Originally released in Great Britain as
Whisky Galore!
,
Tight Little Island
is a comedy predicated on the notion that all Scotsmen are lushes. The tiny Scots Island of Todday suffers from a wartime whisky shortage. Luck of luck, a ship full of the precious liquid is wrecked on a reef. The islanders conspire to smuggle the whisky off the ship right under the noses of the pesky British revenue officials. Numerous clever comic complications occur before the happy ending--which, we are told by the narrator, was not so happy once all the whisky was consumed.
is regarded by devotees of British comedy as the best and most representative offering from the short-lived Ealing Studios.