Green Grow The Rushes

1734. GREEN GROW THE RUSHES (1951-England). With ROGER LIVESEY, HONOR BLACKMAN, RICHARD BURTON. Utterly charming, clever comedy-satire from Merry Old England,- about the inhabitants Of a Kent fishing village/fanning community who-horror Of horrors-are involved in illegal brandy smuggling. Only they don’t feel that they are breaking any law: they’ve been doing so for centuries, and believe that they are within their rights because Of an obscure, age-old charter which granted their freedom from the Mother Country. The scenario is set into motion when some nosy government agricultural inspectors (who, most appropriately, are depicted as bureaucratic boobs) finally are on to the fact that something indeed is fishy in Kent. You will not want to miss this if only for the presence Of a tousle- haired, strikingly handsome, 26-year-old actor named Richard Burton, in his fifth screen appearance (and final British film before coming to Hollywood and earning instant international stardom). He’s cast as Robert Hammond, a fisherman involved in a major way with the smuggling. As the story unravels, he sparks the interest Of an attractive-but very nosy-reporter. 79 minutes. Comedy