01/14/08:
CARRY ON CLEO (Gerald Thomas, 1964) 
This is surely one of the most popular “Carry Ons”, a spoof on the notoriously expensive CLEOPATRA (1963) and was in fact shot on abandoned sets built in London for that film! The cast is in top form here – Sidney James is Marc Antony, Kenneth Williams Julius Caesar, Joan Sims is Calpurnia (Caesar’s wife), Charles Hatwrey Seneca (philosopher and Sims’ father); Kenneth Connor (as Hengist Pod, the inventor of a square wheel and who eventually does a stint as Caesar’s ‘invincible’ bodyguard) and Jim Dale are featured as early Britons; Amanda Barrie – who had previously appeared in CARRY ON CABBY (1963) – makes for a delightful Cleopatra.
Though emerging to be somewhat patchy considering its reputation, there are some undeniably uproarious moments throughout – the Roman soldier throwing a shield at Dale during a scuffle and hitting Connor squarely in the face; the famous carpet-rolling scene introducing Cleopatra in the 1963 Hollywood epic being directly lampooned here by having the Egyptian queen roll under a table replenished with food and spilling its contents onto herself and the floor; untrue to history, Antony connives with Cleopatra to murder Caesar and become Emperor himself – she suggests using a poisonous asp and hands him one from a basket, which he mistakes for a local delicacy and promptly bites off its head! Talbot Rothwell’s script also includes a running gag involving the famous “Friends, Romans, Countrymen” Shakespearean speech, as well as an in-joke wherein a couple of traders merge their business – to be known from then on as “Marcus & Spencius”!
01/15/08:
CARRY ON SCREAMING! (Gerald Thomas, 1966)
This delightful spoof on the contemporaneous – and equally popular – Hammer Horror style is undeniably a highlight of the “Carry On” series: the film is remarkably evocative with respect to color scheme, sets, lighting, even the score (though the rock’n’roll title track is somewhat unwarranted)…but, then, it’s regrettably neglected whenever genre parodies are discussed (in my opinion, it’s a must for any Hammer devotee)!
The presence of series stalwarts Sidney James and Kenneth Connor is missed here; however, atypical ‘recruits’ Harry H. Corbett (in his one and only “Carry On”) and Fenella Fielding (as a Morticia Addams-type nymphomaniac – she had appeared in CARRY ON REGARDLESS [1961] as well as Hammer’s own spoof, THE OLD DARK HOUSE [1963]) more than make up for this. Among the typical horror elements we find here are Kenneth Williams as Mad Scientist, Zombie and Invisible Man all rolled into one, two Frankenstein Monsters named Oddbod and Oddbod Jr. (a nod, no doubt, to Oddjob from the James Bond adventure GOLDFINGER [1964] – it’s interesting that the second creature is generated when electricity is applied merely to the missing finger of the first), two separate Hydes, a Mummy, plenty of wax figures, a sinister-looking butler, etc. Incidentally, the police investigation is redolent of a Holmes/Watson mystery (after all, Hammer themselves had filmed a version of THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES [1959]) – with Corbett and Peter Butterworth making for a great bumbling pair of sleuths.
Series regular Charles Hawtrey only has a bit part here as a tell-tale lavatory attendant/gardener, but his messy death is hilarious; ditto future Dr. Who Jon Pertwee as an eccentric police-lab technician – ironically, there’s a “Who’s On First?”-type routine concerning Williams’ character (called Dr. Watt)! Jim Dale and Angela Douglas are again the young lovers, while Joan Sims’ role is practically a repeat of her nagging wife from CARRY ON CLEO (1964). By the way, the flustered mannequin shop owner is played by Frank Thornton, later of the ARE YOU BEING SERVED? (1972) TV series. As expected, Talbot Rothwell’s script contains a lot of unsubtle puns – but the film itself is capped by quite a terrific (if hysterical) climax to rival Hammer’s best efforts.
01/16/08:
CARRY ON DOCTOR (Gerald Thomas, 1967) 
The second of four “Carry Ons” dealing with the medical establishment is certainly a comedown from the first – CARRY ON NURSE (1959), to which there is even an unsubtle reference at one point – if still quite tolerable and intermittently inspired. Amusingly, the film sports a barrage of fake alternate names – hence the full title shown onscreen in the opening credits sequence is CARRY ON DOCTOR, OR NURSE CARRIES ON AGAIN OR, DEATH OF A DAFFODIL OR, LIFE IS A FOUR-LETTER WARD – A BEDPANORAMA OF HOSPITAL LIFE.
Ironically, it was originally conceived as being the last of the series – hence the idea to return to the environment of their first true success for the swan song! Of course, the series not only lasted for another decade but produced some of their best (and very worst) entries during that twilight period. Furthermore, this was also intended as a closure to another long-running film comedy series – the “Doctor” films which had started with DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE (1954) that were produced by “Carry On” producer Peter Rogers’ own wife, Betty Box – which explains the portrait of a stalwart of that series, James Robertson Justice, finding itself hanging on the walls of the hospital in which this film is set!
Apart from the fact that they returned to the present-day after half a dozen period pieces…er…genre spoofs, they also introduced other celebrities into the fold, most prominently Frankie Howerd (who is even top billed here). Usual “Carry On” lead Sidney James had suffered a heart attack before shooting began, and this probably necessitated the introduction of Howerd – as well as confining James’ character mostly to a hospital bed practically for the film’s whole duration! Most of the usual members of the gang are here: the afore-mentioned James (who is here nagged to distraction by wife Dandy Nichols), Kenneth Williams (the feared Dr. Tingle, who himself fears new recruit Windsor!), Charles Hawtrey (as a husband suffering the pregnancy pains felt by his wife?!), Joan Sims (as Howerd’s devoted and practically deaf assistant), Hattie Jacques (as the matron who has the hots for Williams!), Barbara Windsor (the new nurse whose busomy figure and skimpy outfits gets every male patients’ temperature to boiling point), Jim Dale (as Williams’ amiably accident-prone ‘rival’) , Bernard Bresslaw (as the chap who underwent an appendectomy surgery but stayed on after breaking his leg from falling off the operating table!) and Peter Butterworth (quite wasted as another appendectomy patient); for whatever reason, one of the patients turns out to be The Invisible Man!
As I said before, there is some good stuff in here mostly provided by Howerd (as a charlatan faith healer who injures his backside and misunderstands Williams’ diagnosis as having a mere week to live!), Dale (his rooftop antics after misreading Windsor’s intentions to sunbathe as a suicide attempt is one of the film’s comic highlights) and Bresslaw (who keeps convincing his visiting friend to swap clothes with him so that he can go see an attractive but lonely patient in the women’s ward). Even so, the film is definitely unbalanced by having two ultra-campy performers – Howerd and Williams – letting rip in it (which perhaps explains why the equally effeminate Hawtrey is atypically restrained here). Furthermore, the cruder aspects of the “Carry On” brand of humor, not to mention a more frenzied gag structure, have clearly started to take center stage here – to the eventual detriment of the genteel sophistication and genial characterizations displayed in earlier, better films like CARRY ON NURSE itself and CARRY ON TEACHER (1959).
01/16/08:
CARRY ON LAUGHING: THE BARON OUTLOOK (TV) (Alan Tarrant, 1975)
The medieval setting in this one suffers due to the obvious low budget (with the action mostly confined indoors). It’s saved, however, by a cast comprised of several old reliables: Sidney James as a lazy Baron; Joan Sims as his nagging wife; Kenneth Connor as a knight well past his prime; Peter Butterworth as a lecherous priest; Barbara Windsor, then, tries to pass off as a knight during an attack (the minimal action footage has been lifted outright from Laurence Olivier’s HENRY V [1944]!), is captured and sent off to James as his prisoner. David Lodge is a castle inspector whom the Baron bribes to overlook the place’s dilapidated state; he breaks his leg and has to stay on. The episode is a bit thin on plot but, as I said, eminently watchable just the same.
01/17/08:
CARRY ON ABROAD (Gerald Thomas, 1972)
To begin with, I had previously caught a bit from this one on TV while channel-surfing when in London in September 1999! Like CARRY ON DOCTOR (1967), this is another multi-title offering: CARRY ON ABROAD, OR WHAT A PACKAGE, OR IT’S ALL IN OR, SWISS HOLS IN THE SNOW! While this is essentially a second-tier “Carry On”, it proved to be consistently enjoyable – which is why I went for a higher rating than I had myself anticipated; even so, there are a bit too many gay stereotypes here and it’s marred somewhat by the flat TV-style look.
Incidentally the hotel shenanigans which take up most of the running-time anticipate the FAWLTY TOWERS (1975) TV series. By the way, this turned out to be Charles Hawtrey’s final “Carry On” – unfortunately, he doesn’t get to do much…but, then, neither does Kenneth Williams as the tour leader (he’s even given an unconvincing romance with a pretty young colleague). On the other hand, Peter Butterworth is at his best as the multi-purpose hotel manager who speaks in broken English (with Hattie Jacques as his massive and grumpy backwoods wife). Among the guests are Sidney James, who’s married to Joan Sims but his eyes are constantly on Barbara Windsor!; Sims herself draws the attention of gallant but henpecked Kenneth Connor. There are also a number of youngsters thrown into the fray, as well as a manly Scot, and a group of monks (one of whom, Bernard Bresslaw, is allowed to strike a friendship with one of the girls – her companion, incidentally, is played by Sally Geeson from Norman Wisdom’s WHAT’S GOOD FOR THE GOOSE [1969], which I watched recently).
As I said, many hilarious gags revolve around the run-down condition of the unfinished hotel – but the scene shifts halfway through to an outing in town (which turns into a massive scuffle and lands the group in jail); the climactic farewell party, then, sees the hotel – literally on its last legs – as it’s flooded and crumbling around them. CARRY ON ABROAD (on which a certain Sun Tan Lo Tion served as technical advisorJ) is one of the more satisfying latter-day efforts from the gang – but, ultimately, it’s a notch below classic series titles such as CARRY ON COWBOY (1965), CARRY ON SCREAMING! (1966) and CARRY ON…UP THE KHYBER (1968).
01/17/08:
CARRY ON LAUGHING: SHORT KNIGHT, LONG DAZE (TV) (Alan Tarrant, 1975)
This one’s a good entry in the alternate “Carry On” series, once again revolving around a medieval theme. Kenneth Connor is an unlikely, pint-sized King Arthur (he’s possibly my favorite actor from the gang and perhaps the most underrated), Peter Butterworth is a bumbling Merlin, Joan Sims a flirtatious Guinevere, Jack Douglas (a late but welcome addition to the “Carry On” team) is the effeminate Sir Gay(!), Bernard Bresslaw the imposing knight who’s supposed to defend the King’s valor but prefers to spend time with the Queen!
A jousting tournament intending to showcase the cowardly Bresslaw’s prowess sees Connor and Butterworth – with the dubious help of Douglas – cheat by devising a concoction capable of rendering the latter invisible to slay the proposed challengers; on the day of the event, however, the effect wears off and they have to resort to a different weapon! Incidentally, that same year, the Monty Python gang – who started out in TV and
then went into features – made a big-screen (and obviously superior) lampoon of Arthurian times with the classic MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL (1975).
01/18/08:
CARRY ON SERGEANT (Gerald Thomas, 1958)
The first “Carry On” is not among the best: it’s an all-too-typical army comedy, albeit an agreeable one. William Hartnell stars as a Sergeant about to retire but who has yet to win a contest for leading his barracks’ finest platoon, so he determines to achieve just this with his last batch of recruits – unfortunately for him, these include Kenneth Connor, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Bob Monkhouse, Terence Longdon and Norman Rossington (actually, such a dumb subject that he’s been rejected by several previous outfits and has been stranded in the camp ever since)! As can be seen, this same plot would eventually be worked into two later series outings – CARRY ON TEACHER (1959), down to the sentimental ending, and CARRY ON, CONSTABLE (1960), with Eric Barker once again as the disciplinarian but flustered Captain.
Shirley Eaton provides the eye-candy as Monkhouse’s fresh bride, who contrives to get a job in the barracks’ kitchen in order to be near him; her companion, ugly-duckling Dora Bryan, has set her eyes on hypochondriac Connor (who is forever appearing before medical officer Hattie Jacques with some mysterious ailment or other, until she decides to have him undertake a thorough test by several specialists so as to declare him physically fit once and for all!). Hawtrey is typically bumbling; Williams scores best as a smug, know-it-all recruit (he plays it quite straight and, again, variations of this were seen in CARRY ON NURSE [1959] and CARRY ON, CONSTABLE). Needless to say, once the boys realize what the outcome of their training would mean for the long-suffering Hartnell, they put their best foot forward to send him home with his well-deserved prize in tow.
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