365 Films A Year!

Carry On Sergeant (1958)
Carry On Nurse (1959)
Carry On Teacher (1959)
Carry On Constable (1960)
Carry On Regardless (1961)
Carry On Cruising (1962)

In these early films, the basic formula that would drive the Carry On series was developed.

Sergeant is probably the strongest of these early efforts. Being the first, it’s the only one that isn’t trying to recapture something. Nurse is close (and really starts the formula rolling), but doesn’t have a clear plotline to hold it together. (A sign of things to come.)

I despise Teacher. As a stand-alone film, it might have worked, but I watch the Carry Ons for the main actors and in Teacher, it is clear that we are supposed to side with the kids.  The adults are set up as the bad guys, petty and obsessed with corporal punishment. We are supposed to chuckle at the naughty children and, ultimately, see them for the little darlings they are.  Well, I don’t buy any of it.  They deserve every punishment they get and more.  It is only a lazy script that allows them to get away with their nonsense and all the sentimental claptrap in the world won’t make up for it in the end.  This one is the most far afield of any of the Carry Ons and one of the few I only watch when I’m watching them all.

Constable is a much better return to form.  It also features the debut of Sid James, who would become, to many, the face of the Carry On films.  Sure, the plot is weak (new officers forced to go out before they are ready because of an outbreak of illness), but it allows for a lot of the same type of humor that populated Sergeant.  James is also at his least lascivious here and it works out to be an excellent entry overall.

The first of the real slapped together Carry Ons, Regardless, tries to mil the formula before its fully cooked, so to speak.  An “odd jobs” business gives an excuse for putting the Carry On crew into a wide variety of situations.  There’s little but the agency to hold it together and it would have worked better, perhaps, as a short TV series than as a film.  Still, there are good laughs to be had and it doesn’t run too far against the grain, like Teacher.

Cruising sees the cheekiness level starting to ratchet up, though James is still not the center of it.  The biggest piece missing in this one, to me at least, is Joan Sims.  As in Sergeant, there is a part ideal for her, but which is filled by Dilys Laye, who just doesn’t have the chops of Sims. Everyone else does a nice job and Cruising comes off as a solid entry, if not particularly memorable.

Original review of Carry On Sergeant.
Original review of Carry On Nurse.

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 28th, 2009 at 2:36 pm and is filed under 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, British, Comedy, Crime, Romance, Sequel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.