TV Cream

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Carry On Regardless

The terrific Stanley ‘Catherine of Arabold’ Unwin  plays a landlord in this odd, bitty ‘On prompting us to start wishing for a repeat of The Secret Service. Interesting how, in that show, Gerry Anderson reversed his usual trick of puppets for long shots and real hands for close-ups, by having Unwin filmed in live action doing all that difficult standing up, walking etc., then cutting to his puppet for close shots. Then again, it was a weird show all round. Ideally suited to a Channel Four slot, really. Ahem. Where were we? Also present – Bill ‘Nurse’ Owen, Liz ‘Double Bunk’ Fraser, Esma ‘Flo’ Cannon, Fenella ‘Screaming’ Fielding, Joan ‘Marple’ Hickson, Betty ‘Camping’ Marsden, Terence ‘Bergerac’ Alexander, Molly ‘MacWitch’ Weir, Norman ‘Simon Simon’ Rossington, Nicholas “would you like a mink coat, Elizabeth?” Parsons and Patrick ‘Wives’ Cargill.

6 Comments

6 Comments

  1. richardpd

    March 20, 2019 at 10:40 pm

    The nearest the Carry Ons got to a sketch comedy, though a few of the early ones feel like a lot of set pieces stitched together, with only a veneer of plot to hold things together.

    Supposedly Norman Hudis considered this the weakest of the Carry Ons he scripted.

  2. THX 1139

    March 21, 2019 at 11:37 am

    Is it this one or Constable that had Kenneth Williams pitting his wits against a chimpanzee? I always get them mixed up.

    • richardpd

      March 21, 2019 at 1:55 pm

      It’s this one, with him joining in the chimps tea party.

      • THX 1139

        March 23, 2019 at 2:34 pm

        Thanks! I’ll have to check his diaries to see if he mentions it…

  3. Glenn Aylett

    March 24, 2019 at 12:23 pm

    I always liked the black and white era Carry Ons as there was a fair amount of slapstick and sight gags. Later films, particularly the ones made after 1972 when the franchise was in decline, seemed crude and unfunny.

  4. Sidney Balmoral James

    May 19, 2022 at 11:19 pm

    This is a bit of a non-event of a Carry On film, but does include a remarkable, suggestive scene in which a man (is it Eric Thompson?) ‘hires’ Liz Fraser to model some clothes he has bought for his wife, who is the same build as her, cue shots of Fraser basically posing in her knickers etc. It’s quite an odd scene watched today, in the midst of a load of cobblers about taking a monkey on a bus, and demolishing a house, almost erotic, although that may be more of a comment on the lack of eroticism in British films at this time (or indeed at any time!) The Day the Earth Caught Fire in the same year has a scene in which – without any attempt to draw attention to it – Janet Munro is briefly topless, but I think at the time that was an X certificate, and only later was shown on telly in tea-time slots (and with that scene perhaps trimmed).

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