I got a copy of You Know What Sailors Are from Hamilton Books recently. It's a 1954 British film about Naval bureaucracy. Three drunken sailors steal a pram and some pawn shop balls on the way back to their ship. The pram doesn't survive the trip and it's welded, along with the three balls, to a ship in the Agrarian navy. It's not a farming term, here it's a made-uppy Middle Eastern country. I've sure heard of a lot of those in comics, films and television over the years.
The next morning the British Navy personal see this intriguing thing on the Agrarian ship. They cover up their ignorance of the device by saying it's the new 998, some sort of radar device, and of course, the Captain wants one. Hard to get something when it doesn't exist, but a request is made. Donald Sinden is Lt Green, he's one of the trio of drunken sailors, his bosses pull a few strings and he gets assigned to the Agrarian ship to secretly investigate the device. Oh, yeah, on board the ship is the President of Agraria. Now Lt Green is in pretty far, should he tell his bosses the truth, or delay for comedic effect? His delay puts Lt Green in the President's harem. The entertaining Akim Tamiroff plays the President. He's got a palace filled with beautiful women but Lt Green only has eyes for his gal Betty, played by Sarah Lawson.
It's entertaining low-key fun with a bit of romance and some naval chatter. I got a laugh or two and was glad to have seen it. Keep an eye out for the delightful Shirley Eaton in the palace.
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