On Arran Whisky: That Sinking Feeling

At this stage, the villain of the piece entered in the shape of Charles McColl, the local customs officer, whose largely ineffectual efforts to thwart the locals were the inspiration for a Compton Mackenzie novel which in turn led to the great Ealing comedy, Whisky Galore. The actions of McColl in having the hull of the ship dynamited to prevent further salvage led to one islander uttering the memorable line “Dynamiting whisky. You wouldn't think there’d be men in the world so crazy as that!” One has to understand that Hitler was in the ascendant across Europe at the time to fully appreciate how horrified this man was.
This director of this film was Alexander Mackendrick, one of the great directors of Ealing comedies. Mackendrick was born to Scottish parents in Boston but his parents’ perspicacity saw him return to Scotland to be educated, a path that is sadly less trodden these days, and success swiftly followed. Personally, my favourite Mackendrick film is another that portrays the struggle between the cunning of the locals and the authority of the wider world, The Maggie. The film opens with the eponymous Clyde puffer stuck on the Glasgow subway with the great liner Queen Mary prevented from sailing as a result. Things quickly go downhill from there for the puffer and crew in increasingly hilarious and occasionally poignant fashion.