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'''''Petticoat Pirates''''' is a 1961 British [[comedy film]] directed by [[David MacDonald (director)|David MacDonald]] and starring [[Charlie Drake]], [[Anne Heywood]], [[Cecil Parker]], [[John Turner (actor)|John Turner]] and [[Thorley Walters]]. The film had its premiere on 30 November 1961 at the [[Vue West End|Warner Theatre]] in London's West End.
'''''Petticoat Pirates''''' is a 1961 British [[comedy film]] directed by [[David MacDonald (director)|David MacDonald]] and starring [[Charlie Drake]], [[Anne Heywood]], [[Cecil Parker]], [[John Turner (actor)|John Turner]] and [[Thorley Walters]]. The film had its premiere on 30 November 1961 at the [[Vue West End|Warner Theatre]] in London's West End.


== Plot ==
Wren Officer Anne Heywood and the 150 girls under her command are piqued. On the grounds that Wrens can do anything that men can do, at least as well or better, they demand the right to serve at sea in warships. When their request is turned down by the authorities they board a frigate, imprison the skeleton crew, and set off to sea, where they unintentionally become embroiled in a training exercise between British and US fleets...
Wren Officer Anne Heywood and the 150 girls under her command are piqued. On the grounds that Wrens can do anything that men can do, at least as well or better, they demand the right to serve at sea in warships. When their request is turned down by the authorities they board a frigate, imprison the skeleton crew, and set off to sea, where they unintentionally become embroiled in a training exercise between British and US fleets...


==Cast==
==Cast==
{{cast listing|
{{cast listing|
* [[Charlie Drake]] as Charlie (a stoker who has never been to sea in real action )
* [[Charlie Drake]] as Charlie
* [[Anne Heywood]] as Chief Officer Anne Stevens
* [[Anne Heywood]] as Chief Officer Anne Stevens
* [[Cecil Parker]] as Commander-in-Chief
* [[Cecil Parker]] as Commander-in-Chief
* [[John Turner (actor)|John Turner]] as Lieutenant Michael Pattinson
* [[John Turner (actor)|John Turner]] as Lieutenant Michael Pattinson
* [[Thorley Walters]] as Captain Jerome Robertson
* [[Thorley Walters]] as Captain Jerome Robertson
* [[Maxine Audley]] as Mary - Superintendent
* [[Maxine Audley]] as Mary Superintendent
* [[Eleanor Summerfield]] as Chief Wren Mabel Rawlins
* [[Eleanor Summerfield]] as Chief Wren Mabel Rawlins
* [[Victor Maddern]] as Chief Petty Officer Nixon
* [[Victor Maddern]] as Chief Petty Officer Nixon
Line 57: Line 58:
* Jemma Hyde as Carole
* Jemma Hyde as Carole
* Susan Castle as Mandy
* Susan Castle as Mandy
* [[Patricia Garwood]] as Wren in Linen Store
* [[Patricia Garwood]] as Wren in
* Aleta Morrison as Frog Girl
* Aleta Morrison as Frog
* Jacqueline Jones as Frog Girl
* Jacqueline Jones as Frog
* Diana Potter as Frog Girl
* Diana Potter as Frog
* [[Priscilla Morgan]] as Wren on Mess Deck
* [[Priscilla Morgan]] as Wren on Mess Deck
}}
}}


==Reception==
==Reception==

⚫
According to ''Kinematograph Weekly'' the film was considered a "money maker" at the British box office in 1962.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Kinematograph Weekly|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_kine-weekly_1962-12-13_547_2880/page/n6/mode/1up?q=%22box+office+winners%22+kine&view=theater|first=Josh|last=Billings|title=Three British Films Head the General Releases|date=13 December 1962|page=7|access-date=7 March 2023}}</ref>
=== Box office ===
⚫
According to ''Kinematograph Weekly'' the film was considered a "money maker" at the British box office in 1962.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Kinematograph Weekly|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_kine-weekly_1962-12-13_547_2880/page/n6/mode/1up?q=%22box+office+winners%22+kine&view=theater|first=Josh|last=Billings|title=Three British Films Head the General Releases|date=13 December 1962|page=7|access-date=7 March 2023}}</ref>

=== Critical ===
''[[The Monthly Film Bulletin]]'' wrote: "Two sequences, one involving Charlie Drake's activities in the boiler room, the other a nightmare in which he plays all the parts from prisoner to judge in a navy court-martial, have the berserk lunacy of some of Drake's television shows: the humour is crude but vigorous. The rest of the film is in the worst traditions of British farce – flat-footed, ineffectual and coy."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1 January 1962 |title=Petticoat Pirates |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1305831222/B6D8FB7DA3B44805PQ/1 |journal=[[The Monthly Film Bulletin]] |volume=29 |issue=336 |pages=13 |via=ProQuest}}</ref>

[[Leslie Halliwell]] called the film an: "uncertain comedy fantasy."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Halliwell |first=Leslie |title=Halliwell's Film Guide |publisher=Paladin |year=1989 |isbn=0586088946 |edition=7th |location=London |pages=792}}</ref>

''The [[Radio Times]] Guide to Films'' gave the film 1/5 stars, writing: "In his third tilt at movie stardom, TV comic Charlie Drake again finds himself up a well-known creek without a script. This time, however, he's only got himself to blame, as he co-wrote this woeful comedy, in which he plays a timid stoker ordered to disguise himself as a Wren in order to recover a battleship hijacked by a mutinous all-woman crew."<ref>{{Cite book |title=Radio Times Guide to Films |publisher=[[Immediate Media Company]] |year=2017 |isbn=9780992936440 |edition=18th |location=London |pages=716}}</ref>


==References==
==References==
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==External links==
==External links==
*{{IMDb title|0055293}}
*{{IMDb title|0055293}}
*[https://www.reelstreets.com/films/petticoat-pirates/ ''Petticoat Pirates''] then-and-now location photographs at [https://www.reelstreets.com/ ReelStreets]


{{David MacDonald}}
{{David MacDonald}}

Revision as of 15:10, 26 April 2024

Petticoat Pirates
Film poster
Directed byDavid MacDonald
Written by
Produced byGordon L.T. Scott
Starring
CinematographyGilbert Taylor
Edited byAnn Chegwidden
Music byDon Banks
Production
company
Distributed byWarner-Pathé Distributors
Release dates
  • 30 November 1961 (1961-11-30) (London premiere)
  • 19 December 1961 (1961-12-19) (general release)
Running time
87 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Petticoat Pirates is a 1961 British comedy film directed by David MacDonald and starring Charlie Drake, Anne Heywood, Cecil Parker, John Turner and Thorley Walters.[1] The film had its premiere on 30 November 1961 at the Warner Theatre in London's West End.

Plot

Wren Officer Anne Heywood and the 150 girls under her command are piqued. On the grounds that Wrens can do anything that men can do, at least as well or better, they demand the right to serve at sea in warships. When their request is turned down by the authorities they board a frigate, imprison the skeleton crew, and set off to sea, where they unintentionally become embroiled in a training exercise between British and US fleets...

Cast

Reception

Box office

According to Kinematograph Weekly the film was considered a "money maker" at the British box office in 1962.[2]

Critical

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Two sequences, one involving Charlie Drake's activities in the boiler room, the other a nightmare in which he plays all the parts from prisoner to judge in a navy court-martial, have the berserk lunacy of some of Drake's television shows: the humour is crude but vigorous. The rest of the film is in the worst traditions of British farce – flat-footed, ineffectual and coy."[3]

Leslie Halliwell called the film an: "uncertain comedy fantasy."[4]

The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 1/5 stars, writing: "In his third tilt at movie stardom, TV comic Charlie Drake again finds himself up a well-known creek without a script. This time, however, he's only got himself to blame, as he co-wrote this woeful comedy, in which he plays a timid stoker ordered to disguise himself as a Wren in order to recover a battleship hijacked by a mutinous all-woman crew."[5]

References

  1. ^ "Petticoat Pirates". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 26 April 2024.
  2. ^ Billings, Josh (13 December 1962). "Three British Films Head the General Releases". Kinematograph Weekly. p. 7. Retrieved 7 March 2023.
  3. ^ "Petticoat Pirates". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 29 (336): 13. 1 January 1962 – via ProQuest.
  4. ^ Halliwell, Leslie (1989). Halliwell's Film Guide (7th ed.). London: Paladin. p. 792. ISBN 0586088946.
  5. ^ Radio Times Guide to Films (18th ed.). London: Immediate Media Company. 2017. p. 716. ISBN 9780992936440.


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