• Home
  • News
  • Top Picks
    • Movies & Films: Top 25
    • Documentaries: Top 25
    • Films For Students: Top 10
    • Music Videos: Top 10
  • Categories
    • Film
    • Documentary
    • Shorts
    • Blog
    • Calendar
    • Links
    • About

Miss Liberty's Film & Documentary World

Libertarian Movies, Films & Documentaries

Whiskey Galore (1949)

Tagged: Anti-taxation

When the people of a small British island recover whiskey from a sinking ship, an uptight government official attempts to ruin their fun. [ Whiskey Galore credits: Dir: Alexander Mackendrick/ Basil Radford, Joan Greenwood, James Robertson Justice/ 80 min/ Comedy/ Britain/ Anti-Taxation]

“This is classic British cinema, with an antiauthoritarian edge.”

Wife: “If the salvage people won’t touch it, would it really be so terrible if the people here did get a few bottles? I mean, if it’s all going to the bottom of the sea.” Husband: “That’s a very dangerous line of argument, darling. Once you let people take the law into their own hands, it’s anarchy, it’s anarchy.” So responds the pompous local official, whose expansive view of his responsibility and authority leads him to try to prevent the citizenry in his district from recovering whiskey from an abandoned sinking ship.

As it happens, the people of this small coastal village are desperate for whiskey. Their supply has run out, and with it, so has the meaning of life. With no whiskey to look forward to, sick men give up and die. Others mournfully pass their sad days chatting about how stale life is without it. That is the principal joke in this film, played to good effect—almost everyone in this town is a lush.

So, when a ship is wrecked off the coast with fifty thousand cases of whiskey, the entire town swings into action to recover the liquor. However, the townspeople are opposed in their effort by a local official who objects because the whiskey hasn’t been taxed. He’d rather have it go to the bottom of the sea than for the townspeople to drink untaxed whiskey.

Fortunately, cooler heads prevail. The townspeople recover much of the whiskey in secret, at night. Enraged by such widespread flouting of the law, the arrogant official calls in Inland Revenue (Britain’s equivalent of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service). But the agency is no match for the plucky islanders, who, in one of the more delicious ironies of this film, use their World War II civil defense training to thwart the tax inspectors. Faced with such widespread civil disobedience, the officials finally give up.

Brilliantly directed by Alexander Mackendrick and written with a keen comedic sense, Whiskey Galore is highly entertaining and includes a number of memorable characters. Basil Radford, in particular, is superb as the government official. This is classic British cinema, with an antiauthoritarian edge. I’ve seen this film three times and enjoyed it every time. Also listed as Tight Little Island.

External Reviews

“A tight little comedy of pure gold.”
–Time

“Whiskey Galore is a classic tale of gentle anti-authoritarianism.”
–Empire Online

How to See It

Netflix
Amazon (DVD)
Amazon (DVD)
YouTube Video Search
OnlineVideo Search

Links

IMDB
Wikipedia

Share this:

  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email

Related

Featured Post

Government Bureaucracy Sketch: Jameson Notodofilmfest

An excellent short film from the Jameson Notodofilmfest, a Spanish short film festival, on what it’s like to deal with government bureaucracy. [3 min] Topics: Anti-Regulation … Continue Reading

how jack became black

How Jack Became Black | Film Review

A father forced by the public school system to categorize his multiracial children by "primary race" explores the silliness of racial identity. [ How Jack Became Black credits: Dir: Eli Steele/ 96 min/ Documentary/ Equality & Law, Individualism/ 2018] "Eli Steele's storytelling has the authenticity … Continue Reading

The Man in the White Suit

The Man in the White Suit (1951)

WINNER: TOP 25 LIBERTARIAN FILMS A research scientist invents a fabric both indestructible and stainproof, but manufacturing interests and unions try to prevent its production. [ The Man in the White Suit credits: Dir: Alexander MacKendrick/ Alec Guinness, Joan Greenwood, Cecil Parker/ 81 min/ Comedy/ … Continue Reading

Themes

Abuse of power American revolution Anti-draft Anti-regulation Anti-slavery Anti-socialism Anti-taxation Anti-war Ayn Rand Corrupt government Creator as hero Democide Econ 101 Eminent domain Equality & law Escape from socialism Freedom of speech Free press as hero Government as bigot Government as torturer Government enforced morality Government healthcare Government schools Incompetent government Individualism John Stossel Law & liberty Legalize Drugs Libertarian heroes Libertarianism 101 Power corrupts Power worship Pro-capitalism Pro-immigration Propaganda Psychiatric coercion Resistance to tyranny Right to secede Search & seizure Second amendment Sexual liberty Social tolerance Unions & monopolies Voluntarism Working for government

Genres/Categories

Action-Adventure Animated Biography Blog Comedy Documentary Drama Family Featured Film Foreign History Horror Music-Dance Netflix News Romance SciFi-Fantasy Shorts Thriller Upcoming Western

About Miss Liberty

This site is a collection of films and documentaries of particular interest to libertarians (and those interested in libertarianism). It began as a book, Miss Liberty’s Guide to Film: Movies for the Libertarian Millennium, where many of the recommended films were first reviewed. The current collection has grown to now more than double the number in that original list, and it’s growing still.

  • RSS

© 2025 Miss Liberty's Film & Documentary World. All Rights Reserved