Carry On (film series)

Carry On
Directed by	Gerald Thomas
Produced by	Peter Rogers
Written by	Norman Hudis 1958–1962 Talbot Rothwell 1963–1974
Starring	Kenneth Williams Joan Sims Charles Hawtrey Sid James Kenneth Connor Peter Butterworth Bernard Bresslaw Hattie Jacques Jim Dale Barbara Windsor Jack Douglas Terry Scott Frankie Howerd and others.
Distributed by	Anglo-Amalgamated Rank Organisation
Release date(s)	1958–1978, 1992
Running time	Estimated at 2700 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

The Carry On films are a series of low-budget British comedy films, directed by Gerald Thomas and produced by Peter Rogers. They are an energetic mix of parody, farce, slapstick and double entendres.

Twenty-nine original films and one compilation were made between 1958 and 1978 at Pinewood Studios, with an additional movie made in 1992.

Background

The films featured a regular cast of comedy actors. The mainstays of the series were Kenneth Williams (26 films including presentation of the compilation That's Carry On), Joan Sims (24), Charles Hawtrey (23), Sid James (19), Kenneth Connor (17), Peter Butterworth (16), Hattie Jacques (14), Bernard Bresslaw (14), Jim Dale (11), Barbara Windsor (10 including That's Carry On) and Terry Scott (7). Comedian Frankie Howerd is also associated with the Carry Ons, but only appeared in two films (Doctor and Up The Jungle) and the 1969 Christmas TV special.

The films' humour was in the British comic tradition of the music hall and seaside postcards. Many of them parodied more serious films — in the case of Carry On Cleo (1964), the Burton and Taylor film Cleopatra (1963).

The stock-in-trade of Carry On humour was innuendo and the sending-up of British institutions and customs, such as the National Health Service (Nurse, Doctor, Again Doctor, Matron), the monarchy (Henry), the Empire (Up the Khyber), the military (Sergeant) and the trade unions (At Your Convenience) as well as the Hammer horror film (Screaming), camping (Camping), foreigners (Abroad), beauty contests (Girls), and caravan holidays (Behind) among others. Although the films were very often panned by critics, they proved very popular with audiences.

The series began with Carry On Sergeant (1958), about a group of recruits on National Service, and was sufficiently successful that others followed. A film had appeared the previous year under the title Carry On Admiral; although this was a comedy in a similar vein (with Joan Sims in the cast) it has no connection to the series. There was also an unrelated 1937 film Carry On London, starring future Carry On performer Eric Barker.

The cast were poorly paid — around £5,000 per film for a principal performer. In his diaries, Kenneth Williams lamented this and criticised several of the movies despite his declared fondness for the series as a whole. Peter Rogers, the series' producer, acknowledged: "Kenneth was worth taking care of, because while he cost very little [...] he made a very great deal of money for the franchise."

Films

1. Carry On Sergeant (1958)
2. Carry On Nurse (1959)
3. Carry On Teacher (1959)
4. Carry On Constable (1960)
5. Carry On Regardless (1961)
6. Carry On Cruising (1962)
7. Carry On Cabby (1963)
8. Carry On Jack (1963)
9. Carry On Spying (1964)
10. Carry On Cleo (1964)
11. Carry On Cowboy (1965)
12. Carry On Screaming! (1966)
13. Don't Lose Your Head (1966)
14. Follow That Camel (1967)
15. Carry On Doctor (1967)
16. Carry On... Up the Khyber (1968)
17. Carry On Camping (1969)
18. Carry On Again Doctor (1969)
19. Carry On Up the Jungle (1970)
20. Carry On Loving (1970)
21. Carry On Henry (1971)
22. Carry On at Your Convenience (1971)
23. Carry On Matron (1972)
24. Carry On Abroad (1972)
25. Carry On Girls (1973)
26. Carry On Dick (1974)
27. Carry On Behind (1975)
28. Carry On England (1976)
29. That's Carry On! (1978)
30. Carry On Emmannuelle (1978)
31. Carry On Columbus (1992)

Early films

From 1958 to 1962 the films' screenplays were written by Norman Hudis and mostly shot in black and white. Set in institutions of various types, the bungling protagonists usually fail, then eventually triumph in the face of some adversity.

The phrase "Carry on, Sergeant" was commonly used by a British officer telling a sergeant or other NCO to continue with his duties, and it was indeed so used several times in the first film. (The American equivalent is, "As you were.") It provided the title for the first film, and the template for the series. There is also a colloquial expression "What a carry-on!", meaning "What a fuss (about nothing)!", or "What a load of nonsense!"

A black-and-white film, Carry On Spaceman, was planned for release after Carry On Regardless, but was abandoned. Plans for a revival of the film in 1962, under Denis Gifford, also failed.

1963-1969

In 1963 Talbot Rothwell took over the role of screenwriter. The settings became more ambitious, often parodying well-known films or genres. In keeping with the changing times, they featured more risqué sexual jokes and situations. The films made in colour in the '60s remain among the most popular of the series.^{[citation needed]}

At one point, Talbot Rothwell sought and received permission to borrow several one-liners and quotes that Frank Muir and Denis Norden had written for the successful radio comedy series Take It From Here. Rothwell was a friend and colleague of Muir and Norden.

• Carry On Cabby (1963)

Back to black-and-white; originally scripted as a non-Carry On film called Call Me a Cab. Jim Dale's debut. The first Carry On not to feature Kenneth Williams.

• Carry On Jack (1963)

In colour again.

• Carry On Spying (1964)

In black-and-white as a deliberate spoof of film noir in some sequences. Barbara Windsor's debut.

• Carry On Cleo (1964)

In full colour again (as were all the rest that followed), using costumes and sets left standing from filming portions of Cleopatra; contains the line voted as the funniest comedy movie line ever: "Infamy! Infamy! they've all got it in for me!" (Kenneth Williams delivered this line.)

• Carry On Cowboy (1965)

This film was reportedly the favourite of Joan Sims and Sid James.^{[citation needed]} James played The Rumpo Kid. It was the only Carry On film where he used an American accent. South African-born, James usually used a Cockney accent in his Carry On roles. The first film of 16 for Peter Butterworth and the first film of 14 for Bernard Bresslaw.

• Carry On Screaming! (1966)

A film spoof with the Gothic atmosphere of a Hammer production. In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted this the 40th greatest comedy film of all time. Harry H. Corbett guest-starred in the Sid James role. Most famous line is a lustily-delivered "Frying tonight!" from Kenneth Williams.

• Don't Lose Your Head (1966)

A Scarlet Pimpernel spoof.

• Follow That Camel (1967)

A Foreign Legion parody, and an unsuccessful attempt to break into the American market by casting Phil Silvers as the lead. Sid James, who does not appear, suffered his first heart attack around the time the film began production.

• Carry On Doctor (1967)

Sid James, recovering from a heart attack, had a reduced and less strenuous role as a patient in bed throughout most of this hospital-based film.

• Carry On... Up the Khyber (1968)

The location sequences set in India were fimed in Snowdonia, Wales. This was the furthest location from the Pinewood studio lot of any Carry On film.

• Carry On Camping (1969)

The highest grossing film that year in the UK.

• Carry On Again Doctor (1969)

Jim Dale's last Carry On role until his lead in the revival Carry On Columbus

Don't Lose Your Head and Follow That Camel were originally released without the "Carry On" prefix due to the change of distributor from Anglo-Amalgamated (who claimed rights to the "Carry On..." titling) to Rank. When ownership of the titling was later resolved the films were re-issued with a Carry On... prefix.

Early 1970s

The series continued to be popular in the 1970s. British society was becoming more accustomed to seeing sexual content on screen, and the innuendos typical of the series no longer had the impact they once had had. The films evolved in line with this, including more direct references to sex, and increased nudity. Rothwell continued as writer.

• Carry On Up the Jungle (1970)

A Tarzan spoof.

• Carry On Loving (1970)

This film introduced younger stars into the mix, incorporating such newcomers as Jacki Piper, Imogen Hassall and Richard O'Callaghan in key roles.

• Carry On Henry (1971)

This historical spoof starred Sid James as Henry VIII.

• Carry On At Your Convenience (1971)

This parody about union trouble at a toilet factory featured Richard O'Callaghan, Jacki Piper and Kenneth Cope in key roles alongside the Carry On regulars. It was the first box office failure of the series and did not return full production costs until 1976 after several international and television sales.

• Carry On Matron (1972)

After the problems caused by the topical and political nature of the previous film's story, this was a lightweight farce that returned to the familiar Carry On setting of a large hospital. Matron featured all the main regular cast of the period with the exception of Peter Butterworth, and was the final Carry On for recurring players Terry Scott and Jacki Piper. The first appearance for Jack Douglas.

• Carry On Abroad (1972)

This film, about a disastrous package holiday, was Charles Hawtrey's last Carry On film.

• Carry On Girls (1973)

A struggling seaside resort attempts to organise a beauty contest, which is opposed by militant feminists. This was the first film where key regulars Kenneth Williams and Charles Hawtrey were both absent. The sexual humour in this film is notably less subtle than its predecessors. Robin Askwith played a sexually naïve youth; he would play a similar character in the later Confessions films.

• Carry On Dick (1974)

This Dick Turpin spoof was the last Rothwell film, and the last to feature Sid James and Hattie Jacques. It was the last acting role for Barbara Windsor in a Carry On film. Relative newcomer Jack Douglas progresses to a leading role.

Late 1970s

Rothwell ended his run as writer (due to ill health) in 1974. Fewer of the established cast were now appearing in the films; Abroad had been the last Carry On film appearance for Charles Hawtrey and Dick the last for Sid James, Hattie Jacques.

• Carry On Behind (1975)

Set on a campsite like the earlier Carry On Camping, this film starred several established Carry On... regulars along with an influx of new actors in key roles including Windsor Davies, Ian Lavender, Adrienne Posta and headlining guest star Elke Sommer. The final Carry On film appearance for Bernard Bresslaw and Patsy Rowlands.

• Carry On England (1976)

This film featured an almost entirely new cast. Although Carry On regular Kenneth Connor had a leading role, the only other long term regulars present, Joan Sims, Peter Butterworth and Jack Douglas, had only small roles. Windsor Davies, who had joined the series with the preceding film, again plays a major role. Other key roles are taken by established and recognisable actors Judy Geeson and Patrick Mower. A major commercial failure, this film was withdrawn from some cinemas after just three days.

• That's Carry On! (1977)

A compilation of clips with specially filmed linking footage presented by Kenneth Williams and Barbara Windsor.

• Carry On Emmannuelle (1978)

This film placed increased emphasis on sexual matters. Jack Douglas plays a character other than his stuttering Alf Ippititimus-type persona, in this case a snooty butler. The final film of Peter Butterworth, Joan Sims, Kenneth Connor and Kenneth Williams.

1992 revival

In 1992, an attempt was made to revive the series with Carry On Columbus, coinciding with the production of two serious movies on the subject and the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' first landing in the Americas. The producers managed to persuade a number of alternative comedians such as Rik Mayall, Alexei Sayle, Peter Richardson, and Julian Clary to appear in the film as well as the comic actress Maureen Lipman. It was heavily panned by most critics, but achieved fair commercial success, actually taking more at the UK box office than the other two Columbus-inspired movies that were also released that year.

Of all the original Carry On stars, only Jim Dale (playing the title role) and Jack Douglas appeared in the film – many of the others had either died or didn't wish to be involved. A handful of other actors who had played a few roles in the original films, such as Peter Gilmore, Bernard Cribbins and Jon Pertwee returned, as did June Whitfield and Leslie Phillips, who played the King and Queen of Spain. The roles were originally intended for Joan Sims and Frankie Howerd, but Sims turned it down and Howerd died before production commenced.

The script, by Dave Freeman, included comment on colonialism as well as the obligatory innuendo and slapstick.

Unmade films

Several other films were planned, scripted (or partly scripted) or entered pre-production before being abandoned:

• What a Carry On... (1961)
• Carry On Smoking (1961)—the story revolved around a fire station, and various attempts to train a bungling group of new recruits.
• Carry On Flying (1962)—scripted by Norman Hudis, about a group of RAF recruits. It got as far as pre-production before being abandoned.
• Carry On Spaceman (1962)—see section below.
• Carry On Again Nurse (1967 and two other attempts)—see section below.
• Carry On Escaping (1973)—scripted by Talbot Rothwell, a spoof of World War 2 escape films. The complete script was included in the book The Complete A-Z of Everything Carry On.
• Carry On Down Under (1980)—Gerald Thomas did some location scouting while on holiday in Australia and spoke to the Australian Film Commission. The production was abandoned when finance fell through.
• Carry on Dallas (1981)—a planned spoof of the popular US series Dallas. A script was written and casting offers made to Williams, Connor, Douglas, Sims, Hawtrey and Dale. The production was abandoned when Lorimar Productions demanded a royalty fee of 20 times the total production budget.

Carry On Spaceman

Carry On Spaceman was to be released shortly after Carry On Regardless, in 1961. It was scripted by Norman Hudis, and was to satirise interests in the space race from the Western world's point of view, and was to have been shot in black and white.

The cast was to consist of three would-be astronauts who constantly bungled on their training and their mission into outer space - most likely the trio would have been played by the trinity of Kenneth Williams, Kenneth Connor and Leslie Phillips that had been established in Carry On Constable.

Attempts to revive Carry On Spaceman in 1962 under Denis Gifford, again by Hudis, failed, and the project was subsequently abandoned.

Carry On Again Nurse

Three scripts were written for an intended sub-sequel to the successful Carry On Nurse film, the second installment of the Carry On series. All three attempts failed, and so the film has never been made.

1967

The first attempt to create Carry On Again Nurse came in 1967, but was later released as Carry On Doctor. It is unclear why the film was renamed, though it is possibly because Anglo-Amalgamated Ltd owned the first 12 Carry On films, and Rank did not wish to enter a lawsuit. Despite all this, Carry On Nurse was alluded to twice in Carry On Doctor, firstly with the sub-titles (one reading Nurse Carries On Again and Death of a Daffodil), and again in a later scene with Frankie Howerd commenting on a vase of daffodils in his ward.

1979

A second attempt at Carry On Again Nurse came in 1979, after the franchise left Rank Films and moved to Hemdale. A completed script had been written by George Layton and Jonathan Lynn in 1977. It was cancelled due to the financial loss of Carry On Emmanuelle.

1988

The final attempt to create Carry On Again Nurse came in 1988, with a script written by Norman Hudis (the script is included in the book The Lost Carry Ons), but with a budget of 1.5 million was deemed too expensive.

Carry On London

A new film, Carry On London, was announced in 2003 by producer Peter Rogers and producer James Black but remained in pre-production well into 2008. The script was signed off by the production company in late March 2008, and "centred on a limousine company ferrying celebrities to an awards show." The film had several false starts, with the producers and cast changing extensively over time. Only the rather unknown Welsh actress Jynine James remained a consistent name from 2003 to 2008. Daniella Westbrook, Shaun Williamson and Burt Reynolds were also once attached to the project. In May 2006, it was announced Vinnie Jones and Shane Richie were to star in the film, which was to be directed by Peter Richardson, though Ed Bye later replaced him as the named director. At the 50th anniversary party held at Pinewood Studios in March 2008, Peter Rogers confirmed that he was planning for a series of Carry On films after London, subject to the success of the first.

In early 2009, Carry On London or Carry On Bananas was once again 'back on', with Charlie Higson attached as director, and a different more modern cast list involving Paul O'Grady (as the acidic Kenneth Williamsesque character), Jynine James, Lenny Henry, Justin Lee Collins, Jennifer Ellison (as the saucy Barbara Windsor type), Liza Tarbuck (Hattie Jacques), Meera Syal, James Dreyfus, and Frank Skinner (filling in the Sid James role). Despite new media interest and sets being constructed at Pinewood film studios the film once again was put on hold. Following the death of series producer Peter Rogers the project was shelved. The company set up to produce the film Carry On London LTD was undergoing liquidation proceedings as of February 2010.

Non-Carry On films

Please Turn Over (1959), Watch Your Stern (1960), No Kidding (1960), Raising the Wind (1961), Twice Round the Daffodils (1962), Nurse on Wheels (1963), The Big Job (1965) and the television programme spin-off Bless This House (1972) were all also directed by Gerald Thomas and produced by Peter Rogers and utilised the same writers and some of the same cast and crew of the Carry On films. They are not part of the Carry On series.

Carry on Admiral (1957), which has Joan Sims in the cast, predates the Carry On series.

Cast

Main article: List of Carry On films cast members

Album

Main article: Oh! What A Carry On!

In 1971, Music For Pleasure released a long playing record Oh! What A Carry On! (MFP MONO 1416) featuring songs performed by Kenneth Williams, Jim Dale, Kenneth Connor, Frankie Howerd, Bernard Bresslaw, Joan Sims, Barbara Windsor, and Dora Bryan.

Television

The characters and comedy style of the Carry On film series were adapted to a television series titled Carry On Laughing, and several Christmas specials.

Stage shows

There were three Carry On... stage shows.

• Carry On London ran at the Victoria Palace Theatre from October 1973 to March 1975. It was written by Talbot Rothwell, Dave Freeman, Eric Merriman and featured Sid James, Barbara Windsor, Kenneth Connor, Peter Butterworth, Bernard Bresslaw, and Jack Douglas. It was presented in revue style with sketches from the most popular Carry On... films, stand-up routines, and songs.

• Carry On Laughing ran at Royal Opera House in Scarborough for the summer of 1976. It featured Jack Douglas, Kenneth Connor, Peter Butterworth, and Liz Fraser. Although branded as a Carry On... it was straightforward farce written by Sam Cree. It was overshadowed by the death of Sid James just prior to opening.

• Wot a Carry On In Blackpool was a revue written by Barry Cryer and Dick Vosburgh. It ran for a short season in 1992. The only original cast members were Barbara Windsor and Bernard Bresslaw.

Documentaries

A 50-minute television documentary What's a Carry On? was made in 1998 for the 40th anniversary of the first film. It included archive clips, out-takes and interviews with surviving cast members. It was included as an extra on the DVD release of Carry On Emmannuelle .

A two-hour radio documentary Carry On Forever!, presented by Leslie Phillips, was broadcast in two parts on BBC Radio 2 in two parts on 19–20 July 2010.

References in other media

The success of the Carry On series occasionally led to affectionate parodies of the series by other contemporary comedians:

• In the Series 3 episode of The Navy Lark entitled The Explosive Biscuits, Sub Lieutenant Phillips (Leslie Phillips) and Lieutenant Murray (Stephen Murray) see a film in Portsmouth entitled Carry On Undertaker, which is used for a self-referential joke - Sub-Lt. Phillips comments on how amused he was by: "the silly hearse driver in the small moustache", a reference to Leslie Phillips. The Carry On films would be referenced again in the Series 4 episode The Northampton Hunt Ball, in which Ramona Povey (Heather Chasen) pretends to go and see the fictional Carry On Deckchair Man in order to secretly play Bingo.

• In The Spitting Image Book, released in 1985, there is a reference to a fictitious made-for-TV film entitled Carry On Up the Rectum, satirising the transparency of the puns used for Carry On Up the Khyber and possibly Carry On Up the Jungle.

• Harry Enfield's mockumentary Norbert Smith - a Life (1989) includes a clip from an imagined Carry On film, Carry On Banging (a parody of the more risque approach of the later Carry On films, such as Carry On Dick and Carry On Emmannuelle). The setting is the Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp of the 1980s. Three genuine Carry On actors appear in the spoof: Barbara Windsor, Jack Douglas and Kenneth Connor.

• In The Goodies 1977 spin-off book, The Making of The Goodies Disaster Movie, there is a parody poster and script extract from the obviously parodic Carry On Christ, which casts many of the regulars as Biblical characters (as well as providing a cameo for Orson Welles as God, who memorably gets to intone the line "Oops, know what I mean.")

• Electronic artist Pogo uses multiple excerpts from Carry On Cruising in his song Go Out and Love Someone.

• Although not expressly a Carry On parody, a sketch in That Mitchell and Webb Look is set in a "bawdy 1970s hospital" which closely replicates the look, soundtrack, style of dialogue etc. of the medical-themed films in the series. In the sketch, a new recruit is unable to understand the difference between the dirty double entendres used by the rest of the hospital's staff and mere openly obscene statements, and consistently uses the latter and only the latter to try to fit in.

Merchandise

Falcon De Luxe a UK company owned by Jumbo Games released a jigsaw based the official Carry On movie posters. The jigsaw is a montage of numerous movie posters along with the main movie logo in the center.

Bibliography

• No Laughing Matter by Norman Hudis (2008), Apex Publishing Ltd.
• Keeping the British End Up: Four Decades of Saucy Cinema by Simon Sheridan (third edition) (2007) (Reynolds & Hearn Books)
• Rigelsford, Adrian (1996). Carry On Laughing - a celebration. London: Virgin. ISBN 1-85227-554-5. 

External links

• Carry On Films at The Whippit Inn Detailed information on the Carry On film series
• What a Carry On A tribute to the series
• Carry On Forever An extensive look at the series
• Carry on Films at IMDb
• Laugh with the Carry Ons (TV Series 1993) at IMDb