When he retires from the Royal Navy, he purchases a dilapidated late Victorian era amusement pier (the closest thing to a command of his own) with his life savings.

He counters by registering his property as a "foreign" naval vessel (christened the Arabella), under the flag of convenience of the easygoing country of "Liberama", which removes it from the town's jurisdiction.

Using a seasickness remedy suggested by Barrington, Ambrose is able to take to sea and foil the scheme (with his ghostly ancestors watching approvingly), but in the process, part of the pier becomes detached and floats away.

Too often mildly malicious satire is uneasily coupled with more conventional slapstick and farce – a miscalculation further emphasised by the occasional hesitancy of Charles Frend's handling.

Faced with slender material, Alec Guinness nevertheless brings a delicacy to the part of the guileful innocent Ambrose and, in a series of images which recall Kind Hearts and Coronets [1949], the hero's six absurd ancestors.

Patchy as it is, and lacking in real bite, Barnacle Bill nevertheless represents a welcome return by Ealing to the type of production which remains the company's happiest territory.

"[8] Reviewing the film in The New York Times, Bosley Crowther wrote: "Mr. Clarke's whimsical notion doesn't sail quite the untroubled sea that Mr. Guinness' pier does.

There are echoes of Kind Hearts and Coronets (with Alec Guinness playing his ancestors in several contrived flashbacks), and the action brims over with eccentric characters who could be refugees from any of the film's more illustrious predecessors.