Night Boat on the Bosphorus

Howard Taft

Andrew Sachs

Helena Bonham Carter

Pete Postlethwaite

Night Boat on the Bosphorus is a British 1987 Comedy starring the members of Creosote - Jeremiah Creosote, George Hudson and Howard Taft - alongside Andrew Sachs, Helena Bonham Carter and Pete Postlethwaite. The film became one of the latter two actors breakout roles. The film is in the vein of the Carry On series of films with one critic calling it "Monty Pythons Flying Circus smashing into Carry On Up The Khyber at 100mph."

The film is set primarily on a ferry boat moving through the Turkish straits towards the Black Sea with scenes set in Istanbul, Odessa and Sevastopol. The plot revolves around comedic mishaps, diplomatic failings and awkward romance as the journey continues.

The film was the Creosote trios first foray into film or television and as such was not given a substantial budget, hence why relatively unknown celebrities were cast in the supporting role with only Andrew Sachs being hired to give the billing a more reliable name. This also accounted for the small amount of on location filming and a considerable controversy regarding working conditions as the production crew outright bought a dilapidated ferry to film on to save rental costs. Despite these setbacks the film was well received for its outlandish comedy and plot, mostly composed of light scripture mixed with ad-libs and improvisation from the trio in addition to comedic musical numbers interspersed within the film. Subsequently the trios next film 'Murder on the L'Elegant Express' received a much higher budget, featured an all star roster of celebrities and had a more professional writing and production approach.

### Plot

In 1907, Reginald Fornsbury (Jeremiah Creosote), Thaddeus Charles Whittaker (George Hudson), and Henry Fletcher (Howard Taft) arrival in Istanbul on the Orient Express on a supposedly secret mission to acquire a series of cultural artifacts from across the Ottoman Empire and Ukraine for King Edward VII. Realizing their need to acquire transport, they visit the British Consulate in the city, meeting a crown representative (Andrew Sachs) assigned to assist them. When it becomes clear that all suitable ships are unavailable, the group settles upon the slow long-haul ferry from Instanbul to Odessa via Sevastapol.

The journey is beset by grief, as weather in the black sea forces them to stop at ports in Romania and Bulgaria, and the efforts of the trio to acquire artifacts of any worth are foiled both by a mysterious Irishman (Pete Postlethwaite) and the attempted courtship of the adventurous American explorer Claire Dearheart (Helena Bonham Carter). At several points when the team think they have found suitable artifacts, they are often beaten to the punch by French and German archaeologists or are unable to remove them without trouble with the locals. They discover the Irishman is travelling on board the boat but are exasperated when he acts pleasant and normal on ship, introducing himself as Paddy O'Donnell.

By the time the ship docks in Sevastapol the trio have only managed to acquire two antique rugs and a clay figurine supposedly of Suleiman the Magnificent. While Reginald concedes defeat with Claire, both Thaddeus and Henry pursue her with rigor while the ship is stopped in Sevastapol. Thaddeus gifts her a silver necklace he had acquired during travels in Africa, whereas Henry gives her his signet ring. All the while, O'Donnell shadows them and confronts them when they attempt to gather more artifacts preventing them acquiring anything further.

When the ship finally docks in Odessa, the group manages to secure shipping for their few artifacts and art pieces back for King Edward but realize that the statuette of Suleiman is missing. Realizing it was O'Donnell, the trio give chase around the city, eventually culminating in Thaddeus tackling O'Donnell down the Odessa Steps. As finishing rolling to the bottom, the statuette is crushed to dust under O'Donnell and both Thaddeus' necklace and Henry's ring fall out of his pockets. O'Donnell subsequently reveals his loyalties to the IRA and that his mission was to deprive King Edward VII 'Of the colonial treats that should so rightly go to the Emerald Isles museums' and that he was in league with Claire, who was actually Irish not American. Realizing the absurdity of it all, Thaddeus breaks down laughing, joined by both Reginald and Henry. The film culminates with the trio packaging off the rugs left to King Edward along with a note saying "this is only the first part Your Majesty!" and them breaking into the museum in Odessa at night.

### Cast

* Jeremiah Creosote - Reginald Fornsbury - A former exploring officer from the Second Boer War turned archaeologist.
* George Hudson - Thaddeus Charles Whittaker - Son of a director of the Grand Manchester Railway and avid explorer.
* Howard Taft - Henry Fletcher - A doctor who had served in the Philippine-American War before starting a practice in Manchester.
* Andrew Sachs - John Mayfair - The Crown Representative attached to the trio's mission, based at the British Consulate in Istanbul.
* Pete Postlethwaite - Paddy O'Donnell - An IRA member on a mission to deprive King Edward VII of new art and cultural pieces for Buckingham Palace, in league with Claire Dearheart
* Helena Bonham Carter - Claire Dearheart - An IRA sympathiser disguising herself as an American explorer, who attracts the interest of all three of the team.
* Anthony 'Shaftesbury' Anthony Cooper - The First Mate - First Mate of the Ferry (Cameo)

### Production

The production of Night Boat was a rather chaotic experience. Neither Hudson nor Taft had any experience writing for the screen and the green-lighting of the project in late 1986 based on jokey discussions and ideas thrown around in pubs and bars shook the pair somewhat as what was previously a silly pipe dream was now an intense race with a budget and deadline pressure. The original budget was set at £500,000 with a £20,000 advance for development.

Most of 1986 was spent touring following the success of the bands first album Creosote and the first drafts for the script were written as the band hurtling around the country and then Europe. Jeremiah stated in an interview "ah felt fah the two really. I'd be gettin tucked in niceleh in mah bunk after a jeramboah on the way to the next venue and they'd only just be getting into writing. It really ate them up a bit.". The stress of both a rigorous tour which spread to America in November and the need to finish a script is considered to be a contributing factor to the shows the band bombed in North America.

Eventually, the reveal of band financial mismanagement on the *Creosote Tour!* and the fact the band would be entering the studio meant that Hudson and Taft had to face the reality that they wouldn't be able to finish a script. In several sessions in January, they went over the numerous binned drafts and notes they had accrued and decided upon writing a story framework and crucial story dialogue and leaving the rest for ad-libs and improvisations. They also decided to include several musical numbers, reasoning that it would reduce the amount of dialogue needed and allow them to compensate for if the writing ended up dud.

With the script sorted, the band returned to the studio for February, while the production team for the film outright bought a dilapidated ferry near Istanbul and set about restoring and dressing it for the film. This process quickly ate up around £400,000 of the original budget, though production executives deemed this worthwhile due to the costs it would save. When the actors were flown out to Istanbul in late March to begin filming, a nightmare awaited. To cut costs to allow the remaining £100,000 finish the film, the actors and crew were staying on the ferry itself. However, the restoration hadn't covered all the boat, just the parts that were necessary for filming. As such, there were only around 10 rooms/suites of any standard.

While the crew on the film made do, usually by buying supplies themselves to 'do up' their rooms, the situation wreaked havoc with morale on the production. Several American actors who were hired to fill out gaps in the casting threatened union action, and all three members of Creosote found themselves at a wits end as due to the financial mismanagement of *Creosote* none had the capital to really make any changes themselves.

By the time the production had finished filming in Istanbul, they had already exceeded the £500,000 budget by £50,000. Word reached the studio who hurriedly approved another £300,000 with an extra safety margin of £150,000. With this injection, the production rushed through the shooting on location, though conditions hardly improved on board. A near sinking and failures of onboard engines and generators delayed shooting in the Black Sea but after only 5 chaotic weeks the main cast found themselves flying from Odessa to Manchester to oversee the release of *Theres Still More*. Despite this, only around 40-45% of scenes had been shot, and even the extended budget was running thin.

In May 1987 the ferry was sold to an operator in the Black Sea which boosted funds enough to allow a series of studio shooting using replicated interiors and parts flown back to England from the ferry. By the end of the month the majority of the film was finished and a rough cut delivered to the band who still had to finish the soundtrack. Somehow, the film was ready for cinematic release by November despite the heavy amount of editing work necessary.

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