Ist ja irre - Liebe, Liebe usw.

This film is about hooking up and stars Sid James as Sidney Bliss, who runs the Wedded Bliss Agency along with Hattie Jacques. A series of lonely hearts come in looking for their significant others and this movie basically is a series of vignettes about what happens. The worlds do collide somewhat and while things get chaotic, they are also fun. This film is truly a product of its time in that there are open displays of affection and the young ladies wear miniskirts. This was the first film with the very pretty Jacki Piper, buts its the ensemble aspect of this film which makes it work. Its a sex comedy without the nudity. Its fun and enjoyable.

As the 1970s began, the Carry On team would continue undaunted by a new decade and a changing of the times, they instead embraced it with innuendo laden open arms - for better and worse as would prove to be the case.

"Loving" finds Sid James and Hattie Jaques as a boyfriend and girlfriend couple operating under false pretences as a wedded bliss couple running a computer dating agency. The central theme is that of a number of hapless and lovelorn singletons who hope to get fixed up by the "Bliss Agency", only to find disaster after disaster, mismatch after mismatch, befalling those hoping for Cupid/Eros' arrows to strike.

It's all very plot less, a sort of rerun of Carry On Regardless but with the amiable vignettes of that film replaced here with more knowingly bawdy and sexy scenarios. Terry Scott and James have fun as randy old devils, each thrust into a number of awkward situations via angry girlfriends & boyfriends, Kenny Williams gets the best part of the screenplay as a marriage guidance counsellor - and confirmed bachelor - hopelessly out of his depth when push comes to shove (ooh-err), while Jacki Piper and Imogen Hassall positively steam up the screen with underwear and push-up-bra revelations.

The 70s would prove to be a troublesome decade for the series, and this does feel like the start of the slide, which is annoying since the rather cheeky and funny Carry On Up the Jungle was also released this same year. There is some value in "Loving", it has Sid and Hattie as a warring couple, which is always fun to be part of, while Williams and Scott throw themselves into their roles - just as Bernard Bresslaw steals scenes as a hulking wrestler miffed at Joan Sims' being the apple of Sid James' eye! But it feels forced and although it has some moments for fans to enjoy, the high points of Carry On Up the Kyber and the box office gold of Carry On Camping would ultimately prove to be nostalgic glances back to the series' better days. 6/10

"Sid" (Sidney James) and "Sophie" (Hattie Jacques) run the "Wedded Bliss" dating agency that supposedly uses complex computer algorithms to match couples. Their cleverly entitled "to wit to woo" brochure is supposed to help make true love blossom but it's a "Carry On" so of course you're going to get the mismatches of the century playing out for the next ninety minutes. This is one of the more memorable of the franchise for me. The comedy bond between James and Jacques was always a strong one and here there is just enough humour - as opposed to tacky innuendo - to keep the thing entertaining enough with Joan Sims and a rather unlikely Lothario in Terry Scott, adding well too. It's not one of the better roles for Kenneth Williams ("Snooper"), Charles Hawtrey's "Bedsop" was actually quite annoying and it definitely recycles a few earlier ideas just once too often, but as these films go this is a slightly better effort that maybe raises a titter rather than a laugh and passes the time in a predictably smutty fashion.

As a child of the 70s I was practically raised on Carry Ons, the films being perfect TV scheduling for rainy Sunday afternoons in particular. And yet, despite my familiarity with the series, I have no recollection of seeing Carry On Loving before now. It could be that programmers deemed it too saucy for daytime viewing, but I reckon the obvious answer is that it simply wasn't considered all that funny, especially in comparison with perennial favourites like Screaming, Camping and Up the Jungle.

'Loving' stars Sid James and Hattie Jacques as Sidney Bliss and Sophie Plummet, proprietors of The Wedded Bliss marriage bureau, who bring people together with the aid of a high-tech computer system (or so the customers are led to believe). Much hilarity ensues as the result of mismatched couples—or at least that's the idea; sadly, the thin plot, unmemorable characters and mediocre gags go to make this one of the poorer Carry Ons.

Still, even a weak Carry On has its moments: this one features the very lovely Jacki Piper (June from 'Up The Jungle) stripping down to her undies a couple of times, sees inexperienced introvert Jenny Grubb (Imogen Hassall) transformed into a super sexy model much to the delight of randy suitor Terence Philpot (Terry Scott), and wraps things up with a fun food fight, cream pies and cakes being flung with much gusto.

5.5 out of 10, rounded up to 6 for the cracking crumpet. Phwoarr!

Again, this turned out to be more enjoyable than I was anticipating – despite the essential lack of plot and the general feeling that the regulars are merely going through the paces. The premise – or, more precisely, series of sketches – revolve around Sidney James and Hattie Jacques' matrimonial agency; several people with various hang-ups turn up at their door – including marital consultant (but confirmed bachelor) Kenneth Williams, Terry Scott and inexperienced Richard O'Callaghan. The thing is that James and Jacques aren't married themselves, and he's been having a fling with Joan Sims (who's herself doted upon by pony-tailed wrestler Bernard Bresslaw)!

Many generally amusing complications arise from this situation, though a lot of time is spent with the younger generation at the expense of the series stalwarts (Peter Butterworth, for instance, only gets an unbilled – albeit great – cameo). Some of the better moments include: Scott's visit to the house of proposed soulmate Imogen Hassall, with relatives who seem to have strayed in from an episode of THE ADDAMS FAMILY TV series!; their date in her flat (she eventually has a startling make-over), which is constantly interrupted by the arrival of her ostensibly engaged flat-mates; the unexpected arousal of Williams' stuffy housekeeper Patsy Rowlands after he brings home Jacques, and then Sims turns up to seduce him (because James wants to get back with Jacques) – the scene is further complicated by the arrival of the raging Bresslaw, who's however hilariously knocked-out by the charged-up Rowlands!; the side-splitting pie-throwing finale during James and Jacques' marriage – which is definitely one of the highlights of the entire series.

P.S. Hammer Films starlet Yutte Stensgaard's scenes were deleted from the released version (reportedly, she was also in CARRY ON AGAIN DOCTOR [1969] – but I didn't recognize her in that one).