I never thought I’d be talking about these films. The term ‘films’ might not even seem appropriate. The Carry On movies are far more ingrained into the zeitgeist of British culture, and it’s difficult to understand that without actually watching them. They started back in the late fifties, with the commandeering captain being a man named Gerald Thomas. From the first film, Carry On Sergeant, to the lacklustre thud of Carry On Emmanuelle in the late seventies, these films have stayed so much more important to our British culture than we may think. It brought about the rise of famed British actors like Sidney James and Barbara Windsor, and refused to cease, even with multiple films being released in the same year.
These films were known for their raunchy humour, racial stereotypes and no-bars take on political incorrectness. This is where my generation comes in. We live in an era where the subjective nature of comedy has drastically altered. I’ve often remarked that Comedy is one of the worst genres when it comes to time. Even in the more progressive sixties, controversial and politically incorrect humour was still prevalent; even more so in the UK than in America. We’ve become more sensitised over these decades, so these films are going to carry with them the weight of inevitable scrutiny. My own sense of humour has changed over the years. Growing up in the 2000’s, edgy humour was a constant, and I was never afraid to take pot-shots at minority groups. None of it was genuine, but as I grew into my adult years, I began to wince at the mere glimpse of my past.
After nearly marathoning the entire series after a curious purchase, it had me thinking about my own capacity for certain jokes, These films have always fluttered about in my mind, so to finally watch them has been somewhat relieving. I wanted to share my opinions on the more prevalent aspects of these films and how I, a millennial, view them. I’ve found that there is far more complexity to simply disliking all of one particular aspect. Will I become a “fragile snowflake of the woke agenda” or will I actually provide some criticisms with actual depth? The latter is far more pretentious than is needed for these films(?)
Carry On Perverting
I couldn’t very well start anywhere else than with the film’s most prominent feature: it’s excessive horniness. The basis was inspired so heavily by raunchy comedic postcards, brief with double-entendre. Even the first film, Carry On Sergeant, while nowhere near as perverse as the later films, is packed with innuendo. A lot of this innuendo was just about all the writers could do without challenging the sensors. Once the ever-changing sixties came in, the Carry On films consistently pushed boundaries before they would ever reach the brink of a higher age rating. Carry On Camping would be the first entry to feature full-frontal nudity, and the series would only continue to find ways to integrate it.
To be honest, the nudity isn’t even the most egregious thing. The various innuendos can often feel far more shocking than any brief nip-slip. Some lines can be more overt than others, but it’s always done in a way that would get a dark chuckle out of even your grandparents. It was this never-ending slew of one-liners that appealed to me the most, and I really enjoyed the lines that dared to toe the line of mispronunciation. Even the very early Carry On Teacher has a character named Miss Allcock, or a later film putting a lot of emphasis on the word ‘count.’ Even some of the more leery moments, like in Carry On Camping, have a sort of twisted, cheeky charm to them.
By a certain point in watching these films almost back-to-back, you begin to accept the fact these films are unapologetically sexual. That sexual depravity is just part of a lot of British culture because of how stiff the people in charge were. In a sort of counter-culture way, these films are overtly telling the upper class to stuff it. That does not excuse some of the more…uncomfortable parts.
Before I highlight the actors, I wanted to talk briefly about Sidney James. He is considered to be the poster boy for the franchise, appearing in a large number of the films, starting with Carry On Constable. At a certain point, his schtick became the lustful old man that would flirt, and sometime be rewarded, with the much younger women. Many fans would cheer this on, being a typical male fantasy, but this aspect has aged very poorly now. Personally, I enjoy James most when he’s paired up with actors like Hattie Jacques or Joan Sims. Even when he’s actively trying to cheat on them, it leads to some hilarious moments of James getting punished. But then you get a film like Carry On Camping, where James is leering over various schoolgirls (played by adults), or Carry On Girls, where he’s forcing himself on Barbara Windsor, and it all feels creepy. I could stomach things like Carry On Henry and Carry On Loving because it fits those films thematically. But the others just churn my stomach too much.
These sexual jokes are always at their best when they’re not-so-covertly written, so when a film like Carry On Emmanuelle comes along and gives us these sexual jokes upfront, it ruins the entire charm of the series. It’s funny to me how much I complained about the last two films in the franchise being too overt with these jokes when you consider my disgust of the image of Sid James leaping on younger women. There’s just something so wrong about a Carry On film telling us upfront. Carry On Cleo is probably the best example of this sexual innuendo done right, constantly teasing the audience with a promise of something more tantalising, but continuously blocking our view. These films are walking innuendos, and it’s best to just sit back and accept the nature of them. But this doesn’t distract from the more uncomfortable, arguably more incorrect racism.
Carry On Brownface
The comedies of the sixties and seventies were wild. America may have faded out the uncomfortable tradition of blackface performances, but Britain held onto this for a while. It’s in our British nature to poke fun of everyone, even ourselves, but the Carry On films do push this to slight extremes. I’m not necessarily saying this was always done poorly. Hell, I’d even say some of this is downright hilarious.
Carry On Follow That Camel and Carry On Up the Khyber are infamous examples of the cast playing ethnic characters. Both films feature white actors donning stereotypical Asian garb, and putting on exaggerated accents. Bernard Bresslaw was often the go-to for this, but Williams had his fair share of moments in the latter film I mentioned. Carry On Cowboy throws a good few punches at Native Americans as well. And as uncomfortable as I could feel, I did find myself laughing hysterically at points. What elevates this being more than an excuse to be horribly racist is that it’s clear how satirical it all is. For every jab at other cultures there is, the writers are sure to throw several jabs at themselves. A British tradition that never fails to remain is our self-deprecating humour. We aren’t nearly as patriotic as our flag-saluting families over in America.
There are definitely moments of flat-out racism that can ruin certain scenes, and we never really had a minority actor amongst the regulars. There is a part of me that really wants to flog the creators for their insensitivity, but I can’t help but look past it. One film that doesn’t do this particularly well is Carry On Up the Jungle, which feels far more racist than humorous. With so many black extras, they chose to don Bresslaw in black makeup and have him speak in a offensive made-up language. It doesn’t feel particularly funny, with the joke surmounting to someone making fun of someone else’s culture because it’s different.
These films aren’t all offensive strands of humour. I don’t even think the biggest problem should be that, because it’s the general approach to comedy that I found to have fluctuated from film to film. In a lot of ways, it’s the more base-level humour that has aged the worst.
Carry On Inconsistently
The thing that frustrated me more than anything was the varying quality of these films. The first batch of movies that I call the tame batch often fell into a pattern of every odd-numbered films being good, while the even ones were rather standard. None of them were particularly amazing, and I think that’s down to how much the structure of comedy has changed. There’s a lot of slowness to much of the timing, and the deliveries are often very stretched out. With so many comedians fighting for the screen, you get a bit of a messy pool of different styles. This ended up rounding out more in the later films, with no particular actor outshining another.
The further you venture into these films, the more you feel that decline that so many complain about. I did find myself going easier on some of the more disliked entries, but there’s no denying that the homely atmosphere of those earlier films gets lost in the need for more outrageous content. Those local locations turned into period pieces and direct film parodies. Carry On Spying may very well be the first James Bond parody, and I can’t say I was overly joyed about this sudden redirection. Carry On Cleo (a parody of Cleopatra) showed far more promise and was far funnier than I would’ve expected. Honestly, as much as I admire the grounded locations of those earlier films, it’s the elaborate, historical locations that most appealed to me. Something as completely outlandish as Carry On Screaming was a unique treat. But only in the context of the franchise.
I can’t say that any of these films were particular contenders for some of my favourite comedies of all time. Even my personal favourites like Carry On Regardless and Carry On Up the Khyber were only funny an a base-level. I love traditional British comedy as much as the next person, but my humour has shifted dramatically over the years. There is a sense of timelessness that these films have, but I can’t see them as anything more than charming little fillers.
Carry On Laughing
When you sit through these films as I did, you begin to grow very attached to the cast. Many actors made the rounds, but there were a handful of mainstays that kept this franchise alive. I’ve already mentioned Sidney James. And while it seemed like I was harping on the man himself, I actually find him to be the heart and soul of the entire picture. His natural, rather basic acting style only made him more relatable, like watching somebody’s lad-like uncle going on various misadventures.
I was particularly drawn to Charles Hawtrey. His camp behaviour always managed to bring a huge smile out of me. He was at his best when he was thrown into ridiculous situations with a careless smile. Kenneth Williams absolutely embodied much of the innuendo of the films. His often asexual characters were forcibly placed into a world of lust, and it would often lead to some hilarious scenarios. I was a big fan of Kenneth Connor, who appeared quite frequently in the early films, then disappeared, then became a regular in the late films. His varied performance could stand apart from the others actors that simply played themselves. Bernard Bresslaw was a great later addition, often playing the loveable dimwit.
Hattie Jacques was an absolute delight, playing up her weight in ways that never felt insulting but important to this overall piece of satire. She commonly played a Matron character, but I always preferred when she played the doting, vindictive wife characters like in Carry On Cabby or Carry On Loving. Joan Sims was my preferred leading lady. She had a sense of humour that made her feel like one of the guys, destroying this stereotype that women couldn’t be funny. Barbara Windsor is a fan favourite, and I did enjoy her. But I do feel she was underutilised as playing the dumb blonde far too much.
There’s far too many regular actors to list, but all of them bring a different quality that made these films feel so comfortable. The films that lack many of these heavy-hitters feel the most barren, like the awful Carry On England. Following their personal lives suddenly adds this strange weight to all the characters they played.
Carry On Watching
It’s amazing to see how much of the series’ humour has made up a lot of what we find funny today. It’s easy to brush this off as a product of its time(s), but there is something there that you can tell others have emulated. Every generation seems to find themselves going back to these films, even if it’s in smaller quantities each time. I do think there’s worth to these films, but you have to understand that there is a satirical nature to them that not everyone will get.
I can cringe at certain parts, and I was even downright outraged at the blatant one-sided nature of Carry On at Your Convenience. But my ultimate takeaway was that I enjoyed these quite a bit. I would feel a sense of elation whenever I saw the names of the actors in each film, wondering who would return. With a cautious foot to the wind, I would recommend that others of my generation watch these if only for their historical significance.
Written by Conor Johnson.