Ist ja irre - Der total verrückte Mumienschreck

CARRY ON BEHIND is the last of the great Carry Ons, I think. It really shouldn't be a good film; it's a virtual remake of CARRY ON CAMPING except in caravans rather than tents, and not as good. Half of the major cast members from the series are long gone, with Sid James, Barbara Windsor, Hattie Jacques, and Charles Hawtrey, all conspicuous by their absence.

Even so, CARRY ON BEHIND manages to recapture the old-fashioned humour and hijinks of the series at its best. It's all rather lowbrow, of course, with silly jokes and sillier characters, and yet I somehow loved it all the same. It may be that the remaining cast members seem to give it their all, realising that the shared weight of the film's success is on fewer shoulders. So Bernard Bresslaw, Peter Butterworth, Joan Sims, and Kenneth Connor in particular give it their all, and then some.

The newcomers to the series aren't so bad either. Jack Douglas and Windsor Davies have a little double act going which makes up for wit with sheer energy. The person who really feels missed is, and I say this to my surprise, Barbara Windsor, because the women they bring in to replace her just aren't very good. I did like Elke Sommer (LISA AND THE DEVIL) though; she might be an imported Euro-star, but she gives it her best with the rest of them and her character is oddly appealing; she allows Kenneth Williams to shine for sure. Ian Lavender is also good value, although it's a shame that they bring Liz Fraser in, age her with an unappealing haircut, and then keep her off-screen for a very long time.

Highlights of this film include the Mynah bird, the clever and unexpected climax which recalls the set-piece glory days of old, the water main hijinks, the shower stalls, and every scene with Peter Butterworth, who really is at his best here. Plus, the scene between him and Sims late on in the production is unexpected and probably the most moving moment ever seen in a Carry On movie.

This later Carry On is missing Sid James, Hattie Jacques, Barbara Windsor and Charles Hawtrey. Popular regulars Kenneth Williams, Joan Sims, Bernard Bresslaw, Kenneth Connor, Patsy Rowlands, Jack Douglas and Peter Butterworth are in substantial roles and are great. However the departed regulars are missed.

The story works well. It is essentially a series of sketches about various people at a campground, but the story threads form a cohesive whole.

Some characters work better than others. Ian Lavender and Adrienne Posta as a young couple with a huge dog don't seem to have been given any jokes. Their scenes are pretty limp and peter out with no punchline. This brings down the pace of the film.

The characters played by Bresslaw, Rowlands and Sims develop nicely as the film progresses. Sims starts as a battle axe but becomes more sympathetic.

The scenes with Jack Douglas and newcomer Windsor Davies as mates on a fishing holiday (with Davies hoping to hook some dolly birds) work well, and are funny. Davies does the impossible - successfully stepping into the Sid James role. Newcomers Carol Hawkins and Sherrie Hewson acquit themselves well as the young women unfortunate enough to have them in pursuit.

Kenneth Williams and guest Elke Sommer are archaeologists studying the old cesspool. Their bits are classic Carry On and very funny. Sommer fits in seamlessly and is the series' most successful guest star.

Kenneth Connor as the lusty owner of the camp site and Peter Butterworth as the scruffy odd jobs man are great too.

Liz Fraser returns after many years' absence but only has a small role.

Look out for Larry Dann as the main university student in the film. Dann had appeared in Carry On Teacher (1959) as a student, and this film saw his return. He went on to roles in England (1976) and Emmannuelle (1978), then was a long running regular in police TV series The Bill.

It's a retread of Carry On Camping only with caravans as the usual array of characters ripe for fun picking innuendo laden shenanigans. Plot for what it's worth has a bunch of Carry On holidaymakers caravanning next to a Roman excavation site being run by Prof Anna Vrooshka (Elke Sommer) and Prof. Roland Crump (Kenneth Williams). Chaos inevitable ensues.

The absence of Sid James, Charles Hawtrey, Hattie Jacques and Terry Scott was always going to be felt (they had all left the franchise by this time), but Williams, Bernard Bresslaw , Kenneth Connor, Joan Simms and Peter Butterworth plough on stoically with the thin formulaic screenplay. Windsor Davis supplements them but he's no Sid James.

The series would trundle out two more films in the 70s before the ill advised comeback movie in 1992 (Carry on Columbus), one of which was the dreadful Carry on England. "Behind" isn't an awful movie as it does have its moments, such as the by-play between Sommer and Williams, and Bresslaw's henpecked husband act. It's also a very good snapshot of the era with budget holidays pointing to the unsteady political climate, while the sexual aspects reek of a time well left behind – but those attitudes did exist back then.

Passable Carry On fare but carrying with it the sadness in knowing the series was long past its sell by date. 6/10

I'm a dissenting voice in the crowd as I actually rather like this late entry in the Carry On series. In fact, I'd probably have it in my top 5 Carry Ons.

There were so many reasons why this entry should have been below par. The previous film in the series, Dick, saw the last appearances of Sid James, Barbara Windsor and Hatties Jacques (we'd already just lost Charles Hawtrey) and importantly this film was the first in a very long time not to have been scripted by master of the double-entendre, Talbot Rothwell. There were only three Carry Ons after this one, and they were all seriously bad. On paper, this is the film where it should have gone wrong, but instead what we have is a likable film full of Carry On humour. It feels like a natural sequel to Carry On Camping. It's a roughly 50:50 cast split between Carry On regulars (Williams, Sims, Bresslaw and Connor) and newcomers (Davies, Posta, Lavendar), and there's a guest star thrown in, Elke Sommer. I've never been a great fan of guests in Carry Ons as they inevitably don't 'fit in' with the crew (like them or loathe them, Ted Ray, Harry H Corbett, Phil Silvers and Frankie Howerd all kind of stood-out as not quite being in the Carry On mould). Elke, playing a Russian archaeologist, adds greatly to this film, and she gets quite a lot of the funny lines, mostly from her misinterpretation of English words.

Although I very much like this film it isn't without its faults. The plot is thinner than usual and the ending is poor (there isn't really a story to conclude at all). I'm not a prude, but there are blatant breasts on display; the Carry Ons always seemed better when they were more innocent. Technically the film is shoddy, with an awful lot of dialogue having been added after filming - at several points the cast speak without even having to move their lips! But there's plenty to enjoy here, cameos from Marianne Stone and David Lodge, a larger role than usual for Patsy Rowlands, music by Eric Rogers, and the English love of life in caravans and under canvas.

Heartily recommended, the last great Carry On.

I don't laugh easily, haven't particularly liked British films, or lowbrow humor. But this flick had me in stitches 15 year ago. I remember a rapid succession of scabrous double entendres and sexual innuendo. It was so unrelentingly silly I felt mercilessly tickled. I wish I could say I became a fan of the Carry On series. But few other instalments amused me so much. Yet the gang is VERY talented and appealing and offers an exceedingly gentle sort of imbecility, totally unlike American low-brow, which is rather vicious. This series threatens to make an Anglophile out of me, AGAIN!