Windbag the Sailor (1936) User Reviews

Early outing for Hay, Marriott and Moore - worth watching.

[nick wass · 8/10 · 21 May 1999]

This is an early outing for Hay and the 2 stooges - Moore Marriott and Graham Moffatt - made before the ever famous Oh Mr Porter. Now largely forgotten this film set the scene for several more to follow - all largely with the same characters and plot but different settings.

Hay plays the usual incompetent fraud supported and at the same time harassed by his partners Moffatt and Marriott. The latter pair were never really recognised for their unique talents, certainly Hay never acknowledged this. It is doubtful if he would have been so successful without them. The film itself is a competent comedy, typical of the period and very British. One scene in particular stands out however - the "navigation" scene where the three attempt to ascertain where in the world they are. This is done with a school globe and a dress making measuring tape. The scene should be compulsory viewing for all aspiring comedians. Watch this film not for the story but just to see the three in action - poetry in motion sometimes.

Early English buffoonery on film

[SimonJack · 7/10 · 4 December 2014]

I've always enjoyed British humor and comedy; and I think the British movies and TV sitcoms of the late 20th century are generally far superior to those on this side of the pond. But, until recently I hadn't seen many early English films. So, I was surprised and pleased to find that our English cousins also had some early doses of slapstick and buffoonery on film. .

"Windbag the Sailor" is such a film. Its cast has some stars of British cinema from the silent days to the early years of sound pictures. Will Hay didn't start in pictures until sound, but he was a talented actor, writer and director. He plays Captain Ben Cutlet, who has many a yarn about his seagoing days to spin at the local pub. One can guess what the plot might be from that. Other actors add to the goofy plot that is punctuated with some hilarious scenes.

I don't know if the United Kingdom had anything like vaudeville. It surely had performance halls for such entertainment. A number of early American stage entertainers took their vaudeville acts to Europe in the early 20th century. If the Brits didn't have a phase of vaudeville, the country was quick to develop its own film industry. Movie houses opened as quickly as in the Americas. Comedies, dramas, mysteries and adventure films soon became common fare for the Brits. "Windbag the Sailor" is an early example of British buffoonery on film that most movie buffs should enjoy.

"The Sea Musketeers"

[Spondonman · 7/10 · 1 October 2006]

I've only seen this a handful of times in the last few decades, I don't know why it's warranted such indifference by the TV film buyers because it's fairly good but maybe with a slightly dodgy soundtrack. Although Will Hay appeared with Moore Marriott 7 times and Graham Moffatt 8, this was their first film of 6 as the seedy, incompetent, crafty trio of lovable rogues. In other words pre-Oh! Mr. Porter and cast and crew were obviously busy establishing the plot and humour that served them well in the years ahead.

Charlatan ship's captain and sidekicks are taken on by ship's owner (and sidekick) for their own nefarious purposes, eventually realised where else but in the South Seas. Almost the entire cast reassembled to create Oh! Mr. Porter 2 years later, by then the script was much tighter than this. The ship is not the only thing here to have a few leaks! Favourite bits: Hay bragging of his derring-do at Valpariso; The global positioning calculations; Sharing the biscuits on the raft; The Box That Talked.

All in all well worth watching (at budget price!) for those of us who like this sort of thing.

What shall we do with the drunken sailor ?

[hitchcockthelegend · 6/10 · 20 April 2008]

Captain Ben Cutlet likes to spin yarns about all of his {fake}seafaring adventures, one day his false past comes to bite him as he is bluffed into captaining the Rob Roy at sea, the Rob Roy being barely sea worthy and doomed to be wrecked by a crafty shipping agent.

Windbag The Sailor is probably most notable for being the first teaming of Will Hay with Moore Marriott & Graham Moffatt, a trio that would go on to make classic British comedies Oh Mr Porter! and Ask A Policeman. Here its evident that they are finding their way as regards what best works for them as a team, but a few mistimings here and there are easily forgiven once the hapless Cutlet {Hay} finds himself at sea completely incapable of captaining the ever thuggish looking crewe. The usual madcap sequences from our bumbling trio dot themselves throughout the film, and there is no lack of oral gags as well, my favourite being one involving Hay explaining to a desert island native the power of the box {a radio acting as a god}.

Hay has done better and worse movies than this, but Windbag The Sailor just about holds its head above water {pun intended} because of the always lovable trio at its core, watchable fluff it be.

6/10

His tall tales of the sea

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 26 January 2016]

Windbag The Sailor finds Will Hay as a barge captain who loves entertaining the folks at the pub with his tall tales of the sea. On the other side of the pond Hay would be the equivalent of Gabby Hayes telling those tall tales of the west in all those cowboy pictures.

But he works his charm on Evelyn Varden who sponsors a troop of Sea Scouts one of them Graham Moffatt who along with Moore Marriott was making his first appearance as a second banana to Will Hay.

Hay gets to be captain of a freighter that's a sea going disaster, but he does not know that this canal barge captain is supposed to be the dupe and go down with the ship that his crew is planning to scuttle for the insurance. Of course Hay knows nothing about running an ocean going vessel and that's half the comedy in Windbag The Sailor.

The other half involves Hay and Moffatt and Marriott being rescued by cannibals off Africa and their lives being saved by the portable battery operated radio that Moffatt won't leave the ship without. Funniest part of the movie is our three heroes sailing away from the ship with Hay doing his best Charles Laughton cast adrift from the Bounty.

A special providence seems to save this trio in all their films as they sure don't get by on their own abilities. Windbag The Sailor is a very funny film, holding up well for a movie now 80 years old.

Fieldsian Character with a Keatonesque Plot

[Doctor J-2 · 13 February 1999]

Will Hay appears, not as a schoolmaster this time, but as an incompetent sea captain. However his character is, as usual, one of seedy incompetence, with few redeeming features,for whom one nevertheless roots, with touches of W.C. Fields (not that I am accusing Hay of plagiarism.) The plot, however, has touches of Buster Keaton's "The Navigator." Marriot and Moffat, in their first film with Hay, provide excellent comic support. By no means Hay's best film but well worth watching.

Moderately humorous

[russjones-80887 · 6/10 · 8 June 2020]

A retired barge captain entertains customers in a pub with tall tales of days at sea. He gets caught out when he is tricked into captaining an unseaworthy ship which is to be scuttled for insurance money.

Mildly amusing film with Will Hay as the ship captain aided by Moore Marriott and Graham Moffat as stowaways. These three would go on to to make other, better, films together. Some racial stereotypes and language are now outdated.

This one is a winner.

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 8 August 2011]

I've seen quite a few of Will Hay's films. After all, they are pretty funny AND you can download a bunch of them for free if you follow the links on IMDb. Among the eight or ten I have so far seen, "Windbag the Sailor" might just be the best--or darn close.

The film begins with Hay regaling the patron's of his sister and brother-in-law's pub with stories of his seafaring days. The problem is that it's all bunk--he has never been to sea and he has no idea how to captain a ship. But, the stories are exciting and soon he gets quite the reputation. A lady who owns a shipping company hears of his exploits and asks Hay to give a lecture to a youth group. He so impresses everyone that she then asks Hay to be the captain of one of her merchant ships! Well, Hay couldn't possibly accept and comes up with a plan to back out at the last minute. However, his plan backfires and he soon finds himself at sea--commanding a ship filled with mutinous sailors. His only apparent allies are two guys very familiar to Hay films--his frequent supporting cast of Moore Marriott and Graham Moffatt. Marriott and Moffatt are great in these roles and I noticed that I liked Hay's films when the pair were included.

I gave the film an 8 and could have even possibly given it a 9. It was very cleverly written and the script worked great with Hay's style. Funny and quite enjoyable.

By the way, it's kind of funny that the leader of the mutineers is called 'Maryatt'--which sounds exactly like Marriott. Also, I have no idea why, but this film was directed by William 'One Shot' Beaudine--an American director known for his VERY rapid productions and his reluctance to ever re-shoot scenes (even when they could have used it). What he was doing directing this British film is beyond me, as he was very busy in the States.

Dated, but effective at times

[Leofwine_draca · 5/10 · 23 December 2018]

WINDBAG THE SAILOR is a fitfully amusing Will Hay vehicle with a seafaring theme. Hay plays a sea dog who finds himself the captain of an about-to-be-junked ship thanks to the machinations of some crooks. He also teams up with regular co-stars Moore Marriott and Graham Moffat for the first time. The humour is rather broad here and doesn't zing as well as Hay's later efforts, but fans of the actor will find much to enjoy here and there's little to dislike about it overall.

One of the top five Will Hay films

[1930s_Time_Machine · 8/10 · 9 April 2024]

Of all the 1930s English comedies, Will Hay's films are the ones which appeal most in a modern audience. Silly, gentle, nostalgic and always uplifting. Although most of his films are virtually identical, this is one of the best.

This was made immediately after WHERE THERE'S A WILL with the same team but with one notable addition: Moore Marriott and Graham Moffatt as Harbottle and Albert who would repeat their roles in Hay's next five pictures. These three are simply magical together.

Although his gentle humour; laughing at loveable incompetence is akin to that of Laurel and Hardy, I find the mood of Hay's films, that sense of teetering close to the close to the cliff edge between blissful ignorance and anarchy closer to that of early Marx Brothers. Maybe it's also because they inevitably have a Margaret Dumont equivalent, a wealthy trusting and naïve patron who can see only the good in Will Hay/Groucho - in this picture, like the previous ones that's Norma Varden who looks and acts suitably matronly despite only being 36! A film like this ostensibly looks childish but what it's doing is appealing to our base emotions and there's nothing wrong with that - after all, you couldn't call SPONGEBOB sophisticated but it's still funny.

It takes real genius (Hay was famously quite the intellectual) to make something which appears so childish so engaging to grown-ups.

Funny Sea Yarn

[bugsmoran29 · 8/10 · 22 May 2015]

This first entry in the six movies made by the English comic trio of Will Hay, Moore Marriott and Graham Moffatt. The film manages to entertain and delight from start to finish. Will Hay once again finds himself in an impossible situation: the captain of a British merchant marine vessel heading towards Norway. Marriot and Moffatt are landlubbers who are stowaways on the ship. Of course there is a mutiny and the three become castaways on a South Pacific Island. This movie contains some funny Buster Keaton moments on board of the ship. The funniest scene has Hay, Marriott and Moffatt trying to coordinate the latitude and longitude of the ship.

will hay

[peterwburrows-70774 · 8/10 · 22 October 2018]

A big fan of Will Hay .... this is typical of his humour with his 2 compatriots. Standard fayre but perfect timing makes it good even 80 years on.

All visitors ashore.

[kindofblue-78221 · 10/10 · 24 August 2022]

This is a tremendous yarn. Great fun.

There's never been a more competent buffoon than Will Hay. He's a legend.

Windbag has so many brilliant gags as to swings around the globe.

One of his best.

A film for people who like fun and laughter and nonsense.