The Key West Art & Historical Society will present “Whisky Galore!” (released in the US as “Tight Little Island”) at 6:00pm on Thursday, February 18 in the Helmerich Research & Learning Center at the Custom House Museum, 281 Front Street.

The 1949 film is a lighthearted and exaggerated comedy directed by Alexander Mackendrick, starring Basil Radford, Joan Greenwood, Gordon Jackson and Catherine Lacey and is based on a true story of Scottish islanders who attempt to plunder many thousands of cases of whiskey from a stranded ship during a whiskey drought brought on by World War II rationing.

“This terrifically witty British film from the famed Ealing Studios gives us a bar-stool seat at life on an island, thirsty for the golden nectar, the “water of life,” says Key West Art & Historical Society Board member and film coordinator/host Michael Shields. “Key Westers will identify and laugh along on the slippery slope of what islanders will do to get their booze!”

The weekly film exhibits will alternate Thursdays at 6:00pm with the Society’s Distinguished Speaker Series, offering “films that expand our vistas and give us fresh views of our home,” continues Shields. “Whisky Galore!” was selected to complement the currently running Custom House exhibit, “Bars, Brews & Blues” and precedes Phil Greene’s Distinguished Speaker Series presentation “Hemingway’s Favorite Drinks.”

“Art As History, History As Art” film series is made possible in part by the generosity of the Helmerich Trust. Tickets for the event can be purchased online at KWAHS.ORG/LEARN: $5 for members, $10 for non-members. For more information about this and other programs please contact Adele Williams, Director of Education, at 305-295-6616, ext. 106. Your Museums. Your Community. It takes an Island.