy man as well as six of his maritime ancestors.
William Horatio Ambrose (Guinness) wants desperately to live up to the proud family tradition; the Ambroses have always been mariners, hence their family motto, Omnes per Mare (All at Sea). In six humorous vignettes, Guinness portrays some of them, starting with a con...
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Barnacle Bill (released in the U.S. as All at Sea) is a 1957 Ealing Studios comedy film, starring Alec Guinness as an unsuccessful navy man as well as six of his maritime ancestors.
William Horatio Ambrose (Guinness) wants desperately to live up to the proud family tradition; the Ambroses have always been mariners, hence their family motto, Omnes per Mare (All at Sea). In six humorous vignettes, Guinness portrays some of them, starting with a confused caveman pioneer and ending with his own father's ignominious demise at the Battle of Jutland. Ambrose has a debilitating problem however: he gets violently seasick at the slightest excuse. As a result, his contribution to World War II consists of testing cures for the malady.
When he retires from the Royal Navy as a captain, he purchases a dilapidated amusement pier (the closest thing to a command of his own) with his life savings. The workers are an apathetic bunch, led by an insolent Figg (Victor Maddern), who quits as soon as the new...
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