howardmorley When I was in hospital in 1957 my bed radio played the comedy "Take it from Here" in which a couple named "Ron" (Wallis Eaton) and "Eff" (June Whitfield) were featured.The producers of Double Bunk (1961) worked these two radio characters into the screenplay twice by portraying them hidden in a punt with a canvas cover over them so that the viewer could retain the mental image of them that they had "seen in their mind's eye" from the radio comedy which I believe Frank Muir & Dennis Norden had written.Another character I recognised from my youth was Gerald Campion who played "Billy Bunter" from the BBC TV children's programme of the 1950s.If you have followed the career of Naunton Wayne he makes a rare solo appearance, minus Basil Radford, playing a harbour master who is side-tracked by the ample charms of a young Liz Fraser.Also on display is comedienne Irene Handel playing a frumpy wife of the previous owners of the houseboat from whom Ian Carmichael & Janette Scott newly weds have purchased it in lieu of a house.In early post war Britain couples had a hard job finding marital accommodation because of blitzed buildings and general strict financial circumstances.The other reviewers have adequately commented on the plot of this very British comedy where each well known actor/actress plays well trodden & familiar roles known by a British audience.The uppermost question occurred to me watching this film on www.IMDb.com was surely one has to show proficiency by the marine equivalent of the driving test before you can be let loose on the river.But of course the resulting slapstick forms the basis of the film comedy.

mortlich Like another reviewer, I watched this film because it was a British comedy from a "good" era, when a lot of excellent British comedy was being produced, and this one promised well, as it contained proved stars such as Liz Fraser, Dennis Price and Sid James, as well as Ian Carmichael....but be warned - this is not even half as funny as "School for Scandal", for example, or "The Naked Truth", or even "Carry On Screaming", with the plot full of contrived humour and situations that are just simply not funny, though they are obviously meant to be. It was a strain to continue watching it to the end....so I gave up on it before then, considering it beyond rescue.

crossbow0106 This is a story about Jack and Peggy (Ian Carmichael and Janette Scott) who get thrown out of a rooming house for being in the same room together. They end up buying a somewhat dilapidated houseboat. enter Sid James playing a man named Sid who offers to sail the boat as part of a honeymoon for Jack and Peggy. He brings along Sandra, the always welcome Liz Fraser. After wreaking havoc with other leisure boaters they get stuck in a fog and end up in France. They have to get back and end up racing another boat owned by Watson, who was charging Jack and Perry ridiculous rent to keep the houseboat in the harbor in England. This is a fun film which gets better as it goes along. There is some slapstick and, since Sandra is a stripper, a little titillation but not much. Sid James plays a character we've seen him play so many times, the wise cracking friend not always up to complete good. I miss him a lot in films. If you like British humor that doesn't rely on tawdriness, just a decent plot with good performances, here it is. I don't think you will be disappointed.

Ephraim Gadsby Starring Ian Carmichael and Janette Scott, "Double Bunk" feels like a sequel to the hilarious "School for Scoundrels." There are no figures comparable to the inimitable Alastair Sim or Terry-Thomas, who supported Carmichael and Scott in "School for Scoundrels." However, in "Double Bunk" Carmichael and Scott are aided and abetted by Sid James, Liz Fraser, and Dennis Price (who had a very insignificant part in "School for Scoundrels").In "Double Bunk" Carmichael and Scott are newlyweds who, fed up with the cost of rent, purchase a houseboat. The houseboat is the typical junk sold to gullible newlyweds, and the pair immediately run afoul of the man with the biggest yacht.With the help of his pal Sid (James), and without the consent of his wife, Carmichael repairs the boat's engine and sets off for a Honeymoon cruise on the river. James is a car salesman, but he's toned down from the unscrupulous scalawag he portrayed so well in "Hancock's Half Hour." However, he does display some of the lechery that made him famous later, on both sides of the Atlantic, in the "Carry On" movies. Joining Carmichael and Scott on the cruise, James brings a girl (Liz Fraser) he meet in a strip joint.Carmichael (who had made a career playing fresh and gullible young men) and James (who made a career playing the sort of scoundrels and lechers who usually take Carmichael's characters in) work well together.Fraser ("I'm All Right, Jack"; "Two Way Stretch") has her bountiful assets on display as much as possible. She and her assets come in quite handy on the cruise: she dissuades a Thames Conservancy Officer (Naughton Wayne, looking like he sorely misses Basil Radford) who wants to cite Carmichael for the excessive damage his houseboat has caused from a high wake due to speeding down the river; and she distracts Dennis Price and his crew with a (tame) striptease while Carmichael and James swipe needed fuel.The movie's greatest flaw is that everything that happens is Carmichael's fault, either directly or indirectly. Scott is doled out some comic business resulting from the blunders of the others. This means her role is largely reactive, and it makes her seem too superior to her husband. Since they are both novices at marriage and at boating, they should both be making errors from their inexperience.According to Carmichael's autobiography, he was playing "The Gazebo" on stage simultaneously with making this movie. He was filming on the Thames by day and darting to his stage performance that evening. During one performance he stepped into the wings and collapsed from exhaustion. He shows little fraying on-screen, but his performance is a tad lackluster, probably because he wasn't giving the movie all his strength.Not a lot happens in this movie, but it's amusing and there's some amazing stunt work with boats. Look for Miles Malleson and Irene Handle in throw-away roles.