[2] Intended as a celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Post Office Savings Bank, Watt's film eschewed conventional narration in favour of improvising a story around the villagers of Mousehole and the Cornish landscape they inhabit.

[3] Others recall him as having "a mesmeric gift of the gab, a glorious Cornish accent, twinkling blue eyes, a grin as broad as 'Popeye' and the charismatic charm of the Celt.

The inter-village squabbles and references to unemployment reflected the actual hardships of the Cornish fishing villages, whose pilchard industry had been suffered from Britain's refusal to trade with Mussolini's Italy.

[6] At the end of a showing in nearby Penzance Bill Blewitt and his wife, who also appeared, stepped onto the stage to be greeted by deafening cheers and hand clapping.

Acclaimed by film maker Paul Rotha as the first 'story' documentary, The Saving of Bill Blewitt influenced populist Ealing comedies such as Whisky Galore!