Filmed in 1968 and set in British India in 1895, Carry On Up the Khyber is one of the team's most memorable efforts. Sid James plays Sid James as ever, though nominally his role is that of Sir Sidney Ruff-Diamond, the unflappable British Governor who must deal with the snakelike, scheming Khasi of Khalabar, played by Kenneth Williams. A crisis occurs when the mystique of the "devils in skirts" of the 3rd Foot and Mouth regiment is exploded when one of their number, the sensitive-to-draughts Charles Hawtrey, is discovered by the natives to be wearing underpants. Revolt is in the offing, with Bernard Bresslaw once again playing a seething native warrior. Roy Castle neatly plays the sort of role normally assigned to Jim Dale, as the ineffectual young officer, Peter Butterworth is a splendid compromised evangelist, while Terry Scott puts his comedic all into the role of the gruff Sergeant. Most enduring, however, is the final dinner party sequence in which the British contingent, with the Burpas at the gates of the compound, and plaster falling all about them, demonstrate typical insouciance in the face of imminent peril. The "I'm Backing Britain" Union Jack hoist at the end, however, over-excitedly reveals the streak of reactionary patriotism that lurked beneath the bumbling double-entendres of most Carry On films. --David Stubbs
During the German occupation of Rome in 1943 an athletic Irish priest Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty (Gregory Peck) devotes all the time he can spare from his work at the Vatican to hiding Allied POWs from the Nazis. Col. Herbert Kappler (Christopher Plummer) Rome's chief Gestapo Officer suspects O'Flaherty of hiding escapees but can do little about it because of the priest's Vatican diplomatic immunity. But when he unearths proof of O'Flaherty's complicity he orders that the priest be
Unseen for many years these four made-for-TV Christmas Carry On spectaculars feature favourite stories and timely traditions including Treasure Island A Christmas Carol pantomime and much more in the only way the Carry On team know how... pure slapstick comedy and scripts full of trademark innuendo! This is Carry On at its Christmas best! Carry On Christmas 1969: sees Sid James Barbara Windsor et al in a re-working of literary classic 'A Christmas Carol' - obviously thou
Prepare for an onslaught of robust breezy humour when the Carry On team take to the great Outdoors.
Albert Finney stars as the eponymous loveable rogue in these nostalgic tales set in the rural heart of England at the turn of the last century.
Times are hard for habitual guest of Her Majesty Norman Stanley Fletcher (Ronnie Barker). The new prison officer Beale makes Mackay (Fulton Mackay) look soft and what's more an escape plan is hatching from the cell of prison godfather Grouty and Fletcher wants no part of it. The breakout is set for the day of a morale-raising football match between a ""celebrity"" football team and the inmates of Slade. Everything is going to plan until Godber (Richard Beckinsale) is injured on th
DVD premiere of this legendary BBC TV ‘folk horror’ from 1970. Norah Palmer (Anna Cropper) is a television script editor who temporarily moves to a remote English country village to rebuild her life. At first she finds that the villagers are friendly if a little eccentric. When she becomes pregnant to the handsome villager Rob she begins to suspect the locals of conspiring against her preventing her from leaving the village for her home in London. With its combination of unsettling folk rituals and insular regional communities Robin Redbreast is considered to be an influence and precursor to The Wicker Man (1973) and has built up a cult following over the years since its original broadcast. Made during the golden age of British TV drama and originally shown in the Play for Today strand this provocative and unsettling drama was directed by the renowned producer / director James McTaggart from a script by John Bowen. Contents: First time on DVD for this much sought-after BBC production Extras TBC Fully illustrated booklet with original essays film notes and credits
The BFI presents three more classic kids' films from the much loved Children’s Film Foundation. Cult favourite Sammy's Super T-Shirt (1978) - arguably the most sought after gem in the CFF library – finally comes to DVD, accompanied by two other classics from the collection. Sammy dreams of becoming a super athlete, despite his puny build. When his lucky training t-shirt is thrown into a scientist's lab it becomes imbued with 'super strength' power. When Sammy manages to recover the t-shirt he uses his new-found strength to out-run baddies and bullies alike. Soapbox Derby (1957), sees a young Michael Crawford scrapping with a rival South London gang in Battersea, while The Sky-Bike (1967) stars Liam Redmond as an eccentric inventor trying to achieve more than just speed. Special Features: Illustrated booklet
Following the phenomenal success of Monty Python s Flying Circus Michael Palin and Terry Jones created this unforgettable BAFTA-winning series of comic plays for the BBC. Gleefully parodying the conventions of Boy s Own-style adventure Ripping Yarns sees Palin taking the protagonist s role in nine rip-roaring stories from stirring tales of sporting endeavour intrepid exploration and wartime heroism to skulduggery supernatural mystery and murder... and of course the notorious exploits of Eric Olthwaite - Yorkshire s most interesting outlaw. An illustrious supporting cast includes John Le Mesurier Iain Cuthbertson Denholm Elliott Joan Sanderson and Don Henderson with Terry Jones starring in one episode and fellow former Python John Cleese also making a cameo appearance; the series was produced and directed by the multi award-winning team of Terry Hughes (The Two Ronnies) Jim Franklin (The Goodies) and Alan J.W. Bell (The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy). Both series originally aired between 1976 and 1979 are released in this special-edition set with special features including deleted scenes a 1983 documentary Comic Roots in which Palin revisits his native Sheffield and Secrets the only surviving recording of Palin and Jones 1973 screenplay for the BBC s darkly comic (now sadly wiped) Black and Blue anthology series.
Carry On Camping (1969): Sid (Sid James) and his reluctant mate Bernie (Bernard Bresslaw) hit on the idea of a nudist camping holiday to spice things up with their girlfriends! The arrival of Dr Soaper (Kenneth Williams) headmaster of the Chayste Place Finishing School his matron Miss Haggard (Hattie Jacques) in charge of eleven nubile girls including star pupil Babs (Barbara Windsor) set the scene for one of the funniest frolics in the Carry On repertoire. Carry On Abroad (1972): The Carry On team take a package holiday that starts disastrously and rapidly goes downhill. The paradise island of Elsbels is not all it's cracked up to be.... The hotel isn't finished the staff are abit thin on the ground - in fact Pepe (Peter Butterworth) is the staff - and the locals are far from friendly! Carry On Follow That Camel (1967): Can fresh Foreign Legion recruits 'B.O.' West (Jim Dale) and his faithful manservant Simpson (Peter Butterworth) help defeat the ruthless Sheikh Abdul Abulbul (Bernard Bresslaw)? Find out in the hysterical historical spectacular featuring a host of harem beauties a bevy of blood thirsty Bedouins and a troupe of Legionnaires getting the hump! Carry On Girls (1973): 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 Behind (1975): 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)! Carry On At Your Convenience (1971): The Carry On team throw caution to the wind and present an hour and a half of good clean lavatorial humour. Kenneth Williams is WC Boggs the troubled owner of a small company trying to manufacture fine toiletware. Incompetent management and a bolshy union are just about the least of Bogg's problems as you'll soon discover in this hysterical comedy that tells you everything you always wanted to know about your home's most vital convenience.
Shot in the bright postal colours of a seaside postcard, 1971's Carry On Henry applies the usual Carry On sniggering to the married life of Henry VIII. Talbot Rothwell's script is standard bedroom farce and full of jokes about choppers, while the threat of beheading and the actuality of torture are constantly present but only as the terrible things that happen to cartoon characters who will be back next time. Sid James turns in one of his better performances as the endlessly lecherous and fickle Henry, married to Joan Sims and lusting after Barbara Windsor. There is a genuine sexual chemistry between James and Windsor, which at times almost breaks open the farce formula. The usual regulars--Kenneth Williams as Thomas Cromwell, Terry Scott as Cardinal Wolsey, Charles Hawtrey as Sir Roger--do their usual turns; Williams is more subdued than usual, while Hawtrey hugely enjoys playing the Queen's secret lover. This was not one of the high points of the series, but it has its own curious charm. --Roz Kaveney
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 example for both marriage and 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. --Roger Thomas
The Sex Pistols star in Julien Temple's at times surreal at times hilarious factional documentary that charts the rise and fall of punk's most notorious band through the eyes of its calculating and grandiose manager Malcolm McLaren played here with full Machiavellian swagger. Written and directed by Temple whilst he was still a film student it mixes animation and midgets with footage of some of the Sex Pistols' most electrifying live performances. Originally released in UK theatres in 1980 the film presents the band's success as an elaborate scam perpetrated by McLaren to make ""a million pounds"" at the expense of record companies outraged moralists the British Royal Family - and even the fans and band members themselves. As the film's original tagline stated The Great Rock Rock 'n' Roll Swindle is the film that incriminated its audience. As the brief but beautiful period of punk rock is now as far away from 2007 as 1976/77 was from the end of World War 2 it will be hard for anyone under 35 to comprehend just how shocking this film was and the incredible controversy it caused as depressed Britain blighted by inner city riots and waking to the birth of Thatcherism lurched into the Eighties. However watching it again it is still immensely powerful just as riveting still retains the capability to shock and is as valid now as it was then. More than 25 years after their break-up the Sex Pistols' music continues to influence punk and post-punk bands the world over - and The Great Rock Rock 'n' Roll Swindle shows why. It helped add to the band's already riotous reputation with scenes of Sid Vicious attacking a Parisienne prostitute (with a French tart) the subversive Queen's Silver Jubilee Day concert on the Thames in 1977 their infamous appearance on the ""Bill Grundy Show"" and underage female nudity. It even had to contend with the death of Sid Vicious who died between the ending of filming and its theatrical release. But it is the Sex Pistols music that emerges as the films biggest star: performances of ""Anarchy In The UK"" ""God Save The Queen"" and ""Holidays In The Sun"" are mesmeric while Vicious' ""My Way"" maintains an air of tragedy and exquisiteness at once. Tenpole Tudor (ingeniously called ""Tadpole"" by Irene Handl in the film) weighs in with vocals on ""Who Killed Bambi"" and ""Rock Around The Clock"" and even on-the-run Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs turns up to sing on ""No One Is Innocent"" and ""Belsen Vos A Gasser"". Having spawned the phrase ""making cash from chaos"" it's worth remembering that the Sex Pistols were voted the ""1977 Young Businessmen of the Year"" by their antitheses in the City of London..
In 1975's Carry On England, a mixed-sex anti-aircraft battery is set up during World War II by way of an experiment. The sex is indeed pretty mixed, although the drafting in of Patrick Mower and Judy Geeson rather demonstrates the need for at least some of the cast to be attractive in order to make this odd premise feasible. For the most part, of course, it's tits-out sex-comedy slapstick all the way, but there's a nicely ambivalent performance from Kenneth Connor, who portrays the wartime British officer class as being pretty much bonkers, a telling interpretation, which Stephen Fry was to perfect years later in Blackadder Goes Forth. The location is of course typically Carry On cheap-and-cheerful, but its inevitable drabness, together with the indistinguishable khaki uniforms, tends to put a bit of a dampener on the adult-panto atmosphere that the best Carry Ons deliver. The cast commendably manage to transcend this, though, so there's still plenty of fun to be had. --Roger Thomas
Filmed in 1968 and set in British India in 1895, Carry On Up the Khyber is one of the team's most memorable efforts. Sid James plays Sid James as ever, though nominally his role is that of Sir Sidney Ruff-Diamond, the unflappable British Governor who must deal with the snakelike, scheming Khasi of Khalabar, played by Kenneth Williams. A crisis occurs when the mystique of the "devils in skirts" of the 3rd Foot and Mouth regiment is exploded when one of their numbers, the sensitive-to-draughts Charles Hawtrey, is discovered by the natives to be wearing underpants. Revolt is in the offing, with Bernard Bresslaw once again playing a seething native warrior. Roy Castle neatly plays the sort of role normally assigned to Jim Dale, as the ineffectual young officer, Peter Butterworth is a splendid compromised evangelist, while Terry Scott puts his comedic all into the role of the gruff Sergeant. Most enduring, however, is the final dinner party sequence in which the British contingent, with the Burpas at the gates of the compound, plaster falling all about them, demonstrates typical insouciance in the face of imminent peril. The "I'm Backing Britain" Union Jack hoist at the end, however, over-excitedly reveals the streak of reactionary patriotism that lurked beneath the bumbling double entendres of most Carry On films. On the DVD: Sadly, no extra features except scene selection. The picture is 4:3 full screen. --David Stubbs
Join Dan Dare the '007 of outer space' and his fellow crew members aboard the space craft 'Anastasia' as they embark on a series of thrilling adventures deep in space. This DVD contains some of the best episodes from the hit TV series get set for 3 action-packed intergalactic adventures!The God Of WarDan and the Mekon are both captured by pirates. They are forced to work together to order to escape - but the Mekon has a hidden agenda!The OutpostWhen all co
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...
Sometimes dismissed as a pale descendant of a great original, The New Avengers deserves a second look and is perhaps best considered as a largely successful attempt to re-imagine its predecessor for 1970s audiences. Patrick McNee was never the most convincing of action heroes, and the decision to make his John Steed the supervisor and mentor of two younger agents was a sensible one--Steed's virtues are style, wisdom and fortitude rather than physical prowess. Gareth Hunt's Gambit has an unattractively smug side, but has also a louche charm. Joanna Lumley's Purdey is one of the most attractive heroines of genre television, astonishingly leggy and beautiful. Those who only know her later incarnation as Patsy in Absolutely Fabulous will understand now why such a fuss is made over her. The script team overlaps heavily with that of the original series; the new show has the same quirkiness, only occasionally varying it with a rather darker leCarrésque complexity or sudden outbreaks of Hammer Horror. If it lacks some of the sheer style of the original, that is a reflection of its period--the 1970s were less visually imaginative than the 60s. Tightly plotted, imaginatively cast with interesting guest stars, it is only with The Avengers that The New Avengers suffers by comparison. --Roz Kaveney
By way of an experiment, a mixed-sex anti-aircraft battery is set up during World War II. The result is Carry On England, and the sex is indeed pretty mixed, although the drafting in of Patrick Mower and Judy Geeson rather demonstrates the need for at least some of the cast to be attractive in order to make this premise feasible. For the most part, of course, it's tits-out sex-comedy slapstick all the way, but there's a nicely ambivalent performance from Kenneth Connor, who portrays the wartime British officer class as being pretty much bonkers, a telling interpretation which Stephen Fry was to perfect years later in Blackadder Goes Forth. The location is of course typically Carry On cheap-and-cheerful, but its inevitable drabness, together with the indistinguishable khaki uniforms, tends to put a bit of a damper on the adult-panto atmosphere which the best Carry Ons deliver. The cast commendably manage to transcend this, though, so there's still plenty of fun to be had. On the DVD: The feature is presented in 1.77:1 aspect ratio, but the disc has no added features. --Roger Thomas
Shot in the bright postal colours of a seaside postcard, Carry on Henry applies the usual Carry On sniggering to the married life of Henry VIII. Talbot Rothwell's script is standard bedroom farce and full of jokes about choppers, while the threat of beheading and the actuality of torture are constantly present but only as the terrible things that happen to cartoon characters who will be back next time. Sid James turns in one of his better performances as the endlessly lecherous and fickle Henry, married to Joan Sims and lusting after Barbara Windsor. There is a genuine sexual chemistry between James and Windsor which at times almost breaks open the farce formula. The usual regulars--Kenneth Williams as Thomas Cromwell, Terry Scott as Cardinal Wolsey, Charles Hawtrey as Sir Roger--do their usual turns; Williams is more subdued than usual, while Hawtrey hugely enjoys playing the Queen's secret lover. This was not one of the high points of the series, but it has its own curious charm. On the DVD: The DVD has no extras whatever, but is a good clean print in 1.77:1 ratio with crisp mono sound. --Roz Kaveney
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