It was adapted for the cinema in a 1949 Ealing comedy starring Basil Radford.

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The incident inspired Compton Mackenzie's book Whisky Galore and an Ealing comedy of the same name.

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The classic 1949 Ealing comedy, Whisky Galore, based on Compton Mackenzie's book was set on the fictional Hebridean island of Todday.

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And what of the individuals in this extremely expensive Ealing comedy production?

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Veteran cinematographer Douglas Slocombe, 94, whose work ranges from 1949 Ealing comedy Kind Hearts and Coronets to 1989's Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, is made an OBE.

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The plot will be familiar to anybody versed in Ealing comedy (the original movie, directed by Alexander Mackendrick, and graced with the same title, came out in 1955), but the existence of this new version is harder to explain.

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