British Comedy Guide
Three Men In A Boat. Image shows left to right: George (Laurence Harvey), J (David Tomlinson), Harris (Jimmy Edwards). Credit: STUDIOCANAL
Three Men In A Boat

Three Men In A Boat (1956)

  • 1956 film

Adaptation of Jerome K Jerome's famed comic novel, starring Laurence Harvey, Jimmy Edwards and David Tomlinson. Also features Shirley Eaton, Lisa Gastoni, Jill Ireland, Martita Hunt, Noelle Middleton and more.

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Three Men In A Boat trivia

Lead script writer Hubert Gregg was originally intended to play J; Kenneth More play Harris; and Ian Carmichael George.

The film came into fruition after Jerome K. Jerome's daughter Rowena heard of actor, composer and writer Hubert Gregg's popular readings of her father's works and supported his idea of producing a screen adaptation. Gregg contacted a director he had recently acted for, Ken Annakin, who took up the project with enthusiasm.

At the time he and Gregg were developing Three Men In A Boat, Ken Annakin was under contract with Rank. Before photography could begin, Annakin's contracted expired and the company allowed him to take the film with him; he found a new producer, James Woolf, within a month, but Woolf insisted on a new cast.

James Woolf was a manager to - and according to some claims, long-term gay lover of - Laurence Harvey, who he insisted was cast in the film.

Frank Muir and Denis Norden contributed to the script, although the exact extent of their work is unknown. Their work was uncredited.

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