Up to His Neck

Up to His Neck is a 1954 British comedy film directed by John Paddy Carstairs, starring Ronald Shiner, Hattie Jacques and Anthony Newley. It was written by Carstairs, Patrick Kirwan and Ted Willis from a story by Peter Rogers.

Sailor Jack Carter has been marooned for ten years on a South Seas island, and treated as a King by natives. He is eventually rescued by the Royal Navy, who then use him to train up commandos to recover a stolen submarine, and to foil an oriental criminal plot.

Like several Shiner vehicles the film appeared to be a reworking of a 1930s British comedy, in this case Jack Ahoy.

Shiner's previous film for Rank had been Top of the Form directed by John Paddy Carstairs and produced by Paul Soskin. According to Hugh Stewart, Carstairs refused to work with Soskin again so Earl St John of Rank assigned the job to Stewart.

Stewart said "the thing did very well. And because I was able to do some comedy, but also cut loose a bit in terms of daft ideas I then." It led to him producing the films of Norman Wisdom.

The film was shot at Pinewood Studios near London with sets designed by the art director Alex Vetchinsky.

Brian Rix, who had a support role, later recalled "those were happy days. We were all glad to be working and we were all glad to be making films. None of us was in a position to be choosy about the scripts and, frankly, we didn’t want to be. Take the money, enjoy yourselves as much as possible and be grateful: that was our attitude."

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "This farce, reminiscent of the pre-war George Formby comedies, seems to have learnt nothing during the intervening years. Most of the jokes fall flat, the pace is forced and there are lapses into dubious taste. Ronald Shiner shouts his way through it all with high spirits and works hard with a script almost devoid of funny lines. Laya Raki, well equipped as the seductive spy, has little to do."