What's the best Carry On film?

[Glebe]

TVam - Carry On Texas.

TVam - Carry On Texas part 2.

There was a proposed Carry on London some years back that never came to fruition obvs.

New page Carry On twat.

[Brundle-Fly]

There was a proposed Carry on London some years back that never came to fruition obvs.

With Shane Ritchie in the lead role. Apparently, it never got off the ground because no comedy names wanted to touch it with a bargepole. It'd be like trying to reboot the Police Academy franchise.

[Glebe]

With Shane Ritchie in the lead role. Apparently, it never got off the ground because no comedy names wanted to touch it with a bargepole. It'd be like trying to reboot the Police Academy franchise.

They got a fair load of 'alternative' comedians who probably had a nostalgic fondness for the franchise for Columbus... sad that a few years later no one was arsed. Not that it wouldn't have inevitably been a terrible film, mind.

[Brundle-Fly]

Back in the early '00s, I went to see a screening at Pinewood Studios. I sneaked off for a bit and had a nose around the building we were in. I was surprised to see Peter Rogers still had an office and his own signed parking space; considering he hadn't made a film in twelve years by this point.

[evilcommiedictator]

Khyber purely for the British toff satire, being entirely posh and retentive yet still up for a bit of 'tiffin. Underpants.

[Ignatius_S]

Convenience loses out due to the weasley little shit in the Jim Dale role.

Everyone remembers the obvious Carry On... big hitters, and quite rightly, but Dale was a superb romantic lead, grounding the films somewhat. They lost a lot when he went to Murcca.

He's also very good in the small roles in Cabby and Jack - in the latter, he's a highlight and personally feel Dale would have been better than Cribbins as the hero.

As for his leaving, Dale left the Carry Ons before moving to America. Laurence Olivier invited Dale to join the National Theatre Company - however, Carry On Up The Jungle started pre-production, Dale went back to Rogers and Thomas, saying that the shooting dates clashed with those theatre commitments. Thomas and Rogers wouldn't change the schedule and gave Dale the ultimatum of either working with Olivier or starring as Jungle Boy - quite the dilemma and one that I believe Dale agonised over for several seconds.

There's a Italian restaurant and wine bar, which I used to go to, which due to its generous attitude towards licensing hours and close proximity to a theatre, was popular with those connected with the latest production and those who weren't, but were similarly thirsty. Dsual thing of lots of photos of actors and countless posters plastered on the walls - some of the latter went back 40 years or more and found some of the names that cropped up were interesting. One that caught my eye was for Scapino, based on a Molière play, which Dale starred in and when checking about it, found that it had been incredibly successful both over here and on Broadway. It had been adapted by Frank Dunlop and Dale, who also wrote the music for it. In an article about The Young Vic (I think it coincided with its anniversary), it discussed about Dunlop's aims in founding it and also mentioned that Scapino was the very first production for TYV.

I was quite young when The National Health was once on TV - I was aware of Peter Nichols (links nicely to this thread as he was an army comrade of Williams) but all the same, I have to admit that the connotations created by 'hospital comedy film' and 'Jim Dale' steered my expectations in another direction. I later found out that Dale was in the original stage production for the National and one of the very few (two?) actors who appeared in the film as well.

...There was a proposed Carry on London some years back that never came to fruition obvs...

And lest we forget, Charlie Higson was being touted as the director.

A few pages of the script treatment can be found at: https://www.retroboy.co.uk/carry-on-london

But in any case, it was announced (last year?) that three Carry Ons were in the pipeline...

...With Shane Ritchie in the lead role. Apparently, it never got off the ground because no comedy names wanted to touch it with a bargepole. It'd be like trying to reboot the Police Academy franchise.

It had been in development hell for several years, but it was Rogers' death that's usually credited as really putting an end to it. In a thread long ago, someone posted some interesting information about the project but couldn't say too much about it (IIRC, their partner had some connection to it or a company involved in it).

But in any case, I'm not sure that they should have tried - or in the case of the new films - attempt to concentrate on people associated with comedy as some of the names touted for London didn't have a good track record for acting gigs.

Back in the early '00s, I went to see a screening at Pinewood Studios. I sneaked off for a bit and had a nose around the building we were in. I was surprised to see Peter Rogers still had an office and his own signed parking space; considering he hadn't made a film in twelve years by this point.

Ah, that's interesting. I can't remember when it was that was a doc about the franchise and sure it featured an office at Pinewood and they discussed about the correspondence that still comes in about the films.

[Glebe]

And lest we forget, Charlie Higson was being touted as the director.

A few pages of the script treatment can be found at: https://www.retroboy.co.uk/carry-on-london

But in any case, it was announced (last year?) that three Carry Ons were in the pipeline...

Crikey, interesting stuff!

[Custard]

Weirdly, I could see Higson doing a decent job of it. Especially if some of the Fast Show gang were involved too. Could imagine Whitehouse having fun with it

But Carry On really was "of its time", wasn't it? A moment and period that it makes no sense to try to recreate now

[Norton Canes]

Objectively I suppose Khyber for the social satire, Screaming for the genre, Sergeant for just being a great comedy flick before the Carry On template was established.

But from a personal point of view I'd say Spying - the final black and white Carry On, and the first with Barbara Windsor, but most importantly the first one I watched, so it triggers the crucial Proustian effect. Things like Windsor's blinking camera-effect photographic memory stick in the mind but mostly the weird stuff that goes on in the finale, such as the non-binary Dr Crow, the production line sequence which gets bizarrely reversed, and even the fact that Crow's secret base turns out to be located underneath spy HQ, something I remember finding slightly unsettling (no, I've no idea).

[PowerButchi]

Abroad is best.

[Brundle-Fly]

Screaming, I reckon. It had the same effect on me on that same bonfire night's tv viewing in 1976 as it did for the LOG.

[Glebe]

But from a personal point of view I'd say Spying - the final black and white Carry On, and the first with Barbara Windsor, but most importantly the first one I watched, so it triggers the crucial Proustian effect. Things like Windsor's blinking camera-effect photographic memory stick in the mind but mostly the weird stuff that goes on in the finale, such as the non-binary Dr Crow, the production line sequence which gets bizarrely reversed, and even the fact that Crow's secret base turns out to be located underneath spy HQ, something I remember finding slightly unsettling (no, I've no idea).

I ruined that for myself by watching the ending on Film4 the other evening while having me dinner.

[Bad Ambassador]

Doctor is the nostalgic pinnacle for me. Surprisingly warm in a few places as well.

[rue the polywhirl]

Carry On Wayward Son is my favourite and I'm pleasantly surprised by the number of laughs in Carry On Glamping. Also love Carry On Sonic And Knuckles and Carry On Sonic And The Secret Rings.

[Shaky]

Doctor is the nostalgic pinnacle for me. Surprisingly warm in a few places as well.

Ooh, matron! And what about the film?

[Phoenix Lazarus]

I like that one where David Mitchell says 'shall I get my knob out?''

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

I like that one where David Mitchell says 'shall I get my knob out?''

He'd do anything for the money when all the publishers were rejecting " Ghostwritten".

[dothestrand]

Screaming or Matron. Just for Williams' 'yes, I can prove it, you hear, proooooooove it' when told 'your mail' (he thinks he's changing sex). But they're all good fun, even the shit ones.

[Ambient Sheep]

Screaming, I reckon. It had the same effect on me on that same bonfire night's tv viewing in 1976 as it did for the LOG.

Me too!  I was so thrilled when I saw them say that.

[Phoenix Lazarus]

Screaming, I reckon. It had the same effect on me on that same bonfire night's tv viewing in 1976 as it did for the LOG.

It was Bonfire Night 1975.

https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/search/0/20?adv=1&q=Carry+on+Screaming&media=all&yf=1923&yt=2009&mf=1&mt=12&tf=00%3A00&tt=00%3A00#search

I remember it well, because I saw the start then had a strop as I wanted to carry on (no pun intended) watching, but instead I got dragged out to see an organised firework thing we'd arranged to go to.  I saw the whole film when it was shown again a couple of years on.

[jamiefairlie]

It was Bonfire Night 1975.

https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/search/0/20?adv=1&q=Carry+on+Screaming&media=all&yf=1923&yt=2009&mf=1&mt=12&tf=00%3A00&tt=00%3A00#search

I remember it well, because I saw the start then had a strop as I wanted to carry on (no pun intended) watching, but instead I got dragged out to see an organised firework thing we'd arranged to go to.  I saw the whole film when it was shown again a couple of years on.

Think I watched that too, proper scary.

[Phoenix Lazarus]

Not sure what to think about this.

https://metro.co.uk/2020/12/13/dame-barbara-windsor-appear-carry-on-movies-hologram-13744948/

[metaltax]

Not sure what to think about this.

I think it's bollocks.

[George White]

Carry On London, they apparently were going to get Shaun Williamson at one point.
Burt Reynolds was apparently going to play the American.
Christopher Lee was going to do it, because he apparently always wanted to do one, as it was basically the one subgenre of Briitsh cinema he hadn't done (horror, war, 50s crime thriller, period drama, erotica - all ticked off)

[Glebe]

Filming Carry On Up The Khyber, Snowdonia, 1968.

Imagine that's been posted here previously but I've not seen it before myself. Nice.

[Shaky]

I've not read his diaries so only got the usual second hand nuggets to go on, but it's interesting to see how much happier Williams seems there compared to the 70's and 80's.

[Twonty Gostelow]

Just out of interest for a bit of historical perspective, those Snowdonia scenes were filmed 7 months after Joe Orton's murder, and a few weeks before Tony Hancock's suicide.

[Glebe]

Didn't know Williams' parents were both Welsh... or rather:

Williams stated in his diaries that he believed he had Welsh ancestors due to his parents' surnames.

[Twonty Gostelow]

Didn't know Williams' parents were both Welsh... or rather:

Williams stated in his diaries that he believed he had Welsh ancestors due to his parents' surnames.

Were his last words to his father "Iechyd da!"?

_{^{Too soon?}}

[Ignatius_S]

Only tangentially connected to the Carry Ons, but in the BBC Radio documentary about Neil Innes, Steve James (Sid's son) is one of the contributors.