Displaying items by tag: Bernard Bresslaw

CARRY ON MATRON

UK, 1972, 88 minutes, Colour.

Hattie Jacques, Sidney James, Kenneth Williams, Kenneth Connor, Joan Sims, Bernard Bresslaw, Bill Maynard, Kenneth Cope, Barbara Windsor, Terry Scott, Charles Hawtrey, Patsy Rowlands.

Directed by Gerald Thomas.

Before this episode in the medical Carry on comedies, Nurse, Doctor, Doctor again. And, by this time, the Carry on films had been carrying on for 14 years. Most of the regular cast appear in this film.

There is a story of the  hospital, Finisham, with wards named Bunn and Oven. And, there a place on the title at the opening, From Here to Maternity, Womb with a View…

Hattie Jacques, once again, is matron, sympathetic if dominating, but infatuated with the head of the hospital, Sir Bernard Cutting, once again Kenneth Williams doing his shtick, hypochondriac, fearing that he was having a sex change, pursued by the matron.

And there is something of a plot, Sid James leading a gang of crooks, including Bernard Briesslaw and Bill Maynard with Sid James’s son, Kenneth Cope, having to disguise himself as a trainee nurse, infiltrate the hospital and get the plans for where the contraceptive pills are stored so that the gang could steal them and sell them. So, lots of comedy with Cyril, the son, dressed as a nurse, sharing a room with Barbara Windsor, becoming a sensation in helping to deliver triplets in an ambulance! And, the intensity of the robbery, disguises, misadventures, and, ultimately, a gathering in some panic, everybody involved at the hospital.

Kenneth Connor, is able to create another character, a railway man waiting long hours for his pregnant wife to give birth, Joan Sims as the wife, seen continually eating hefty helpings and capitalising on the free meals. There is Terry Scott as a doctor with his eyes on the ladies. And Charles Hawtrey is able to do his shtick as a psychiatrist on the hospital staff, clashing with Kenneth Williams.

Lots of puns, lots of innuendo, some titillation, some slapstick, a typical Carry on comedy.

CARRY ON CAMPING

UK, 1969, 88 minutes, Colour.

Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims, Terry Scott, Barbara Windsor, Hattie Jacques, Bernard Bresslaw, Julian Holloway, Dilys Laye, Peter Butterworth, Betty Marsden, Trisha Noble.

Directed by Gerald Thomas.

By this time, the Carry On series had been going for over a decade, with small black and white, it is to cover comedies and strong popularity, not only in the UK but overseas – but, not so much in the United States.

A great number of bloggers on the IMDb considered as one of the best of the Carry on series.

For this reviewer, it seemed one of the weakest. It is 1969, the film opens with an extensive coverage of a nudist film, something of a breakthrough for mainstream films in the late 1960s (not a feature of popular comedies from the US). It is take for granted that there will be sex jokes and references, innuendo, objects recycled, obvious is… And that is certainly the case here. However, this to be more of a leering turn their in many of the other films, Sid James being particularly ogling and leering here.

One of the advantages of the film is that so many of the regular cast are present. A very sympathetic presences, especially Joan Sims and Bernard Breslau (always putting his foot in it as since good friend). And, there is the young Barbara Windsor – exactly and inhibited presence on screen. Hattie Jacques is serious, even in a comedy and Kenneth Williams is always himself. Many might find Charles Hawtrey very irritating this time round and there are troubles between Terry Scott Betty Marston as his non-listening falling wife.

It would be interesting to see a feminist review of Carry on Camping and its presentation of the objectification of women, especially young women, this comedy presentation of the male gaze with Sid James’s line: what are the young women always there where I’m staring!

And, with the ending the people gathering for music Festival, remembering that 1969 was the year of Woodstock – although the oldies and regulars from the Carry on films are against the festival and oust everyone.

CARRY ON UP THE KHYBER

UK, 1968, 95 minutes, Colour.

Sidney James, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Roy Castle, Joan Sims, Bernard Bresslaw, Peter Butterworth, Terry Scott, Angela Douglas, Cardew Robinson, Julian Holloway, Peter Gilmore.

Directed by Gerald Thomas.

By 1968, the Carry on series had been popular for 10 years – and there were more than 10 years more to come.

For devotees of the series, this is considered one of the best, with some plot borrowed from the many stories of British presence in India, uprisings, British stiff upper lip… And plenty of the humour associated with the series.

For those who are beginning to dislike the series, put it down, it is considered one of the worst.

 While the setup has its background of humour, Sid James as the British representative, Sir Ruff-Diamond, and Joan Sims as his pompously silly wife, various officials…, there are problems at the Khyber pass, Kenneth Williams as the local chief, doing his usual, Bernard Bresslaw with his name punning on Gunga din, wanting to oust the British.

Critics say that the basic premise is infantile. Rather, it is the kind of joking of young boys. The regiment protecting the past is the Foot and Mouth regiment, wearing kilts. And, the whole situation is whether somebody wears underpants or not, regulation say not, Charles Hwtrey doing his usual stick is found wearing underpants and a photo taken to be used with the locals to show they should not fear the British.

This joke continues throughout the film, poking fun at the British, especially the Sergeant Major played by Terry Scott.

There is a huge bombardment sequence at the end while the British sit at their table, enjoying their lavish meal, everything being shot up around them, including the orchestra who has been playing and, after their being shot at, getting up to continue playing, the only person noticing the damage is the fake religious preacher played by Peter Butterworth.

And, what is the strategy for finally defeating the uprising, the kilted men all lining up at the moment of ceasefire, raising their kilts and the Indians running for the hills.

UP  POMPEII

UK, 1971, 90 minutes, Colour.

Frankie Howerd, Patrick Cargill, Bill Fraser, Michael Hordern, Barbara Murray, Lance Percival, Adrian Foster, Bernard Bresslaw, Roy Hudd, Lally Bowers, Kenneth Cranham.

Directed by Bob Kellett.

Comedian, Frankie Howerd, popular on British radio and television, had a successful television series, 14 episodes, in the late 1960s, Up Pompeii. And here is a version made for the cinema screen, with Talbot Rothwell, writer of the Carry on films, having a credit for idea.

The basic idea is humorous enough, Frankie Howard as a slave in Pompeii the year of its destruction, A.D. 79 – but, for film purposes, the Emperor is Nero who reigned 15 years earlier!

Frankie Howerd’s style of comedy was to confide in the audience, looking straight to camera and the audience, plenty of remarks, reminding everyone that this is a film, anticipating action and jokes. The idea here is that there is conspiracy against Nero amongst senators and military of Pompeii. Howerd’s Lurcio works for Ludicrus Sextus (the film’s names of characters rivalling those of the Asterix films), the pompous senator, played with the right kind of satire by Michael Hordern. There is his wife and her ambitions, his young son and his sexuality problems, a clash with a Roman sergeant in the marketplace and the focus on a scroll with a list of conspirators.

Anything could happen – and does.

However, the writers and the cast have drawn on an enormous catalogue of sex jokes. And most of them are here, some very obvious, some familiar – touch of innuendo (though the screenplay is too obvious for innuendo). Some are signalled, Frankie Howard drawing attention to them and reacting sometimes with prudery.

And, looking back, it may be surprising to find such an amount of nudity in British comedy at the beginning of the 1970s – reticence is not the order of the day here.

So, once again, an opportunity to see and gain something of an awareness of popular British comedy in the early 1970s – but, so much depends on whether audiences are fans of Frankie Howerd himself and this kind of style. He then made The Chastity Belt and the World War II farce, Up the Front in the same style.

CARRY ON COWBOY

UK, 1965, 93 minutes, Colour.

Sidney James, Kenneth Williams, Jim Dale, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims, Angela Douglas, Bernard Bresslaw, Peter Butterworth, Percy Herbert, Jon Pertwee.

Directed by Gerald Thomas.

One of the advantages for this episode in the Carry on a series is that audiences are so familiar with westerns. And, underlying the Carry on humour here, there is a basic plot that could have been in any of the westerns over the decades, a gunfighter, the mayor, the sheriff, the saloon, the Madame, the gamblers, the singers, cattle rustling, the new marshall, the confrontations and the shootout. All very familiar, but generally always welcome with audiences.

So, how does the British cast handle being characters in a Western? And, their accents? Sid James is the gunfighter, with a roving eye and a leer. But, most interestingly, there is Kenneth Williams doing his usual shtick but with a huge moustache and with a heavy American accent (which he said was based on the American director, Hal Roach). And, Joan Sims does her bit as the madame, while Angela Douglas, to appear in several Carry on films, is Annie Oakley.

There is a lot of play on names like Marshall P. Knut. And a joke with Charles Hawtrey being the Indian chief, glasses, British accent and his usual comic style, Big Heap and the large Bernard Bresslaw as Little Heap (looking back one hopes the comedy overcomes any racial offensiveness).

So, the usual jokes and puns, the innuendo, a lot of physical comedy and pratfalls, and variations on the familiar American Western conventions.

And, in retrospect, as with most of the Carry on films, many bloggers saying it is the best and some saying it is the worst. (This reviewer was favourable.)