The holiday season is over
Jan. 1st, 2017 08:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dimity_blueI've been keeping myself amused this week by watching Carry On films. As un-pc and silly as they are, I mostly enjoyed them.
First up was Carry On Abroad. Vic (Sid James) is planning a holiday in the Spanish resort of Elsbels. *is ridiculously amused by that* He intends to spend the holiday with Sadie (Barbara Windsor) but his wife, Cora (Joan Sims), finds out and scuppers his plans by going too.
Stuart Farquhar (Kenneth Williams), who's armed with a clipboard, is in charge of the trip and determined to make sure everyone enjoys themselves. Unfortunately for Stuart, their hotel isn't quite completed (it just needs another 5 floors or so), and the staff are struggling to cope. The staff is mainly comprised of Pepe (Peter Butterworth) as the doorman, manager, porter, switchboard operator, but he has his wife, Floella (Hattie Jacques), and son, Georgio (Ray Brooks), to help out.
The tourists spend a night in jail thanks to Eustace Tuttle (Charles Hawtrey) and his determination to play leapfrog with Madame Fifi's girls, but they're back at the hotel for the last evening's party. There's lots of champagne, lots of rain, and the hotel is build on a dry riverbed...
I really enjoyed this one. I liked the romance between Marge (Carol Hawkins) and Brother Bernard (Bernard Bresslaw), who's not quite cut out to be a monk. I didn't like how Nicholas (David Kernan) treated his friend Robin (John Clive), but that was the one drawback. Peter Butterworth is awesome as Pepe, running back and forth, trying to ensure "Mr. Farky-har" and his guests have a good time, while helping Floella with "the blooding stove".
It makes me smile that all the cast signed on thinking they'd be filming in sunny Spain only to find themselves filming in Pinewood Studio's car park. June Whitfield makes a rare appearance as Kenneth Connor's icy wife, while Charles Hawtrey makes his last appearance in the films.
Carry On Cruising. Captain Crowther (Sid James) has built up a good crew around him on his cruise ship, the SS Happy Wanderer. Unfortunately, 5 of them have left and he's stuck with 5 complete strangers making a right muck up of his ship.
I didn't really enjoy this one that much, despite my fondness for Kenneth Connor (ship's doctor, Arthur Binn). I remembered enjoying it in the past but this time I was rather bored by it. It starred Dilys Laye too, and I usually like her.
Carry On Camping. Sid Boggle (Sid James) and Bernie Lugg (Bernard Bresslaw) are going camping with their girlfriends Joan Fussey (Joan Sims) and Anthea Meeks (Dilys Laye, who was also in Carry On Cruising). Sid's plan is to get them all to a nudist camp and let nature take its course. To Sid's disappointment, the camping site run by Mr. Fiddler (Peter Butterworth), that Sid's just paid 10 quid (a large sum in 1969) to camp on, isn't nudist at all! He brightens up though when a bus load of teen girls arrives from Chayste Place, a finishing school.
I really enjoyed this one as well. Not for the Sid and Bernie plot, but for Terry Scott's ignored husband Peter Potter. His wife, Harriet (Betty Marsden) knows Peter loves camping, and knows he's only too happy to share their 2-person tent with Charlie Muggins (Charles Hawtrey), whose own tent was lost. Peter finally snaps (after one of the teen girls sleeps with him), chucks Charlie out on his ear, and asserts himself. His wife later meekly agrees that next year they'll go on a ferry to France and throw all the camping gear overboard halfway.
The filming was done in the autumn but is set in summer, which led to a lot of work as the leaves on the trees had to be painted green.
Carry On Henry. Historical documents have revealed Henry VIII had 2 more wives than previously thought. Henry (Sid James) is only too glad to see the back of one wife (a brief appearance from Patsy Rowlands) before marrying Marie of France (Joan Sims). Unfortunately, she's a fan of the garlic and refuses to stop eating it. Henry can't go near her, declares she has to go and demands a divorce. Thomas Cromwell (Kenneth Williams) and Cardinal Wolsey (Terry Scott) swing into action. Things are easier for them when it turns out Queen Marie is pregnant by Sir Roger de Lodgerley (Charles Hawtrey), the King's taster. After torture, he's persuaded to confess but then the King of France (Peter Gilmore) declares his wedding gift to Henry will be 50,000 crowns...
I usually enjoy the historical Carry Ons and this one's no exception. Apparently, the production team took advantage of the recently filmed Anne of a Thousand Days and nicked all the costumes so there's a high budget feel to the film. It doesn't hurt that the film features Peter Gilmore at his most dashing as a French-accented King Francis of France, who snatches up Henry's next intended bride from under his very nose.
Carry On Up the Jungle. Another historical one! This time they're off to Africa. Professor Tinkle (Frankie Howerd) and his assistant Chumley (Kenneth Connor) are in search of the Oozelum bird, while Lady Evelyn Bagley is in search of her lost son's nappy pin. The baby disappeared 20 years earlier along with his father (Charles Hawtrey), who was supposedly eaten by an alligator. Bill Boosey (Sid James) is leading the expedition. June (Jacki Piper), Evelyn's companion, meets and falls in love with Ugh (Terry Scott), Evelyn's long lost son. Unfortunately for the ones on the expedition, they're captured by the Nosher tribe who plan on making a meal of them. They're rescued in the nick of time by the Lubby-Dubbies, an Amazonion tribe of women, who take them to meet their leader, Tonka, who's led them for 20 years...
This is another favourite of mine. I really like Jacki Piper and she's so sweet as June. Terry Scott is hilarious as Ugh who doesn't know English or women.
Carry On Doctor. Another Frankie Howerd film. This time, he's Francis Bigger who asserts nothing will happen to you if you think the Bigger way! Then he falls off stage and bruises his dignity. He's rushed to hospital and put in a ward with a determined malinger, Charlie (Sid James), a man who's suffering from sympathetic pregnancy symptoms, Mr. Barron (Charles Hawtrey), and the Invisable Man. But beneath the starched apron beats a passionate heart, especially in the case of Nurse May (Barbara Windsor) who's harbouring a long-standing crush for Dr. Tinkle (Kenneth Williams). She invades his room but is seen by Dr. Kilmore (Jim Dale) and the matron (Hattie Jacques). Upon being rejected, Nurse Mays declares she'd rather die than live without Dr. Tinkle's love. So when Dr. Kilmore sees her sunbathing on the hospital rooftop, he assumes she's going to jump and rushes to the rescue. One inquiry later, Dr. Tinkle and the matron deny his claim of Nurse May in Dr. Tinkle's room, Nurse May can't back Dr. Kilmore up as she's been transferred, and Dr. Kilmore is fired. The patients, however, won't take it lying down, and stage a revolt and force confessions out of matron and the dastardly Dr. Tinkle.
This has Jim Dale in it, so it's another favourite. There's a sweet subplot of Ken Biddle (Bernard Bresslaw) falling in love with a fellow patient, Mavis (Dilys Laye again) and persuading his visitor (Julian Orchard) to lend Ken his clothes so he can sneak off to visit Mavis in the next ward.
Next up is Carry On Up the Khyber, which stars another favourite, Angela Douglas as the Kharsi's daughter, and has Wanda Ventham as the Kharsi's first wife in a brief cameo.
First up was Carry On Abroad. Vic (Sid James) is planning a holiday in the Spanish resort of Elsbels. *is ridiculously amused by that* He intends to spend the holiday with Sadie (Barbara Windsor) but his wife, Cora (Joan Sims), finds out and scuppers his plans by going too.
Stuart Farquhar (Kenneth Williams), who's armed with a clipboard, is in charge of the trip and determined to make sure everyone enjoys themselves. Unfortunately for Stuart, their hotel isn't quite completed (it just needs another 5 floors or so), and the staff are struggling to cope. The staff is mainly comprised of Pepe (Peter Butterworth) as the doorman, manager, porter, switchboard operator, but he has his wife, Floella (Hattie Jacques), and son, Georgio (Ray Brooks), to help out.
The tourists spend a night in jail thanks to Eustace Tuttle (Charles Hawtrey) and his determination to play leapfrog with Madame Fifi's girls, but they're back at the hotel for the last evening's party. There's lots of champagne, lots of rain, and the hotel is build on a dry riverbed...
I really enjoyed this one. I liked the romance between Marge (Carol Hawkins) and Brother Bernard (Bernard Bresslaw), who's not quite cut out to be a monk. I didn't like how Nicholas (David Kernan) treated his friend Robin (John Clive), but that was the one drawback. Peter Butterworth is awesome as Pepe, running back and forth, trying to ensure "Mr. Farky-har" and his guests have a good time, while helping Floella with "the blooding stove".
It makes me smile that all the cast signed on thinking they'd be filming in sunny Spain only to find themselves filming in Pinewood Studio's car park. June Whitfield makes a rare appearance as Kenneth Connor's icy wife, while Charles Hawtrey makes his last appearance in the films.
Carry On Cruising. Captain Crowther (Sid James) has built up a good crew around him on his cruise ship, the SS Happy Wanderer. Unfortunately, 5 of them have left and he's stuck with 5 complete strangers making a right muck up of his ship.
I didn't really enjoy this one that much, despite my fondness for Kenneth Connor (ship's doctor, Arthur Binn). I remembered enjoying it in the past but this time I was rather bored by it. It starred Dilys Laye too, and I usually like her.
Carry On Camping. Sid Boggle (Sid James) and Bernie Lugg (Bernard Bresslaw) are going camping with their girlfriends Joan Fussey (Joan Sims) and Anthea Meeks (Dilys Laye, who was also in Carry On Cruising). Sid's plan is to get them all to a nudist camp and let nature take its course. To Sid's disappointment, the camping site run by Mr. Fiddler (Peter Butterworth), that Sid's just paid 10 quid (a large sum in 1969) to camp on, isn't nudist at all! He brightens up though when a bus load of teen girls arrives from Chayste Place, a finishing school.
I really enjoyed this one as well. Not for the Sid and Bernie plot, but for Terry Scott's ignored husband Peter Potter. His wife, Harriet (Betty Marsden) knows Peter loves camping, and knows he's only too happy to share their 2-person tent with Charlie Muggins (Charles Hawtrey), whose own tent was lost. Peter finally snaps (after one of the teen girls sleeps with him), chucks Charlie out on his ear, and asserts himself. His wife later meekly agrees that next year they'll go on a ferry to France and throw all the camping gear overboard halfway.
The filming was done in the autumn but is set in summer, which led to a lot of work as the leaves on the trees had to be painted green.
Carry On Henry. Historical documents have revealed Henry VIII had 2 more wives than previously thought. Henry (Sid James) is only too glad to see the back of one wife (a brief appearance from Patsy Rowlands) before marrying Marie of France (Joan Sims). Unfortunately, she's a fan of the garlic and refuses to stop eating it. Henry can't go near her, declares she has to go and demands a divorce. Thomas Cromwell (Kenneth Williams) and Cardinal Wolsey (Terry Scott) swing into action. Things are easier for them when it turns out Queen Marie is pregnant by Sir Roger de Lodgerley (Charles Hawtrey), the King's taster. After torture, he's persuaded to confess but then the King of France (Peter Gilmore) declares his wedding gift to Henry will be 50,000 crowns...
I usually enjoy the historical Carry Ons and this one's no exception. Apparently, the production team took advantage of the recently filmed Anne of a Thousand Days and nicked all the costumes so there's a high budget feel to the film. It doesn't hurt that the film features Peter Gilmore at his most dashing as a French-accented King Francis of France, who snatches up Henry's next intended bride from under his very nose.
Carry On Up the Jungle. Another historical one! This time they're off to Africa. Professor Tinkle (Frankie Howerd) and his assistant Chumley (Kenneth Connor) are in search of the Oozelum bird, while Lady Evelyn Bagley is in search of her lost son's nappy pin. The baby disappeared 20 years earlier along with his father (Charles Hawtrey), who was supposedly eaten by an alligator. Bill Boosey (Sid James) is leading the expedition. June (Jacki Piper), Evelyn's companion, meets and falls in love with Ugh (Terry Scott), Evelyn's long lost son. Unfortunately for the ones on the expedition, they're captured by the Nosher tribe who plan on making a meal of them. They're rescued in the nick of time by the Lubby-Dubbies, an Amazonion tribe of women, who take them to meet their leader, Tonka, who's led them for 20 years...
This is another favourite of mine. I really like Jacki Piper and she's so sweet as June. Terry Scott is hilarious as Ugh who doesn't know English or women.
Carry On Doctor. Another Frankie Howerd film. This time, he's Francis Bigger who asserts nothing will happen to you if you think the Bigger way! Then he falls off stage and bruises his dignity. He's rushed to hospital and put in a ward with a determined malinger, Charlie (Sid James), a man who's suffering from sympathetic pregnancy symptoms, Mr. Barron (Charles Hawtrey), and the Invisable Man. But beneath the starched apron beats a passionate heart, especially in the case of Nurse May (Barbara Windsor) who's harbouring a long-standing crush for Dr. Tinkle (Kenneth Williams). She invades his room but is seen by Dr. Kilmore (Jim Dale) and the matron (Hattie Jacques). Upon being rejected, Nurse Mays declares she'd rather die than live without Dr. Tinkle's love. So when Dr. Kilmore sees her sunbathing on the hospital rooftop, he assumes she's going to jump and rushes to the rescue. One inquiry later, Dr. Tinkle and the matron deny his claim of Nurse May in Dr. Tinkle's room, Nurse May can't back Dr. Kilmore up as she's been transferred, and Dr. Kilmore is fired. The patients, however, won't take it lying down, and stage a revolt and force confessions out of matron and the dastardly Dr. Tinkle.
This has Jim Dale in it, so it's another favourite. There's a sweet subplot of Ken Biddle (Bernard Bresslaw) falling in love with a fellow patient, Mavis (Dilys Laye again) and persuading his visitor (Julian Orchard) to lend Ken his clothes so he can sneak off to visit Mavis in the next ward.
Next up is Carry On Up the Khyber, which stars another favourite, Angela Douglas as the Kharsi's daughter, and has Wanda Ventham as the Kharsi's first wife in a brief cameo.
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(no subject)
Date: 2017-01-01 10:05 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2017-01-02 06:51 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2017-01-01 10:34 pm (UTC)I love the Carry Ons. So silly and such fun.
(no subject)
Date: 2017-01-02 06:52 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2017-01-02 03:23 am (UTC)I suspect that Morecambe and Wise fulfil the same aim for me as Carry On films do for you. When I was in the UK in 2008 we went to Morecambe and had our pics taken with Eric's statue at the esplanade. I only half-joked that I felt as if I'd been on holy pilgrimage.
(no subject)
Date: 2017-01-02 06:53 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2017-01-02 01:37 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2017-01-02 06:54 pm (UTC)