Bad things in this: well, yes, the whole populist union-bashing rigmarole. (Historians argue this stymied the film at the box office, which we’d love to believe, but we’re not sure there’s any actual evidence for this. The later Carry On Girls, for instance, didn’t do that badly, and that was another bout of ‘those nasty lefty loons spoiling our honest British good fun’ red-bashing. We think it’s more prosaically due to the fact that Carry On Henry came out the same year and, most people perhaps wisely limiting their ‘On diet to one every twelve months, plumped for Sid in tights and busty wenches over bidet fittings and Kenneth Cope’s spotty draws. Which sounds like the right decision on paper, but turned out to be the wrong one.) Good things in this: everything else, especially Marianne Stone getting the most lines she’s ever had (we think), ‘Hot… cold… down the hole!’, the peerless works outing to Brighton, Renee Houston and Charles Hawtrey’s clandestine whist tournaments, Joan Sims’ defiant shop-floor ribaldry, and, yes, Kenneth Cope’s polka dot-clad arse.
Tom Ronson
April 30, 2022 at 10:57 pm
There’s also the unexpectedly touching moment where Sid James and Joan Sims say an awkward goodnight after returning home from Brighton, both dying for a bit of extra-curricular how’s-your-father but neither of them are willing to cheat on their life partners.
Richardpd
July 3, 2023 at 10:53 pm
I’ve also heard the industrial relations put some punters off.
While not a top rank Carry On there’s still plenty to like, such as the B plot with Sid James winning on the horses thanks to the budgie whistling when the winner’s name it read out. Especially how he buys a then brand new Morris Marina with his winnings.
For location fans the street Sid lives on is just outside Pinewood Studios & has been used in a few other films, while Vic’s house was on a Baker Street backlot made for a Sherlock Holmes film a few years before. This was pulled down, possibly to build the 007 stage.