San Ferry Ann


San Ferry Ann is a 1965 British sound effect comedy directed by Jeremy Summers with an ensemble cast including David Lodge, Joan Sims, Wilfrid Brambell, Rodney Bewes and Barbara Windsor. It was written and produced by Bob Kellett. Wordlessly, with soundtrack and sound effects, it tells the story of a holiday crossing from Dover to Calais. The title is a corruption of the French phrase "ça ne fait rien", meaning "it doesn't matter".

Plot

A motley group of British characters ride the San Ferry Ann to France, where they embark on a weekend of calamity. A campervan family, led by Dad and Mum, create chaos from the moment they set their tyres on the shore, resulting in frequent run-ins with the Gendarmerie. Lewd Grandad finds his own misadventures with a newly acquainted friend, a crazy German ex-soldier. Also aboard for the ride is a saucy hitchhiker, who causes a few heads to turn, including that of a fellow traveller, who pursues her affection with comic results.

Cast

The film was a follow up to A Home of Your Own although Jay Lewis did not return.

Critical reception

Monthly Film Bulletin said "A singularly unfunny attempt on the part of Dormar to follow up the success of their amusing little silent comedy A Home Of Your Own, this is the kind of film in which people go through the motions of being seasick in mime, and for which the soundtrack is so loud that the noise of air issuing from a punctured tyre is almost more than flesh and blood can stand. Full of lavatory jokes and based on the most crude and superficial observation, it indicates with some force that Jay Lewis and his photographer Denys Coop, were vital ingredients in what only seemed to be a simple success formula."

Releases

The film appears on the 2021 Network Blu-ray anthology Futtocks End and Other Stories, along with A Home of Your Own and Vive le Sport, all of which were produced by Kellett.