Displaying items by tag: Michael Medwin

CARRY ON NURSE

UK, 1959, 86 minutes, Black-and-white.

Kenneth Connor, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Hattie Jacques, Joan Sims, Wilfrid Hyde White, Shirley Eaton, Terrence Longden, Bill Owen, Leslie Phillips, Susan Stephen, Susan Beaumont, Ann Firbank, Joan Hickson, Michael Medwin, Rosalind Knight, Norman Rossington, Jill Ireland, June Whitfield, Ed Devereaux, Susan Shaw, Irene Handl.

Directed by Gerald Thomas.

In retrospect, very much a film of its time, British comedy in the late 1950s, beginning the transition to explicit comedy, still a lot of innuendo but also a great number of ogling male characters.

This is the second of the Carry on series, beginning with Carry on Sergeant. Sid James, a staple of so many of the later films, had not yet joined the cast. However, a great number of the continuing cast appear here, most of the men spending their time as patients in the hospital ward. The women are nurses or visiting their husbands and boyfriends.

Hattie Jacques begins her several appearances as matron, Joan Hickson as a rather strict numbers (anticipating Miss Marple), Shirley Eaton, five years before Goldfinger, leads the nursing staff, and Joan Sims, the most regular of Carry on characters appears for the first time. There are some guest appearances by Wilfrid Hyde White and Michael Medwin. And there are some amusing cameos by various British character actors including Bill Owen, a myopic Rosalind Knight, Irene Handl and an early appearance by Jill Ireland.

While Kenneth Williams is more subdued, less facial idiosyncrasies, he plays the superior patient, interested in studying, until, at the end, the men in the ward, with drink and laughing gas, trying to remove a bunion on Leslie Phillips‘ foot, Kenneth Williams in charge of surgery. Kenneth Connor, always plays quite a different role in each film and here he is a boxer.

A lot of the verbal humour, a lot of expected hospitals shenanigans in the ward, innuendo, the 1950s British male gaze – and seeming very much more slight and innocent the later developments in the Carry on series.

I’VE GOTTA HORSE

UK, 1965, 92 minutes, Colour.

Billy Fury, Michael Medwin, Amanda Barrie, The Bachelors, Bill Fraser, Leslie Dwyer, Marjorie Rhodes.

Directed by Kenneth Hume.

Billy Fury was a popular British singer of the 1960s. He came after such celebrities as Tommy Steele and Cliff Richard. And they coincided with The Beatles and the emergence of The Rolling Stones. They are symbolic of a change in taste for popular music from the 1950s to rock ‘n’ roll.

Billy Fury made few films. And, in this one, he appears as himself, a friendly and genial personality, lover of animals – which he was in real life. He had a racehorse, Anselmo, who features also in this film, receiving a credit as do Billy Fury’s dogs.

The film is very slight in plot, the putting on a show. Michael Medwin, with Amanda Barrie as his assistant, is Billy’s manager. The producer is the perpetually grumbling and demanding Bill Fraser. The popular group, The Bachelors, provide a supporting cast.

Audiences will share the joy incest of character actor, Leslie Dwyer, as Billy’s friend and assistant, joining in the singing and dancing, enjoying himself.

The film is full of songs, the popular style of the late 1950s into the 1960s, very reminiscent of Cliff Richard (as is the whole film). It would seem that any occasion offers the opportunity for a song. And, there are quite a number of song and dance routines on stage.

And, there are a lot of animals, including songs about them and the title song as well. Plenty of dogs, and some racehorses and a big finale race.

Billy Fury is not so well remembered these years – but, this is a pleasant reminder of his abilities and personality, there is also a reminder that this film was released in 1965, the year of the release of the Beatles’ A Hard Day’s Night, indicating a different musical style and sensibility.