Thank goodness for Cary Grant.

He makes this naive family comedy seem at times the quintessence of wit.

Playing a sockless, unshaven, whiskey-swilling beachcomber in the Pacific during World War Two, he's blackmailed into spying for the Allies by wily old officer Trevor Howard, who reveals the whereabouts of a bottle of whiskey hidden on Grant's island for every snippet of information sent.

What Grant doesn't bargain for are teacher Leslie Caron and her seven schoolgirl charges, who get cast away on the island with him.

As long as Grant has the upper hand in his running battle with the flock of females, the film remains funny.

When it's the other way round, it's frequently embarrassing, thanks to an uncharacteristically heavy performance by Caron that almost sinks the ship.