Don't Lose Your Head

This probably ranks as one of the better carry ons certainly in the top 10 but not quite in the top 5. Its from the period when the team were making the historical/costume carry ons that yielded so many of the classic carry on's Cleo, Cowboy and of course Up The Khyber. This time its the turn of the Black Fingernail (Sid James) to ride to the rescue of the French Aristocracy able assisted by Lord Darcy Pugh (Jim Dale) opposed by Citizens Bidet (Petter Butterworth) and Cananbert (Kenneth Williams).

James is on top form and clearly relishes the chance to play the swash buckling hero much as he did in Cowboy he steals the show in this one as Williams isn't in the fine form he was in other historical carry ons such as Cleo and Kyhber. Dale provides able support as does Butterworth who began to become a more regular cast member through this period. Jaqueline Biset looks sumptuous as the love interest but some of the best lines go to the supporting characters of Joan Simms and Charles Hawtry.

If you love Carry On's you'll adore this if not this one probably wont be the one to convert you. Overall a good carry on not up there with Cleo and Up the Khyber etc but well worthy of a 7.5 out of 10.

Having been replaced by Harry H. Corbett for Carry On Screaming following a heart attack, Sid James rejoins the Carry On line-up for Don't Lose Your Head and puts in one of his funniest performances ever as British dandy Sir Rodney Ffing, who, along with his good friend Lord Darcy Pue (Jim Dale), travels to France to rescue French aristocrats from the guillotine. Whether camping it up in powdered wig and make up while affecting a lisp as the effete Ffing, or cutting a dash as his daring alter ego The Black Fingernail, James can do no wrong, milking every gag for all its worth, wringing laughs from even the corniest double entendre. Sid's most definitely back and he's loving every minute!

The rest of the regulars are also on fine form: Dale is delightful as Ffing's foppish pal Darcy, Williams plays the part of French Chief of Secret Police Camembert with gusto, Hawtrey is hilarious as wimpish aristocrat Duc de Pommfrit, Peter Butterworth does bumbling brilliantly as Citizen Bidet, and the lovely Joan Sims (my favourite Carry On performer) is utterly charming as ample-bosomed Désirée Dubarry. Of course, it doesn't hurt that they're working with such a wonderful script, which is sharper than the blade on Madame la Guillotine: the gags flow thick and fast, with fantastic puns, impeccable innuendo, cheesy one-liners, and even a couple of wonderful moments where the characters break the fourth wall to address the audience.

After much hilarity, viewers are treated to a rousing finale featuring a surprisingly well choreographed sword-fight scene involving James, Hawtree and Dale (Sid seems remarkably sprightly for a man whose recently had a heart attack!) and lots of knockabout stunts, including copious chandelier swinging. It's a great way to conclude what proves to be one of the most enjoyable entries in the series.

There is no doubt about it, Carry on don't lose your head is one of the funniest entries in the series, an utterly joyful film that is funny from start to finish. The backdrop of the French revolution is a real goody, the story line is actually really well devised also it works so well. The characters Thomas managed to create in this film are even bigger, bolder and more flamboyant then normal.

The English/French humour is always really funny and this is massively played on, there's always been a great humour between the Brits and our French cousins.

Kenneth Williams is on his absolute best form, he gets to totally camp it up and add his snideness. Sid James is great as our hero, Joan Sims is utterly delightful, what a pretty woman she was. As for Charles Hawtrey, I think after Camping it is my favourite performance from him, the best sequence has to be during Sir Rodney's ball and Camembert says to Pommfrit 'So you're the one looking for the black fingernail,' to which he produces a small hammer and hits his finger. One of many golden comedy sequences, the duel too and siege scenes are funny too. One of those films I never tire of, I love it. 9/10

Misfiring Carry On (the 'Carry On' name was dropped during a spat with a distributor), with plenty of good moments that don't quite add up to a top-rank whole. The plot leans heavily on Barry K. Barnes' 1937 offering The Return of the Scarlet Pimpernel, with Sid James in the Barnes role, Jim Dale in Anthony Bushell's, Kenneth Williams in Francis Lister's, Joan Sims in Margaretta Scott's, Charles Hawtrey in O. B. Clarence's, and Dany Robin in Sophie Stewart's. Most of them have a great time, especially Williams, Sims and Hawtrey, while Sid James dominates the plot.

Jim Dale has a thankless unmemorable supporting role, and the wheeze of casting a sexy French actress (her career was drawing to a close at this point), like that of casting Phil Silvers in the previous entry Follow That Camel, was a mistake, failing to generate international interest while diluting the very English comedy. Like Silvers, Robin wanders through the film gamely with a strong sense that she has no idea what is really happening, but, hey, a job's a job.

Plenty of good moments and lines, usually delivered by Hawtrey or Sims ("Come my dear, shall we take a walk in the arbour?" "Oh, I 'ad no idea we were so close to the sea"), and lots of great character names and puns, while Williams' sharp intakes of breath get more and more exaggerated as the film goes on. Watch out for a good ad lib from Williams when Peter Butterworth accidentally knocks his hat off. There is a strong sense that the English may be less stylish and clever than the French, but they are more easygoing and fun, and generally better - in a strong tradition of lampoons of Napoleon and French centralisation that also reaches forward to the Brexit debate.

But the plot is quite tiresome, and the climax, with a huge sword fight in which various stuntmen gradually ruin Camembert's ill-gotten art collection is extraordinarily tedious. Moments stay in the memory, but the film as a whole does not.

The plot should have made this one of the better Carry on films, especially when you hear the premise. Unfortunately, I found a lot of the jokes to be unsatisfactory and not very memorable along with the rather one dimensional characters who all seem the same. It was fun to see Sid James along with Kenneth Williams playing the baddie but apart from that it's only a below average film.

4/10: Could have been great, but isn't and it is dull.