TV comic Charlie Drake again finds himself up a well-known creek without a script in his third tilt at movie stardom.
This time, however, he’s only got himself to blame, as he co-wrote this woeful comedy, in which he plays a timid stoker who disguises himself as a member of the Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRNS; popularly and officially known as the Wrens) in order to recover a frigate hijacked by a mutinous all-woman crew.
The company of 150 Wrens led by spirited Chief Officer Anne Stevens (Anne Heywood) have set out to prove equality with their male counterparts by taking over HMS Huntress with breathtaking efficiency, sailing it out to sea and into a NATO naval exercise.
Director David MacDonald had made some pretty ropey pictures since his debut in 1937 with Riding High, but this was rock bottom.
Spare a thought for Cecil Parker, who somehow allowed himself to be talked into co-starring.
Stoker Charlie Drake
Charlie Drake Chief OfficerAnne Stevens
Anne Heywood Commander in Chief
Cecil Parker Lieutenant Michael Pattinson
John Turner Mary (Superintendent)
Maxine Audley Captain Jerome Robertson
Thorley Walters Chief Wren Mabel Rawlins
Eleanor Summerfield COC Nixon
Victor Maddern US Navy admiral
Lionel Murton Physical training instructor
Barbara Hicks Sue
Dilys Laye Elizabeth
Penny Newington
