An ancient motorboat chugs up a jungle waterway bringing entertainment to bored troops. It might be a scene from It Ain't Half Hot, Mum.
The man at the tiller, though, reckons the image belongs not to the sitcom about Second World War entertainers in uniform but in a classic film set during the other global conflict of the 20th century.
"It was like something out of The African Queen," says Don Ligertwood, name-checking the classic Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn film.
Don liked his movies. He spent a chunk of his career in the Royal Marines boosting morale and skills with the help of celluloid.
He was there at the end of an era. His 22-year career in a green beret witnessed the sun finally setting on the British Empire and the withdrawal east of Suez. He even made friends with one of the men who rose to power when Britain pulled back: Lee Kuan Yew, the "father" of Singapore and one of the most enduring politicians of east Asia.
Make that two eras. For much of his time in the Royal Marines his duties included being a cinema operator, showing films to amuse and educate, until TV and video took over from projector and screen.
If he had not been charged with showing the films, Don could have had a pretty good try at the kind of concert party entertainment that Lofty, Solly and the rest came up with in the jungles of India and Burma in the Jimmy Perry and David Croft TV series.
He joined the Royal Marines hoping to become a musician.
"I wanted to join the band because I could play the piano, accordion and saxophone," he said. "But they gave me a violin and told me to play it. I couldn't because I'd never tried. I could play any number of other instruments, but that made no difference. They told me, 'right, you are going to join the main service'."
Not that he was too distraught. Being a Royal Marine practically ran in Ligertwood blood. His father, Fred, and uncle, Peter, were both career Royal Marines. A cousin, Dougie, also proudly wore the Green Beret. Fred joined as a boy bugler at 16 and left as a colour sergeant. Peter, a captain in the Royal Marines Light Infantry, was killed in action in the First World War.
It was because of his father's service that Don grew up in Gosport. He was born there in 1936. A chunk of his childhood was spent in Scotland where he was evacuated to stay with family on a farm in Aberdeenshire to escape the German bombing in the Second World War. "I came back when I was about nine in 1945 having had virtually no schooling," says Don, now 77. "I got some when I came back to Gosport but I was more into my sport. I was quite athletic. I left school at 14 or 15 and got a job working as a projectionist in cinemas."
National Service meant he would have to spend a couple of years in uniform and with his family background Don was happy to commit himself for much longer. He signed up for 12 years.
His career would see him serve with 40, 41, 42, 43 and 45 Commando, on the light cruiser HMS Tiger, and be based at Deal, Eastleigh in Hampshire, and in Devon at the Lympstone training centre, Seaton and Bickleigh.
His training took in everything from driving to cinema operation and photography.
In the early 1950s he ran film shows in Stonehouse Barracks, Plymouth. Some were information and training shorts, while Hollywood and UK cinema releases were a big draw on weekend nights.
By 1955, though, TV was taking over and taking the audience for entertainment. "The last film I showed in Stonehouse was The Third Man, the Orson Welles film. I packed up the equipment and took it up to Deptford."
But on overseas deployments there was still an eager audience for the films. Don's service included Cyprus, what is now Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, Aden and two tours in Northern Ireland.
The postings in east Asia bring back strong memories, including on that old river boat in the waterways near Kuching, Borneo, in what is now Sarawak province in Malaysia, but was then the British colony of Malaya.
"I used to go out on the boat delivering mail to the outlying posts," says Don. "I asked if I could take a film with me to show to the troops.
"The lads would be really grateful. A crate of beer would be plonked down next to me while I showed the film. The films came mainly from the Army Cinematographic Corps and the RAF would occasionally supply some. I'd be told 'you'd better bring some cartoons with the film'."
As well as taking films out to forward operating posts in the jungle, he would also show films regularly in the officers' and the sergeants' messes and the Green Anchor corporals' club back at base.
It was not all play in those troubled last days of the British presence east of Suez. Communist insurgents led to casualties and some bitter fighting in Malaysia. In December, 1962, L Company of 42 Commando was tasked with taking back the town of Limbang in Sarawak province, Borneo. Rebels had taken over and were holding hostages. "We sorted them out, but lost seven men," says Don.
It was on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus in the mid-1950s that he had his closest scrape. The then British colony faced a rebellion by EOKA guerrillas who wanted a union with Greece.
In 1957 it was "a bit like Northern Ireland in the Troubles. We were facing riots and patrolling the streets collaring people.
"We were going around in open-top Jeeps and EOKA people were throwing grenades at us. A cache of ammunition was found out in a field by a search dog. We left it there and set up an ambush.
"Four armed men came back to find it. The lieutenant stood up next to us and challenged them and they shot him in the head, killing him. We kept our heads down and fired and killed all four of them."
In the late 1950s Singapore moved towards independence. It became a self-governing state in 1959. Don was offered the chance to return to the city to be the driver to Lieutenant Colonel D J Alexander, the head of the Royal Marines presence there as independence drew near.
He and his Plymothian wife, Barbara, were not keen. With three children aged ten and under it was a big move.
"But they were very persuasive. They even said I could take my car out there if I wanted.
"So we decided to go and all I had to pay was £10 to get my car shipped. It must have been the only three-wheel Reliant out there. We went everywhere, all over Singapore and peninsula Malaysia in it."
His day job was taking around and protecting Lt-Col Alexander. He drove with a 9mm pistol strapped to his leg.
"I used to go out on his yacht and I had a lot of free time with the family. Barbara became the bowls champion of Singapore!" He met Lee Kuan Yew socially on an evening off. "He was very friendly, very chatty.
"He asked what I was drinking and I said a horse's neck [brandy, ginger and lemon]. He ordered two, one for himself.
"I saw him quite a bit. He loved his golf."
Don and family headed home as the British pulled back. His service continued until 1976. He left as a "local" corporal after 22 years. He could not fully make the rank as he failed the maths exam, a legacy of that lack of schooling in his years as an evacuee.
He and Barbara have three daughters, Diana, Sharon and Heather (the youngest, who was born after the Singapore posting) and a son, Neil. All live in Plymouth, apart from Sharon who lives in Brisbane.
Don worked for a private security firm and then became manager of Moorcroft Quarry, Plymstock, until retirement.
Home is in Honicknowle and to many elderly people in Plymouth he is Al Dougie, who dresses in Second World War-era garb to continue entertaining as he did so often in uniform.
His informal gigs in old folks' homes with DJ kit, piano, accordion and banjo ain't half a hot ticket.
