In 1971 when Carry On at Your Convenience hit the screen, the series had long since become part of the fabric of British popular entertainment. Never mind the situation, the characters were essentially the same, film after film. The jokes were all as old as the hills, but nobody cared, they were still funny. But it's just too easy to treat them as a job lot of postcard humour and music hall innuendo. This tale of revolt at a sanitary ware factory--Boggs and Son, what else?--certainly chimed in with the state of the nation in the early 1970s when strikes were called at the drop of a hat. Here, tea urns, demarcation and the company's decision to branch out into bidets all wreak havoc. Kenneth Williams as the company's besieged managing director, Sidney James and Joan Sims give their all as usual, but it's the lesser roles that really add some lustre. Hattie Jacques as Sid's budgerigar-obsessed, sluggish put-upon wife and Renee Houston as a superbly domineering battleaxe with a penchant for strip poker remind us that in the hands of fine actors, even the laziest of caricatures becomes a real human being. On the DVD: Presented in 4:3 format with a good clean print and standard mono soundtrack, Carry On at Your Convenience feels as comfortable as an old pair of shoes. But where's the context? The lack of extras leaves the viewer wanting biographies and some documentary sense of the film's position in the series. The scene index is often arbitrary and the budget packaging means that we don't even get a full cast list. --Piers Ford
Celebrating twenty years of classic Carry On films two of the film's best loved stars Kenneth Williams and Barbara Windsor return to Pinewood Film Studios to unwrap some rib-tickling moments to the series. From the original military mayhem of 'Carry On Sergeant' through to the really ancient archaeological gags of 'Carry On Behind' our saucy hosts get their titters out for this laugh-a-second gallop through the most successful series of British comedy films ever made. With a cast
The discovery of valuable archaeological remains beneath a holiday caravan site is the cause of the mayhem in Carry On Behind. That said, the sub-"plots", which involve Windsor Davies and Jack Douglas as a pair of randy fishermen, a couple sharing their caravan with an outsize dog (no, it's not like that...), the obligatory giggling dolly birds and so on are all typical grist to the Carry On mill. The location is of course as bleakly miserable as such a place could ever be and will bring a frisson of familiarity to many Brits. Widely held to be one of the best in the series, the film would in fact have been a rather lacklustre effort were it not for the superbly over-the-top presence of Elke Sommer, whose performance as the strapping assistant to archaeologist Roland Crump (Kenneth Williams) seems like a wonderful hybrid of Ute Lemper and Charlie Dimmock. --Roger Thomas
Carry On Doctor (1967): Frankie Howerd is the guest star in this classic 'Carry On..' He plays Francis Bigger a charlatan faith healer who ends up in hospital and what a hospital it is! Dr. Kilmore (Jim Dale) seems more interested in the staff nurses and Dr. Tinkle (Kenneth Williams) dismisses all ill health as a weakness. The Matron (Hattie Jaques) can cure any medical problem with a frosty glance and the nurses are always raising the blood pressure of the patients in the male ward.... much to their delight of course. Carry On Matron (1972): Carry On Matron is one of the most loved of all Carry On films - largely because of Hattie Jacques' marvellous performance in the title role. If your funny bone is in need of tickling this is the prescription you need! Carry On Matron finds the team in top form in Finisham Maternity Hospital. Sid James leads a team of less than professional crooks intent on stealing a huge hoard of birth control pills. Carry On Again Doctor (1969): If you are seriously ill and need to go to hospital just make sure it isn't the Long Hampton Hospital as this is where the Carry On team have taken up malpractice. If it's laughter you're after join eminent surgeon Frederick Carver orderly Screwer and Doctors Stoppidge and Nookey for a prescription of smutty smiles. It's the perfect tonic you should take as regularly as your funny bone allows. Where there's a pill there's a way! That's Carry On (1977): Celebrating twenty years of classic Carry On films two of the film's best loved stars Kenneth Williams and Barbara Windsor return to Pinewood Film Studios to unwrap some rib-tickling moments to the series. From the original military mayhem of 'Carry On Sergeant' through to the really ancient archaeological gags of 'Carry On Behind' our saucy hosts get their titters out for this laugh-a-second gallop through the most successful series of British comedy films ever made. With a cast of thousands including legendary Sid James Charles Hawtry Joan Sims Peter Butterworth Bernard Breeslaw and Hattie Jacques everyone is in it..... right in it! Carry On Loving (1970): Number 19 in this famous series. Sid James and Hattie Jacques run The Wedding Bliss computer dating agency and guess what? Chaos follows! Carry On Emmannuelle (1978): The Carry On team are back with this their 30th film and the laughs are filthier and funnier than ever before! Emmanuelle Pervert (Suzanne Danielle) Is the fascinating delectable young wife of Emile (Kenneth Williams) the French ambassador for Great Britain. With his sexual prowess damaged in a freak parachuting accident Emmanuelle happily proves her charms are irresistable to all members of the opposite sex. Even the servants are not immune: With the chauffeur Leyland (Kenneth Connor) the butler Lyons (Jack Douglas) and the elderly bootboy Richmond (Peter Butterworth) falling helplessly under her spell...
A British comedy with seven short stories based on the deadly sins... The seven sinful segments include Harry H. Corbett as a bachelor desperate to get a date chauffeur Bruce Forsyth searching through London's sewers for this boss' lost 50p and Spike Milligan in a wacky homage to silent film. (Pride) of place goes to Ian Carmichael and Alfie Bass in a Galton and Simpson penned episode illustrating class warfare when a Bentley and a clapped out Morris meet head on in a narrow lane and both drivers refuse to back down.
The 18th century, with its frills and bawds, was ideal territory for the Carry On movies: Carry On Dick is one of the few of the series where one notices the quality of the art direction in intervals between terrible old Talbot Rothwell jokes and the creaking of standard farce moments. Captain Fancy (Kenneth Williams) is sent to the remote village of Upper Denture to arrest Big Dick Turpin (Sid James) and makes the mistake of confiding in the local Rector, the Reverend Flasher (who is Big Dick's secret alter-ego). Dick has troubles of his own: his liaison with his housemaid and henchperson Harriet (Barbara Windsor) is perpetually interrupted by his amorous housekeeper Hattie Jacques). Meanwhile, Joan Sims struts around the plot as the proprietor of a touring show of scantily clad young women. This is not one of the best of the series--a certain mean-spiritedness creeps in to the humour as does the self-conscious awareness that 1974 was a date a little late for some of the more sexist jokes--but any film with Kenneth Williams discussing satin coats with his tailor has something going for it. On the DVD: Sadly, the DVD has no frills: it is presented in mono and 4:3 screen ratio.--Roz Kaveney
Carry On Girls was the last really successful instalment of the epic series of British film comedies. It's studded with gems of cameo performances and a tremendously innuendo-laden Talbot Rothwell script that is easily the equal of any of its predecessors. The setting, a beauty contest to raise the profile of the dismal resort Fircombe-on-Sea, is ripe for politically incorrect activity of the sort that could only be conducted by Sid James at the height of his lecherous powers. Enter Bernard Bresslaw in a corset, Wendy Richard as Ida Downs, Barbara Windsor as Miss Easy Rider and a host of other semi-clad lovelies and watch as the whole thing rises to a slapstick climax of frisky old colonels, bikinis, bosoms and itching powder. In the smaller roles, Joan Hickson (BBC television's Miss Marple) is hilarious as an elderly woman who believes she is a man-magnet and the always under-used Patsy Rowlands excels as the downtrodden mayor's wife, a worm who finally turns. But in many ways this is June Whitfield's film. As the terrifying reactionary councillor Mrs Prodworthy, with a butch lesbian sidekick, she plots the downfall of her male colleagues with classic lines. "Rosemary, get the candle", she orders as Patsy Rowlands requests initiation into the cause. Margaret Thatcher never sounded so ominous. On the DVD: Like most of the other DVD Carry On releases, this one is presented in 4:3 format with a mono soundtrack. All right, you don't really need anything more sophisticated to recreate the cosy ritual of Carry On watching in your living room. And the print is good and sharp. But apart from the usual scene index, the lack of extras reflects a disappointingly unimaginative approach to celebrating a genre of film comedy that, for all its low budget reputation, provided a showcase for the cream of a whole generation of British comic actors. They deserve better.--Piers Ford
An Arab King who finds oil in his country faces civil unrest. He recruits the services of a crack British Army Brigade.... Well at least the services of seven men from Army Stores!
This box set features a veritable campsite of bawdy comedic treats from the Carry On crew! Includes: 1. Carry On Abroad (1972) 2. Carry On Again Doctor (1972) 3. Carry On Doctor (1967) 4. Carry On Don't Lose Your Head (1966) 5. Carry On England (1976) 6. Carry On Follow That Camel (1967) 7. Carry On Matron (1972) 8. Carry On at Your Convenience (1971) 9. Carry On Behind (1975) 10. Carry On Camping (1969) 11. Carry On Dick (1974) 12. Carry On Emmanuelle (1978) 13. Carry On Girls (1973) 14. Carry On Henry (1971) 15. Carry On Holiday 16. Carry On Loving (1970) 17. Carry On Up The Jungle (1970) 18. Carry On up the Khyber (1968) 19. Carry On Sergeant (1958) 20. Carry On Nurse (1959) 21. Carry On Teacher (1959) 22. Carry On Constable (1960) 23. Carry On Regardless (1961) 24. Carry On Cruising (1962) 25. Carry On Cabby (1963) 26. Carry On Jack (1963) 27. Carry On Spying (1964) 28. Carry On Cleo (1964) 29. Carry On Cowboy (1965) 30. Carry On Screaming! (1966)
Seven comic episodes from one of the most read book in the World: the Bible! Each episode highlights one of the seven deadly sins and a hilarious come-uppance for the sinner. This comic portmanteau stars the cream of British talent such as Harry H. Corbett Ian Carmichael Spike Milligan Leslie Phillips and many more!
In Carry On Follow That Camel, Sergeant Bilko himself, Phil Silvers, lends lustre and trademark spectacles to this 1967 desert spectacle following the adventures of a group of foreign legionnaires who find themselves besieged by a bloodthirsty band of Bedouins. Silvers plays Sergeant Nocker, a rogue cast firmly in the Bilko mould, who takes a dislike to new recruit Jim Dale, a young upper class gent forced to join the legion following disgrace at a cricket match. He's accompanied, naturally, by his faithful manservant (Peter Butterworth), with the pair showing a fine disregard for the austere requirements of the Foreign Legion. However, once they reach an agreement with Sergeant Nocker, they can join forces to repel the Bedouins, led, not unpredictably, by Bernard Bresslaw. This is vintage Carry On, in spite of Sid James' absence. Kenneth Williams' performance is subdued by having to deliver the usual puns ("zere are a couple of points I still need to go over", he informs busty Joan Sims) in a mangled French accent but Silvers gets into the right mode of delivering broad comedy with subtle inflections. Peter Butterworth draws the short straw this time and must feature in the obligatory cross-dressing scene, while Charles Hawtrey is a splendidly unconvincing hardened legionnaire. As for Bresslaw, can any other British actor, with the exception of Sir Alec Guinness, have distinguished himself in such a variety of multi-ethnic roles? On the DVD: Sadly, there are no extra features except scene selection. The picture ratio is 4:3. --David Stubbs
This Carry On collection includes the following films: Carry On Girls: You might think that a beauty contest would be the perfect place for the Carry On team to discover new heights of hilarity and new depths of depravity - well you'd be right! Sidney Fiddler brings a beauty contest to a quiet seaside resort. His problems start with two curvaceous Hells Angels Miss Easy Rider and Miss Dawn Brakes. There's Major Bumble Bernard Bresslaw as Britain's first drag beauty queen and last but not least Mrs Angel Prodworthy who is fighting on behalf of Women's Lib. Carry On Dick: Notorious outlaw Dick Turpin (More commonly referred to as Big Dick) is running rings around King George's Bow Street runners. Can the half-witted Captain Desmond Fancey Sir Roger Daley and Sergeant Jock Strapp succeed in bringing the wily rogue to justice? Sid James and the rest of the 'Carry On' gang are having a ball and everyone is invited merry England was never merrier. Carry On England: Make love not war! The Carry On team are part of an experimental mixed anti-aircraft battery during World War II. The Luftwaffe never had it so easy! Recruits ready (Jack Douglas) Willing (Judy Geeson) and Able (Patrick Mower) join forces to strike terror into the heart of the enemy and run rings round their pompous captain S. Melly (Kenneth Connor). Discover where Churchill's famous Victory sign originated from in this classic khaki caper: patriotism has never been funnier! Carry On Behind: Archaelogists Professors Anna Vooshka (Elke Sommer) and Roland Crump (Kenneth Williams) are desparate to begin poking round the remains of a Roman encampment. Unfortunately the local caravan site has been built over the historic site. Holiday pals Ernie Bragg (Jack Douglas) and Fred Ramsden (Windsor Davies) have their sites set on the local beauty spots - campers Sandra (Carol Hawkins) and Carol (Sherrie Hewson)! All the usual Carry On crew are at hand to fuel the 'in-tents' humour!
Bedpan humour rules in Carry On Doctor, the vintage 1968 offering from the familiar gang, assisted by guest star Frankie Howerd as bogus faith healer Francis Bigger. Hospitals, of course, always provided the Carry On producers with plenty of material. Today, these comedies induce a twinge of serious nostalgia for the great days of the National Health Service when Matron (Hattie Jacques, naturally) ran the hospital as if it was a house of correction, medical professionals were idolised as if they were all Doctor Kildare and Accident and Emergency Departments were deserted oases of calm. But even if you aren't interested in a history lesson, Talbot Rothwell's script contains some immortal dialogue, particularly when Matron loosens her stays. "You may not realise it but I was once a weak man", says Kenneth Williams' terrified Doctor Tinkle to Hattie Jacques. "Once a week's enough for any man", she purrs back, undaunted. Other highlights include Joan Sims, excellent as Frankie Howerd's deaf, bespectacled sidekick, Charles Hawtrey suffering from a phantom pregnancy, 1960s singer Anita Harris in a rare film role, and Barbara Windsor at her most irrepressible as nurse Sandra May. This is one of the best. On the DVD: Presented in 1.77:1 format for a pseudo-widescreen effect, the picture quality is good and sharp, accompanied by a standard mono soundtrack. The same no-frills approach is taken with the packaging; a functional scene index and no extras. Yet again, a missed opportunity to use the DVD release to provide some context. At their best, the Carry On films are rightly seen as classic comedies of their type. They really deserve to be better celebrated. --Piers Ford
Twelve classic titles in one box set
Prepare for an onslaught of robust breezy humour when the Carry On team take to the great Outdoors.
Setting a Carry On film in a marriage bureau has a certain self-serving obviousness, so it's hardly surprising that Carry On Loving milks the idea for all it's worth. The Wedded Bliss Agency is of course a pretty dubious outfit, being run by Sid (James) and Sophie Bliss (Hattie Jacques), who together are the worst possible argument both for marriage and for their own profession: they constantly snipe at each other, they aren't actually married and their sophisticated computer matching system is in fact a complete fake. The remainder of the team are mostly cast as hapless clients, with predictable but often very funny situations arising from the various mismatches engineered by the agency, such as the inevitable misunderstanding over one client's interest in modelling. Yes, the humour is about as subtle as a flatulent elephant, but you can't help entering into the spirit of the thing. If there's an outstanding performance it has to be that of Imogen Hassall, who handles her transformation from round-shouldered frump to well-bred love goddess with considerable expertise and a genuine sense of fun. On the DVD: The picture ratio is 4:3, and as is usual for this series the disc has no added features, which always seems like a terribly missed opportunity.--Roger Thomas
The Carry on Collection is a rigid boxset which is made up of 3 separate digistacks - which includes some of the very best carry on Films. Carry on Holiday CollectionCarry on CampingCarry on AbroadCarry on Follow that CamelCarry on GirlsCarry on BehindCarry on at Your ConvenienceCarry on Doctors and Nurses CollectionCarry on DoctorCarry on Matroncarry on Again DoctorThat's Carry OnCarry on LovingCarry on EmmanuelleCarry on History CollectionCarry on Don't Lose Your HeadCarry on DickCarry on up the JungleCarry on HenryCarry on EnglandCarry on Up the Khyber
First broadcast in 1955 The Adventures of Robin Hood stars Richard Green as Robin of Locksley. Together with his band of merry men he protects the countryside from evil Prince John (Donald Pleasence). Features all 39 episodes from the third series spread over 5 discs: The Salt King A Tuck In Time Pepper The Charter A Change Of Heart Brother Battle My Brother's Keeper An Apple For The Archer The Angry Village The Mark The Bride Of Robin Hood To Be A Student The Christmas Goose The Challenge Of The Black Knight The Rivals The Profiteer Knight Errant The Healing Hand One Man's Meat Too Many Robins The Crusaders Castle In The Air The Double Roman Gold The Ghost That Failed At The Sign Of The Blue Boar Quickness Of The Hand The Elixir Of Youth The Genius The Youthful Menace The Minstrel The Doctor The Lottery The Fire Lincoln Green Woman's War Little Mother Marian's Prize Farewell To Tuck.
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