Spikeopath Double Bunk is directed by C.M. Pennington-Richards and features music by Stanley Black and photography by Stephen Dade. It stars Ian Carmichael, Sid James, Janette Scott, Liz Fraser and Dennis Price.When newlyweds Jack (Carmichael) and Peggy (Scott) face eviction from their rented London abode, they get tricked into buying a ramshackle houseboat. Taking the challenge on with determination in their hearts and love in their eyes, they are further knocked back when Mr. Watson (Price), the owner of the mooring station, tells them of the charges they must pay to stay where they are. Rebuilding the engine, Jack decides to treat Peggy to a honeymoon trip down the Thames, so with best pal Sid (James) and his stripper girlfriend Sandra (Fraser) along for the trip, they set off on what will prove to be a mighty adventure...It opens with James and Fraser singing the delightfully catchy title song, and from there on in the film never lets up the jovial mood created. There's nothing uproarious here, this is a gentle British comedy built to keep the smile on your face, though it does slot in a few laugh out loud moments (double dose of gangplank frivolity, Sid's Vodka hangover, a punch up after a bum squeeze). It's well performed, often sexy (wolf whistles at the ready here for both our lady protagonists) and the water setting is very easy on the eye.Fans of vintage British comedy are sure to get much from this easy going feel good comedy. 8/10

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.

philharve I bought the DVD of "Double Bunk" in a sale more out of curiosity than anything else. I like the early black & white comedies of the 50s and 60s starring Ian Carmichael and Dennis Price, such as 'School for Scoundrels', 'I'm All Right Jack', 'Privates Progress' and 'Lucky Jim' in which Ian played more or less the same hapless character who gets lucky in the end. I also like the early Carry Ons such as 'Sergeant', 'Cabby' and 'Regardless'. 'Double Bunk' is like a marriage of the two because several of the Carry On team appear in this comedy about a young couple who buy a rundown houseboat moored in the Thames but soon find themselves crossing the Channel in a fog and landing in France. Less than 24hrs later they are in a race back home after stealing fuel from their competitor's powerful motor launch captained by Dennis Price. The scenes of these two large boats racing up the narrow section of the Thames and creating havoc with smaller sailing boats as well as producing a massive wake that floods the banks and half drowning fishermen out for a quiet days fishing is unique in cinematic history. I can't imagine such as stunt being repeated today. I last saw this film when it first appeared in the cinema when I was still at school. I had forgotten the plot but not song which introduces the film. I'ts called "Double Bunk' (what a surprise!) and is sung by - you'd never guess - Sid James and Liz Frazer who figure prominently in this very well made film. The film has a cast of characters whose faces are immediately recognisable. To see who they are you must watch the DVD. I found it enjoyable to see it again after 45 years. I look forward to seeing it again and again.