Three Men in a Boat (1956 film) is happy to get away from his job at the bank. Harris is glad to get away from Mrs. Willis who is pressing him to marry her daughter Clara; and 'J' is more than anxious to take a holiday from his wife, Ethelbertha. George meets three girls, Sophie Clutterhouse and sisters Bluebell and Primrose Porterhouse, who are also taking a ride up the river, and he hopes to see them again. The travellers get into all kinds of complications with the weather, the river, the boat, food, the Hampton Court Maze, tents, rain and locks. They do connect with the
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,