Tripwire Reviews Three Men In A Boat 4K Restoration

Floating Adrift

Tripwire’s editor-in-chief Joel Meadows reviews Three Men In A Boat 4K Restoration, out from 19 August on Blu Ray…

Three Men In A Boat
Director: Ken Annakin
Stars: Lawrence Harvey, Jimmy Edwards, David Tomlinson

Based on the Jerome K Jerome book of the same name, Three Men In A Boat is the 1950s adaptation made for the cinema. Annakin was a jobbing British film director probably best known for his work on all-star war movie The Longest Day.

This is a 4K restored version of the film starring Lawrence Harvey as bank clerk George and Jimmy Edwards and David Tomlinson as his two friends who suggest a trip down the river Thames. Shot mostly at Shepperton Studios with a few scenes filmed at London Zoo and on the river itself, Three Men In A Boat is Jerome’s book seen through a 1950s prism. Despite a very good cast with Harvey probably the strongest here, the film’s lightweight comedy feels flimsy and rather thin. Contemporary films of the same decade like the best in Ealing have a lot more to offer the viewer as they take more care and consideration with their script and acting. Three Men In A Boat feels like a very dated take on an important book, lacking the social satire that its source material contained.

EDITORIAL USE ONLY / NO MERCHANDISING
Mandatory Credit: Photo by ITV/REX/Shutterstock (782981hw)
‘Three Men in a Boat’ Film – 1956 –
David Tomlinson.
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Romulus Films/Granada International

EDITORIAL USE ONLY / NO MERCHANDISING
Mandatory Credit: Photo by ITV/REX/Shutterstock (782981hy)
‘Three Men in a Boat’ Film – 1956 –
Laurence Harvey, David Tomlinson., Jimmy Edwards.
GTV ARCHIVE
Romulus Films/Granada International

EDITORIAL USE ONLY / NO MERCHANDISING
Mandatory Credit: Photo by ITV/REX/Shutterstock (782981hu)
‘Three Men in a Boat’ Film – 1956 –
Laurence Harvey, David Tomlinson., Jimmy Edwards.
GTV ARCHIVE
Romulus Films/Granada International

Visually, it is quite a striking film and the restoration does make some of it pop a little better than previous versions. Harvey feels wasted here as just a few years later he showed his dramatic heft and range in more heavyweight fare like Room At The Top and The Manchurian Candidate. Tomlinson did have a flair for onscreen comedy but here he also looks like he’s floundering. Edwards comes across as a little boorish, presumably deliberately but this means that his character comes across as fairly unsympathetic here.

EDITORIAL USE ONLY / NO MERCHANDISING
Mandatory Credit: Photo by ITV/REX/Shutterstock (782981hv)
‘Three Men in a Boat’ Film – 1956 –
Laurence Harvey, David Tomlinson, Jimmy Edwards.
GTV ARCHIVE
Romulus Films/Granada International

EDITORIAL USE ONLY / NO MERCHANDISING
Mandatory Credit: Photo by ITV/REX/Shutterstock (782981hx)
‘Three Men in a Boat’ Film – 1956 –
Jimmy Edwards.
GTV ARCHIVE
Romulus Films/Granada International

EDITORIAL USE ONLY / NO MERCHANDISING
Mandatory Credit: Photo by REX/Shutterstock (1633892a)
Three Men In A Boat (3 Men In A Boat), Laurence Harvey, Jimmy Edwards, David Tomlinson
Film and Television

The extras offer us a little bit of interesting behind the scenes information with one commentator pointing out that this was made the year of the Suez Crisis and after Britain had lost a number of its colonies including India, so the Empire was diminished in its world standing. So Three Men In A Boat, set in Edwardian London, hearkens back to when the country was more of a force to be reckoned with.

EDITORIAL USE ONLY / NO MERCHANDISING
Mandatory Credit: Photo by ITV/REX/Shutterstock (782981hz)
‘Three Men in a Boat’ Film – 1956 –
Laurence Harvey.
GTV ARCHIVE
Romulus Films/Granada International

EDITORIAL USE ONLY / NO MERCHANDISING
Mandatory Credit: Photo by ITV/REX/Shutterstock (782981hs)
‘Three Men in a Boat’ Film – 1956 –
Laurence Harvey, David Tomlinson., Jimmy Edwards.
GTV ARCHIVE
Romulus Films/Granada International

EDITORIAL USE ONLY / NO MERCHANDISING
Mandatory Credit: Photo by ITV/REX/Shutterstock (782981ht)
‘Three Men in a Boat’ Film – 1956 –
Laurence Harvey, David Tomlinson., Jimmy Edwards.
GTV ARCHIVE
Romulus Films/Granada International

Three Men In A Boat is a pleasant but fairly forgettable snapshot of the sort of films that England used to make quite a lot of back in the 1950s.

JOEL MEADOWS