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Carry On... Thread

SandySandy Somewhere in Europe
edited August 2012 in General Movies & TV Posts: 4,012
There is always this big discussion going on between those who like Bond films to be more serious and those who prefer the lighter ones. I am usually on the serious side but I have to confess I have a love for camp, perhaps not so much in Bond films but certainly in another glorious product of Pinewood studios: Carry On...

I started watching these films as a child, they would show up on tv in the afternoon and I would watch them with my grandparents. I often wonder now if it was child-adequate but that was not a concern when I was a kid and I certainly didn't understand some of the jokes. That didn't stop me from enjoying them! I must have watched some of them dozens of times throughout the years and I still enjoy them, even though I know the jokes by heart :)

I was wondering if other fellow members share this cinematic sin with me of if I am alone in this. So let's share love (or hate) for the Carry On films in this thread.
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Comments

  • MajorDSmytheMajorDSmythe "I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it."Moderator
    Posts: 14,040
    I too prefer my Bond films to be more in the vein of thrillers, but like anyone I love a good (non-Bond) comedy.
    As for for the Carry On films, i'm partial to 'Carry On Behind'. It's one of the later ones so it's rarely called one of the best. It features Elke Sommer, so I don't need to be in any specifici mood to watch it and and Kenneth Connor is sheer class...

    "I don't want it all, I just want a bit."
  • SandySandy Somewhere in Europe
    Posts: 4,012
    I love Carry On Behind! It's one of my favourites, so silly. I'm partial to Carry On films that involve Camping (no pun intended).
  • Lancaster007Lancaster007 Shrublands Health Clinic, England
    Posts: 1,874
    Like Bond, my Carry On film watching as a pre-teen was at our local town hall which every summer for two nights a week (Wed and Sat I think) was turned into a cinema (a company from Exeter came and set up the seating and projector) and we used to see all sorts of films, but every year there was always a Bond and always a Carry On, and when exiting the film we always used to look at the poster that had been put up for the following week's film and the Bond and Carry On posters were always a delight to see. Saw some of the best here (though I did miss out on Carry On Camping as my parents thought I was too young to see, though my brother came back and told me you got to see Barbara Windsor's tits!), Kyber, Jungle, Convenience, Henry, etc. Harmless fun, juvenile, yes, but there's nothing wrong with that. Ooo Matron…
  • SandySandy Somewhere in Europe
    Posts: 4,012
    Carry on Camping is probably my favourite and most watched. I have to tell you this, everytime someone calls Barbara Broccoli Babs I always, always feel like laughing because I get an image in my mind of Barbara Windsor in this very film as Babs!
  • myworldisenoughmyworldisenough
    Posts: 1,143
    Carry on Camping is a personal favourite of mine. As a whole the Carry On films are daft, silly, irrelevant and predicable but have the naughty sea-side postcard charm that is fun. They do share a little in common with Bond, namely the saucy lines, double Entendre..
  • SandySandy Somewhere in Europe
    Posts: 4,012
    myworldisenough wrote:
    Carry on Camping is a personal favourite of mine. As a whole the Carry On films are daft, silly, irrelevant and predicable but have the naughty sea-side postcard charm that is fun. They do share a little in common with Bond, namely the saucy lines, double Entendre..

    That's what is fun about these films! They are terrible, badly acted, etc but they are truly funny. They are my cinematic sin :\"> but they have a charm of their own.
  • RogueAgentRogueAgent
    Posts: 12,526
    Love the carry on films! Definately my sort of humour! Can easily sit down and watch anyone of them. :))
  • St_GeorgeSt_George Shuttling Drax's lovelies to the space doughnut - happy 40th, MR!
    Posts: 1,699
    My fave Carry Ons are Camping, Cowboy and especially Up The Khyber and At Your Convenience - the latter two being not just two of the funniest, but two of the wittiest and cleverest too. They're practically satire in places.

    Very partial to the Carry On series, can't lie, and have a soft (if that's the right word) spot for Angela Douglas and Jackie Piper...

    http://georgesjournal.wordpress.com/2010/11/05/angela-douglas-jacki-piper-carry-on-girls/
  • myworldisenoughmyworldisenough
    Posts: 1,143
    Watching Carry on Camping now. Very good fun, haven't seen it for ages! Babs finest hour.
  • thelivingroyalethelivingroyale
    Posts: 12,837
    Carry on Screaming is my fave.
  • SandySandy Somewhere in Europe
    Posts: 4,012
    I guess this weekend I'll have a Carry on marathon. Any fans of Carry on Doctor and Carry on again Doctor?
  • RC7RC7
    Posts: 10,512
    thelivingroyale wrote:
    Carry on Screaming is my fave.

    Mine too. Aside from the Bond series it's probably my most watched film. I must have seen it between about 75-100 times.

    I've written a comedy pilot in the same vein, parodying the hammer films.

    I've always liked 'Don't lose your head', 'Dick', 'Up the Khyber' and 'Camping' but 'Screaming' is just a gem. If anyone here hasn't seen it, get it.


  • bondsumbondsum
    Posts: 3,334
    I love all the Carry On movies probably up to the 70s when they started to get a bit tired. Personal favourites include: Carry On Jack; Cleo; Khyber; Screaming: Doctor.
  • 4EverBonded4EverBonded the Ballrooms of Mars
    Posts: 12,489
    I have never seen any. :(

    And I am pretty sure I can't rent them in Japan. If you can keep telling me your favorites, then maybe I'll buy one or two. I love a good laugh.
  • largo2largo2
    Posts: 469
    carry on screaming - FRYING TONIGHT !! one of the greatest comedy series that this country has ever produced
    Amazing how hard it is to find carry on columbus on dvd region 2 version
  • SandySandy Somewhere in Europe
    Posts: 4,012
    @4EverBonded I'm pretty sure you can watch some of them on Youtube ;) I guess they should not be easy to find in Japan, in Germany they certainly aren't and that is how I have watched some of them since I moved here.
  • St_GeorgeSt_George Shuttling Drax's lovelies to the space doughnut - happy 40th, MR!
    Posts: 1,699
    largo2 wrote:
    Amazing how hard it is to find carry on columbus on dvd region 2 version

    That's probably a blessing in disguise, mind... ;)
  • SandySandy Somewhere in Europe
    Posts: 4,012
    St_George wrote:
    largo2 wrote:
    Amazing how hard it is to find carry on columbus on dvd region 2 version

    That's probably a blessing in disguise, mind... ;)

    That one is probably my least favourite. I believe it was the last of the series!?
  • RogueAgentRogueAgent
    Posts: 12,526
    ooooohhhhhh!!!! Matron!!! 8-}
  • SandySandy Somewhere in Europe
    Posts: 4,012
    I found the trailer for Carry On Spying, 1964. I think it is safe to say this was probably the first Bond spoof?
    [url]<object width="420" height="315"><param name="movie" value="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/mVtoztPJMoM?version=3&hl=pt_PT"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/mVtoztPJMoM?version=3&hl=pt_PT"; type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="420" height="315" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>[/url]
  • thelordflasheartthelordflasheart
    Posts: 1,370
    When I was in junior high school the Carry On films were played at midnight on TV...I'd try to catch a few minutes of them before my parents told me that it was too late, or that the films "weren't appropriate".

    There's a quick bit from a film that I saw and I can't remember if it was a Carry On film or not. This was a long time ago so I may be "misremembering"...

    In the film (black and white as I recall) a crotchety older officer had to prepare female recruits - much to his chagrin - to be in the army. One day they all came out of the barracks in their uniforms that included skirts. The man was yelling at them that the next morning he wanted them all in "just trousers". The next morning they all came running out wearing trousers - but topless. "Just trousers", as he said...

    The reason that this sticks in my mind is that when I mentioned it to a friend of mine (who had grown up in England) on the Monday he told me that the sergeant was William Hartnell (the first Doctor Who) and that the main girl was Shirley Eaton. I can see that they were in Carry On Sergeant together but no mention of this scene. Was it a different film, or am I remembering it wrong?
  • SandySandy Somewhere in Europe
    Posts: 4,012
    @thelordflasheart it's been a few years since I last saw that one, but I don't think it's Carry on Sergeant, I don't recall any female recruits in there. Carry On England perhaps?
  • Lancaster007Lancaster007 Shrublands Health Clinic, England
    Posts: 1,874
    Sandy wrote:
    @thelordflasheart it's been a few years since I last saw that one, but I don't think it's Carry on Sergeant, I don't recall any female recruits in there. Carry On England perhaps?

    Definitely not Carry On Sergeant (the first of the bunch) with William Hartnell and Shirely Eaton (Bob Monkhouse was the main character - Shirley's boyfriend) and this was indeed in B&W, that scene does sound more reminiscent of Carry On England - a truly awful Carry On that I've never watched all the way through. This scene might be from that film, but it was a colour film made in the mid-seventies.
  • Jones_The_BondJones_The_Bond
    edited August 2012 Posts: 344
    The 'period' films are usually the best: 'Cleo', 'Henry', 'Don't Lose Your Head', 'Follow That Camel', 'Jack' with certainly 'Screaming' being my favourite.

    It's clear that the character of DS Sidney Bung was written for dear old Sid James, but what a fantastic substitute Harry H Corbett was!

    In fact, for all the cheapness of some of the productions (Cleo aside) and some of the groan-inducing lines, the cast contained some incredible actors. We really are talking about the absolute cream of British comedy acting: Sidney James, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Frankie Howerd, Jim Dale, Joan Sims, Hattie Jacques, Terry Scott, Peter Butterworth, Leslie Phillips, most of which became household names.

    The best of them all has already been mentioned in this thread. Usually with less flash, or star power than a James or a Williams, but Kenneth Connor was a serious talent, in my opinion. Love him as the superstitious policeman in Carry on Constable.

    One Bond crossover of course is Goldfinger's 'Dink', Margaret Nolan, who pops up (and sometimes 'out') in various Carry Ons....
  • NicNacNicNac Administrator, Moderator
    Posts: 7,585
    Lancaster007 wrote:
    Sandy wrote:
    @thelordflasheart it's been a few years since I last saw that one, but I don't think it's Carry on Sergeant, I don't recall any female recruits in there. Carry On England perhaps?

    Definitely not Carry On Sergeant (the first of the bunch) with William Hartnell and Shirely Eaton (Bob Monkhouse was the main character - Shirley's boyfriend) and this was indeed in B&W, that scene does sound more reminiscent of Carry On England - a truly awful Carry On that I've never watched all the way through. This scene might be from that film, but it was a colour film made in the mid-seventies.
    Yes correct. That was England made in 1976.
    Kenneth Connor was in both Sergeant (1958) and England (1976), and remains my favourite CO star.


    I love these films. Some of the cleverer humour is overlooked in favour of the bawdier stuff, but whichever way you slice it they were consistently entertaining and funny. There were 30 full length films, and maybe only 2 or 3 of them were painfully bad.

  • thelordflasheartthelordflasheart
    Posts: 1,370
    Cut+Paste, Google, and 2 seconds of my time confirms that it was indeed Carry On England that I saw.

    So either my friend, myself, or the two of us together got those two films confused. I remember that my 14 year old self was very upset that I got to see Shirley Eaton topless but didn't realize that it was her until later...now I see all that trauma was for nothing ;-)

  • SandySandy Somewhere in Europe
    Posts: 4,012
    Glad to help @thelordflasheart!

    I think the best about these films is the talent of the actors. The stories are truly cringe worthy but these were top-class comedians, no doubt. I'm watching Carry On Up The Khyber right now, certainly one of the best.
  • MajorDSmytheMajorDSmythe "I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it."Moderator
    edited August 2012 Posts: 14,040
    Sandy wrote:
    I'm watching Carry On Up The Khyber right now, certainly one of the best.

    I'm watching it as well. Frankie just had a close encounter with that Gorilla.
  • SandySandy Somewhere in Europe
    Posts: 4,012
    MajorDSmythe wrote:
    Sandy wrote:
    I'm watching Carry On Up The Khyber right now, certainly one of the best.

    I'm watching it as well. Frankie just had a close encounter with that Gorilla.

    I just finished it. Had quite a laugh. It's been years since I last watched it. Brilliant stuff :-bd

    I don't recall any Gorillas though, wouldn't it be Carry on up the jungle?
  • MajorDSmytheMajorDSmythe "I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it."Moderator
    Posts: 14,040
    Sorry, yes that's the one (Carry On Up The Jungle). It's on ITV3 as I type this.


    And on the subject of Carry On films, does Jim Dale remind anyone else of George Lazenby?
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