Three Men in a Boat (1956 film) Three Men in a Boat (1956 film) Three Men in a Boat is a 1956 British CinemaScope colour comedy film directed by Ken Annakin and starring Laurence Harvey, Jimmy Edwards, Shirley Eaton and David Tomlinson. It is based on the 1889 novel "Three Men in a Boat" by Jerome K. Jerome. The film received mixed reviews, but was a commercial success. The film is set in the Edwardian era, Harris, J, and George, want to get away from it all and decide to take a holiday boating up the River Thames to Oxford, taking with them their dog Montmorency. George
Three Men in a Boat set off the following Saturday. George must go to work that day, so J. and Harris make their way to Kingston by train. They cannot find the right train at Waterloo station (the station's confusing layout was a well-known theme of Victorian comedy) so they bribe a train driver to take his train to Kingston, where they collect the hired boat and start the journey. They meet George further up river at Weybridge. The remainder of the story describes their river journey and the incidents that occur. The book's original purpose as a guidebook is apparent as J., the narrator,