I'm guessing a fair number of people are coming to IMDb today to read about this film in the wake of its showing last night on TMC (Nov. 30, 2017). I was charmed by the picture. It's a sweet comedy with a nice story arc. I can't say I actually laughed out loud at the low-key humor but I certainly smiled throughout. The movie has a stick-to-the-ribs quality, like a serving of haggis and a dram. The main character, the Maggie, is a "puffer" - a type of coastal tramp steamer beloved in Scotland in the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th, and really, to the present day. The Maggie is a bedraggled little vessel with a loyal crew, including a skipper (played by Alex Mackenzie) who was born on board it, and a boy of about 12 (Tommy Kearins) who has major nautical chops. This laddie is one of the great 12- to 14-year-old boys in fiction. (See also Huckleberry Finn, Harry Potter, Jody Baxter ["The Yearling"], Wart ["The Once and Future King"], Johnny Tremaine, Hugo Cabret, etc. - all of them open to experience, entranced by the glory of the world, discovering their power.) Paul Douglas is a high-powered American business executive named Marshall who needs a modest cargo moved along the Scottish coast. He's Mr. Rush-Rush-Rush. The skipper of the Maggie is Mr. Let's Have a Drink and Ponder the Mysteries of Life and the Sea. Conflict ensues, needless to say. Douglas is hardly the world's most subtle actor but he gets the job done here. Alex Mackenzie is very good as the skipper.The film's settings are splendid - we are immersed in Scottish coastal life and get a deep feeling for the importance of the sea to this great people. The glimpses of small-town life are beautiful, including a multi-generational party where, by looking into the stunning eyes of a young lady who wants to dance, we learn something true about life, love, and the boldness of young women.One of the strengths of "The Maggie" is how it gently reminds us of the value of slowing down. The film anticipates by half a century the "Slow Movement" afoot in the world today, chronicled in such books as "In Praise of Slowness" by Carl Honore. (That said, the film has a nice crisp pace, it never lags.)By the way, puffers are still around, thanks to preservation efforts by Scottish lovers of nautical history. (See the entry "Clyde puffer" at Wikipedia. Also see "Puffer Steamboat Holidays" at Facebook.) Puffers will live forever thanks to this movie and the writing of Neil Munro, whose collected stories I am ordering immediately."The Maggie" seems to be a first cousin to "Local Hero" (1983) starring Peter Rieger and Burt Lancaster, which also has an American business executive rubbing up against Scotland.

The general opinion has always been that The Maggie was one of Ealing's lesser comedies – but this means it was merely superb. It's a film by turns charming and gentle and nasty and ironic but always entertaining. It had a role for Paul Douglas as The American that when watching any other film he made I could never shake off – it's an intensely straight-faced farcical performance. Some serious people may regard him and all the other characters in it as cartoony stereotypes but thankfully I've always enjoyed it regardless: topically speaking aren't we all likely to be cartoony stereotypes to someone no matter how revered we may be to others?Brash American businessman Douglas is keen to move his cargo of essential household items to help live on remote Scottish island and his wimpish English agent Hubert Gregg is fooled by the shrewd Scottish skipper of a little puffer boat into thinking that he can deliver it all. Not liking his being fooled involves the businessman in chasing after the boat to get his cargo back. Favourite bits : the quadruple bluff in hunting the boat from the air; the cartoon rage at the pier; after the birthday party Douglas's and Sheena's poignant conversation on her future marriage choices, being meaningful and gentle; the gradual development to the orgasmic conclusion – which was the only thing left that could happen – is beautiful to watch and re-watch. Douglas steals every scene he's in but especially with his lines in those scenes and with his final side-splitting warning to Captain MacTaggart and the laughing seagulls.Imho because the moral of the story is more indistinct and the ending is slightly feeble even after all of the powerful irony that had gone before, this isn't quite in the same class as Whisky Galore or the best half dozen world class Ealing comedies, but it's a lovely journey all the same.

The Maggie. An underrated, gentle little comedy, the sort of which Ealing are associated with. The storyline packs quite a punch on American capitalism as a tycoon gets to believe that, after cutting corners and underestimating the crew of the 'Maggie', he can buy out his mistake with dollars alone.Great cast that play a Clydeside crew, that quietly and cannily let things gently take their course. The scenery is more Whisky Galore than the East-end that is the more usual home of Ealing and the nice black and white photography suits the subject well. Pacing is a far cry from the frenetic of The Lavender Hill Mob and lets it story breathe quietly.It's one of my favourite Ealings. If you haven't seen it, give it a try, you might add it to yours, too!

I don't recollect seeing any mention of it in the credits of the film nor in any of the comments on this site however "The Maggie" is very obviously based on "The Vital Spark".Neil Munro wrote "The Vital Spark" in 1906, the collected tales of Master Mariner Para Handy and his Clyde puffer The Vital Spark which he had previously had published as articles in the Looker On column of the Glasgow Evening News. On board were McPhail the engineer, Dougie the deck hand and Sunny Jim the cabin boy. Neil Munro went on to write more columns and collated these into two further books detailing Para Handy's exploits and misdeeds while travelling the coastline of Scotland. Much later writer Stuart Donald took up the baton and wrote three further volumes of Para Handy's tales, a brave thing to do considering the place in Scottish popular culture.The BBC Scotland made a small run of TV programmes in the late 1960's and early 1970's which were revisited in 1994 by Gregor Fisher (Rab C Nesbitt and the Baldy Man) in the two series of "The Tales of Para Handy".Anyone familiar with Neil Munro's work would recognise the characters on board The Maggie in an instant. They may have different names but the characters are identical.