(William Hartnell, Bill Owen and Eric Barker in Carry On Sergeant)
Carry On Marathon Part 2:
Carry On Sergeant (1958)
Carry On Nurse (1959)
Carry On Teacher (1959)
Carry On Cabby (1963)
Carry On Emmannuelle (1978)
First up appropriately is Carry On Sergeant (1958) the very 1st film in the franchise. It was great to see William Hartnell the first Dr.Who, in a different role and looking a little younger. My mum told me he got the role because he played a tough Sergeant in The Army Game (1957-61) which incidentally also starred Carry On regulars Charles Hawtrey and Bernard Bresslaw. Looking at Hartnell's list of films on IMDB, it is obvious he suffered from been typecast, as he played 6x Sergeants, was promoted to Major and then Colonel.
I had a strange feeling I had seen Carry On Sergeant before, the only thing that I seemed to remember was Kenneth Conner been chased by a lovesick tealady. The clip on YouTube is superb, probably the best scene in the film, for all the stars and Carry On regulars, the bit that cracks me up most is for Private Gallowway and his “Andy…A“ line. Bob Monkhouse is excellent, he starts the film getting hitched to Bond girl to be Shirley Eaton. Sadly he gets called up before he can consummate the relationship. I gotta say I didn't recognise Eaton with her clothes on and without her gold make-up on. The film also starred Last Of The Summer Wine's Compo (Bill Owen) as Hartnell's right hand man Corporal Copping . Owen pops up in quite a few of the early films.
(Shirley Eaton publicity shot for Carry On Nurse)I then followed this with the 2nd film in the series Carry On Nurse (1959). One of the most apparent things with watching these early Carry On films is that they are a lot more innocent than the smuttier late 60s/70s films. They have more in common with the post war Will Hay or Ealing comedies that were been made from about 1944-1964. One of the joys of watching the first couple of films, was discovering the beautiful Shirley Eaton. She really stood out for me, she had the looks with her striking blonde hair and some very dark eyebrows. What surprised me the most was that she could act and had a very effotless natural acting style, that glued me to the spot for every scene that she was in. She is probably one of the most recognizable Bond girls of the 60’s if not the franchise. We all remember her in her gold birthday suit,,but I can’t even remember if she had a speaking role. I find it a real shame that Eaton stopped acting in 1969, perhaps she found it hard getting jobs that didn’t call for her to be naked or sprayed gold.
I really need to check out Goldfinger (1964) again, especially with all the Bond razzmatazz for Quantum Of Solace. I had to agree with Andrew Collins recent blog entry Quantum of Sellers about the colossus Bond advertising machine and how shameless it has become.
(Shirley Eaton on the cover of Life magazine in 1964)
Carry On Nurse is a lot of fun and a prototype for future Carry On films as they would return to the hospital ward for three more outings in Carry On Doctor (1967), Carry On Again Doctor (1969) and finally Carry On Matron (1972). Carry On Nurse sees Hatti Jacques get a larger role than the previous film and one that she would become synonymous with. Of the 14 Carry On films she made, she would play Matron five times. It made me chuckle whenever Matron said “Carry on Nurse”. Another great thing about the early films is that it’s great watching the regulars before they started playing caricatures of themselves. A fine example of this is Carry On Cabby. Kenneth Conner, Sid James and Hattie Jacques really shine in this one.
Carry On Teacher is pretty funny although it is a blatant take off of the St. Trinianians films, with a mob of riotous kids sabotaging a school inspection. Leslie Philips is a scream delivering his trademark "Ding Dong" line as he sets eyes on Joan Simms. Double checking Philips "Ding Dong" catchphrase it turn s out it originated in Carry On Nurse. The film also features an early role for Dick Turpin and Man About The House Richard O'Sullivan as the lead saboteur.
Come the mid-sixties there was a writing change as Talbot Rothwell replaced Norman Hudis in 1963. Around this time they switched to shooting just in colour, bigger budgets and began to spoof period films like Cleopatra (1963), The Scarlet Pimpernel(1934) and Dracula (1958). Couple that with the women's lib movement and relaxtion of nudity and censorship laws Gerald Thomas and Peter Rogers took full advantage and pushed it to its limits. This came to a head in 1978 with Carry On Emmannuelle which turned out to be the final film, . I only caught the 2nd half of this film on BBC3, it was mildly amusing, very soft and at least I can say I have seen it.
I wish I could say it was my first Emmanuelle film. I can't that honour goes to Emmanuelle (1974), and the unofficial Black Emanuelle film Emanuelle and The Cannibal Jungle (1977) . For some the mix of gratuitous sex and bloody gore is heaven. For a short period this became a popular sub-genre of cannibal films, that were all the rage in the 70's Even Bond girl No.1 Ursula Andress went bare chested for some good frolicking fun deep down in the Amazon jungle in The Mountain of the Cannibal God (1978). And then you can't forget L'Infermiera (1975) aka The Sensuous Nurse, where she played a saucy nurse.
For me when Carry On films did a pastiche or spoof of a genre of film like in Carry on Cowboy or Carry On Screaming, it was done well with plenty of genre markers that iconic moments to allow you to identify the film been referenced. The key point is that they were always first and foremost Carry On film. Carry On Emmannuelle sadly forgot this as it is very much an Emmanuelle film first, with some aging Carry On stars in small roles to satisfy die hard fans and to help sell the film. I had to laugh when I read the story that Barbra Windsor turned down the film because of the films opening scene on a airplane with her character giving oral sex in a toilet. I won't even mention Carry On Columbus (1993).
I make it I am about half way through the 29 films that they made.
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