A beautifully made film mainly shot on location. I'm the first to admit that this isn't a movie for the person looking for big 'belly laughs', but for lovers of the English canal system and it's history who like wistful humour and some beautifully subtle moments and some classic lines, it's superb. Harry H Corbett is billed as the Casanova of the canals but his (Hemel Pike) first love affair is with 'the cut', his early line where he says "The only way you'll get me off the canal is to fill it in", will strike a chord with canal enthusiasts. So I can quite understand why people rate this film lower as it is slightly specialised. For those interested in film locations, Leg O' Mutton Lock, the main location in the film is in fact Marsworth top lock on the Grand Union canal and is almost exactly the same today as in 1963, lots more boats though! Corbett's portrayal as Hemel Pike is either a tribute to his research into the canal way of life or he had experience of it as all his actions are extremely accurate. If you love canals you'll love this film. If you are looking for big laughs and constant action you'll be disappointed. I love it. 10 out of 10.

The film is unique in that it attempts to portray working life on the English canals as it really was in the 1960s, without the affected prettification of most accounts.

The bargees are workmen, Hemel (Corbett) the ladies man trapped by a pretty girl, and propelled to the altar on the end of a shotgun, and Ronnie (Barker) his none too bright right hand man.

The film is set immediately before the end of the way of life that it portrays, as commercial narrowboat carrying came to an end on Britains waterways. At the time of its release, this was a very recent memory, the trade having been finally killed off by the severe winter of 1963.

The boats seen in the film are the genuine article, used in a film about the end of the trade, mere months after it ended. Within a very short time after the film, most of the craft had been destroyed, leaving only a few in preservation.

Mild light comedy concerning dam master (Griffith) whose impressionable daughter (Foster) conceives to barge operator and ladies' man (Corbett),much to Griffith's chagrin. Ronnie Barker co-stars as Corbett's cousin and fellow "bargee" (with somewhat less luck with the ladies),the two concerned also with the imminent extinction of the centuries old tradition, in favour of motorised vessels.

Solid cast includes veteran Griffith as the gruff, ill-tempered man of the waterways (and sporting a bird's nest that would make Francis De Wolff or Sebastian Cabot blush),Barker as the amiable sidekick and prominent supporting roles for Derek Nimmo, Richard Briers and Norman Bird as a cowardly administrator who attempts to confront Griffith after he's sabotaged the canal as retribution for his daughter's, "condition". Some viewers may also recognise Ed Devereaux pre-"Skippy".

Essentially it seemed to me to be a tale about the preservation of traditions, some of which are anachronisms to the present day, others worth conserving. Pleasant enough slapstick with some nice countryside exteriors and a delightful supporting cast, a modest and inoffensive time-filler.