Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted February 18, 2013 Paid Members Share Posted February 18, 2013 Now, film critics will have you believe that Carry On Screaming and Carry On Cleo are the best Carry On films because they are more accurate in terms of the time period or genres they are working with. This is wrong. Â The best Carry On films are the ones with the best cast members and the best jokes, both dialogue based and visual. To whit:- Â Â Here you not only get a great visual joke scene but you also get some of the better comedy acting that you will see. Think of Leslie Neilsen at his best in Naked Gun and Police Squad - it's 'ignorance' comedy of the highest order. It's also brilliantly directed. Gerald Thomas is still a dreadfully underrated director who also made two or three fins thrillers in his time, most notably The Vicious Circle with John Mills. Â Now look at this:- Â Â A gag that works on three levels. Firstly, with "asses". Secondly, with the spoken set-up. Thirdly, with the delivery of the letter. Fantastic. Â These are two of the best Carry On films as well and show the strength of the series. Not only was it comfortable on home base, sending up the traditional British setting of a camping holiday, but it could also incorporate that British humour into foreign climes as well. Â Of course, the series slid in terms of quality towards its end as the stars dropped by the wayside and the relaunches are as pointless as they are unwanted. But at their best, they are still funny and still some of the best British film comedy ever made. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators PowerButchi Posted February 18, 2013 Moderators Share Posted February 18, 2013 For me, the sign of a great Carry On is Peter Butterworth. If he's in it it's automatically good. The more he's in it, the better it gets. It's no surprise that ...Up The Khyber and ...On Camping have liberal doses of Butterworth. And yes, they are the best two for the reasons Gladstone gave. Also, ...On Camping as Dilys Laye who was dead fit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BiffingtonClyro Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 Carry on... Abroad wins this for me. Jack Douglas' character trying not to spill his pint is one of the most bizarre and hilarious things I've ever seen. Comedy perfection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted February 18, 2013 Author Paid Members Share Posted February 18, 2013 For me, the sign of a great Carry On is Peter Butterworth. If he's in it it's automatically good. The more he's in it, the better it gets. It's no surprise that ...Up The Khyber and ...On Camping have liberal doses of Butterworth. And yes, they are the best two for the reasons Gladstone gave. Also, ...On Camping as Dilys Laye who was dead fit. Â Peter Butterworth went to my school, as did his grandson, who was a decent sort by all accounts. Â But yes, generally he was the most underrated in the series. Jim Dale was a brilliant straight man as well, a really gifted comedy actor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Four Horsemen Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 Carry On Up The Khyber, still stands as one of the best British comedy films of all time IMO. Also Carry On Sergeant and At Your Convenience are still very easy Sunday afternoon watches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dopper Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 For me, the sign of a great Carry On is Peter Butterworth. If he's in it it's automatically good. The more he's in it, the better it gets. It's no surprise that ...Up The Khyber and ...On Camping have liberal doses of Butterworth. And yes, they are the best two for the reasons Gladstone gave. Also, ...On Camping as Dilys Laye who was dead fit. Â For evidence of Butterworth's greatness, look no further than the scene where the gang arrive at the campsite and he is constantly bumping up the price in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members chokeout Posted February 18, 2013 Paid Members Share Posted February 18, 2013 For me, the sign of a great Carry On is Peter Butterworth. If he's in it it's automatically good. Â This. Â Camping is the best. If you ever needed to sum up the series to anyone you could just show them that film. I always hated Screaming it just never seemed as good as the others Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Monkee Posted February 18, 2013 Paid Members Share Posted February 18, 2013 I love a good Carry On. I think my two favourites are ...Doctor - purely for the relationship between Hattie Jacques and Kenneth Williams - and ...At Your Convenience - probably because it's the one I've seen most often. I think there was something almost naive amount comedy of that era, it was childish (and ok, sexist but in a cheeky way) without being annoying. The "Oh matron!" just sums it up really - good ol' innuendos right, left and centre. I'm not even sure if I'm making sense here, bit tired. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members chokeout Posted February 18, 2013 Paid Members Share Posted February 18, 2013 Yeah it's british postcard humour. You can watch them as a 10 year old know they are a bit rude but not actually get the jokes. It's why Carry On Emanuelle was so shit because it was the only one that was actually about sex and lost so much of the 'nudge,nudge. Wink,wink' appeal of the other films humour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted February 18, 2013 Author Paid Members Share Posted February 18, 2013 For me, the sign of a great Carry On is Peter Butterworth. If he's in it it's automatically good.  This.  Camping is the best. If you ever needed to sum up the series to anyone you could just show them that film. I always hated Screaming it just never seemed as good as the others  Technically it's the 'best film'. But it's nowhere near as funny as Camping or Khyber or any of the hospital ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Astro Hollywood Posted February 18, 2013 Moderators Share Posted February 18, 2013 I'm tempted to edit myself into the thread title, because I'm obsessive about the Carry Ons. On my (entirely inside my head but it still counts) bucket list is written "Restart the Carry On franchise". I'll do it someday, you see if I don't. I'm the only man who can! Â Camping is often put up there as the best, because it has all the classic cast at their most archetypal -- Sid's leching, Babs is bouncing, Kenneth's repressed, Hattie's lust-ridden etc -- but for me, the best of the series is At Your Convenience. Even as a massive film nerd who breathes cinema, Convenience is the film I've seen the most times, easily. There's just a million things about it that I love. Kenneth Cope to his frightening mother is always a favourite -- "Cold sausages? You're spoiling me aren't you, giving it to me fifteen times in one week?" Also, Convenience's romance sub-plot is genuinely heartbreaking. The garden path chat between Sid and Joan Sims after the works outing is the realest, saddest thing in the whole series. There's no dirty cackling, and Sid's not perving down her top; just two people who should be together, but can't be. Â Gladstone's absolutely right about that Passes joke. I always cite that as the perfect joke, and structurally I don't know where you'd even begin to write something like that. A triple-gag. Another little touch I love about Camping is the look to camera from Charles Hawtrey when he's talked to the farmer's daughter. Double take, right down the lens. Â Here's something amazing. Sid James "singing" the most Sid James song of all time. Â I read 'The Kenneth Williams Diaries' last year (which was captivating from start to finish) and knowing how much he hated that low-brow style, it's crazy to think that he kept doing them right up till the very end when the quality had really dropped in the final few. Even Carry On at it's best seemed to be beneath someone of his background, but him agreeing to roles in Carry On at it's worst was mind-boggling. Â Kenneth was a mass of contradictions though, always swinging wildly between two viewpoints. One day his diary would read "Had some wonderful people shout 'Ooh hello, Ken, we love you!', how marvelous to feel so loved" and the next he'd be all "Someone looked at me in the street today. Fucking ANIMALS can't leave me alone. Oh, how I loathe them all." Â He can actually be summed up with the two classic Kenneth Williams noises. You've got the posh, nasely voice, and then suddenly, he'd drop in the coarse cackle or a "Stop messin' about!" He was both things at all times. The intellectual who couldn't help tucking his cock between his legs and flashing tea ladies. The Carry Ons were the perfect place for him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Jaffa Posted February 18, 2013 Paid Members Share Posted February 18, 2013 I love the Carry On films. Â My personal favourite is Carry On Henry. The ongoing gag about the confession and retraction is just brilliant and of course you get Sid James at his absolute best, assisted by Kenneth Williams and Terry Scott. Â By the way, Carry On Up The Khyber is Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spotlightmagnet1 Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 I really enjoy a good Carry On..., some of my favourite childhood jokes come from Carry On... (that and Bob Hope films, Tommy Cooper and Les Dawson)  I always have a soft spot for Carry On Cowboy. It was probably the first I saw, Sid James was really good as the outlaw Rumpo, Jim Dale was funny as Marshall P. Knut and the undertaker was very funny. I also still use this joke  'My name is Burke, my grandpappy built Stodge City. Married into the Wright family and became a Wright-Burke'.  I also liked Carry On Dick, Carry On Don't Lose Your Head, Carry On Doctor, Carry On Jack... pretty much them all except Carry On Emanuelle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Chest Rockwell Posted February 18, 2013 Moderators Share Posted February 18, 2013 So they're all just completely standalone films right; I could just watch any one in isolation? Â I've never seen one of these, either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted February 18, 2013 Author Paid Members Share Posted February 18, 2013 So they're all just completely standalone films right; I could just watch any one in isolation? I've never seen one of these, either.  Yep, start anywhere. You'll hate them, though, I'll put my house on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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