The Captain's Table

The Captain's Table (1959)

A captain is promoted by his company from tramp steamers to their flagship passenger liner. Although he is a thoroughly competent sailor ready to take charge of such a ship, he is less prepared for the social duties his new position involves, not least the way he in which becomes the target for all the unattached women on board.

Data de estreia
1959-01-06
TMDB
6.0 / 10 (6)
Duração
1 h 30 min
Géneros
Comédia
Realizador
Jack Lee

Elenco

Curiosidades

  • Filmado em: Pinewood (estúdios)

The Captain's Table is a 1959 British comedy film directed by Jack Lee and starring John Gregson, Donald Sinden, Peggy Cummins and Nadia Gray. The film is based on the 1954 novel of the same title by Richard Gordon, later adapted into the 1971 German film The Captain starring Heinz Rühmann.

Production

The film was based on a 1954 novel by Richard Gordon, who had written Doctor in the House and its sequels which had been successfully filmed by the Rank Organisation. Since the regular "doctor" filmmakers, Ralph Thomas and Betty Box, were busy on other projects, the film was made by producer Jack Janni and director Jack Lee who had made A Town Like Alice (1956) and Robbery Under Arms (1957). Jack Lee later recalled:

I thought I'd like to make a comedy, although I didn’t know anything about comedy. I said, “All we need are funny scenes, funny lines, actors who can pull faces, and that’s it’. Joe got a lot of marvellous people writing for it – Bryan Forbes, Nicholas Phipps and John Whiting – and they wouldn’t let me near the script. I liked Nadia Gray very much indeed. She brought a very different quality to the film, living as she did in Paris.

Dirk Bogarde had been preparing a film about Lawrence of Arabia written by Terence Rattigan and directed by Anthony Asquith which was cancelled by Rank in February 1959 shortly before shooting was to begin. Rank offered no explanation but head of production Earl St John offered the lead in The Captain's Table as compensation. Bogarde turned it down and John Gregson played the lead instead.

During filming Lee said "My greatest help is the cast itself. They are all known quantities, experienced and expert. I think I would refuse to make a comedy with an unknown cast. With the aid of the director and the editor's scissors, inexperienced actors might get away with it in drama but never in comedy. Here the actor's performance has the last word.”

Donald Sinden says Joseph Janni told him the film would involve three months' filming around the Greek Islands so the actor agreed to make it. Then this was changed to filming around the Channel Islands, then changed again to the Tilbury Docks. "So for three months we stayed in Southend and commuted to the Docks where myriad arc lamps simulated the Mediterranean sun while the girls tried to hide their goose pimples," wrote Sinden.

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