Carry on Regardless

The Carry on genre of films was in the late fifties, sixties and early seventies a British institution. I have a special soft spot for Carry on Regardless, as the exterior scenes of the Employment Exchange were filmed at Yiewsley Town Hall (Middlesex), just a couple or so miles up the road from Pinewood Studios, and more importantly for me just a few hundred yards from my school. Myself and several of my class mates bunked off school to watch the shooting, and although we were not allowed to get anywhere near the actors, the film crew let us watch from across the road, which was very exciting for an eleven year old. We got caned the next day for bunking off school, but in hindsight it was worth it. Apart from my personal bias, I do think that Regardless was one of the funnier Carry On's, it had moved on from the rather twee Carry On Sergeant, rather silly Carry On Teacher, and showed the beginnings of saucy postcard humour which were to become the films trademark. Sadly, the Carry On films lost their way in the mid 70's, Carry on England being painful to watch and Carry on Emmanuel being more a porn film than a classic British comedy.

Despite their being much decried at the time of their release, the Carry on Films are, and will become even more so with time, an integral part of English Comedy Culture. Most of the protagonists of these films are as of today, dead, and nothing as side-splitting has unfortunately come to replace them. They are films you can watch over and over again, when you are feeling down in the mouth, even when you know the stories. In France, the equivalent is called ' L'Equipe du Splendide " who made films of the "Les Bronzés" series during the seventies, but their output was far less prolific and the protagonists are still alive today as far as I know. As for the carry-ons, there are so many of them, that one is never short of a good laugh, and today, there is none of the good light hearted humour of those fifties and sixties. Unfortunately, the late twentieth century plague called "political correctness" has seen to that and what a shame it is too ! Carry on regardless is one of the funniest carry-ons, unfortunately in Black and White, but with the added attraction of Stanley Unwin speaking "gobbledygook" (charabia) and this had me reeling in fits of laughter. Mind you, I'd already seen Stanley several times on English TV years ago but I can't remember in what context. Anyway, carry on watching ..............they're nearly all now available on DVD for about £10 or 15 € !!!

This is a great Carry On. The unemployed group together (under Sid James aka Mr Handy) to provide 'services' to various people for a fee. Special treat is Stanley Unwin who is desperately trying to warn them of their impending eviction, but due to his gobbldygook language, they don't understand. Until Kenneth Williams (an equally skilled orator) comes to the rescue. Best bit definitely Kenneth Connor in the Gentlemans club. Almost as good - Kenneth Williams walking the Chimp, Kenneth Williams interpreting for the German Woman, Kenneth Connor and Joan Simms (No sweets, no draws), Stanley Unwin all the time, Charles Hawtrey boxing ..... no, there's too many good bits to recount.

For their fifth venture, the usual "Carry On" suspects (Sidney James, Kenneth Connor, Charles Hawtrey. Kenneth Williams, Joan Sims and Hattie Jacques) are joined by other irregular members (Fenella Fielding, Liz Fraser, Esma Cannon, Terence Longdon, Bill Owen, David Lodge and Norman Rossington) and some surprising cameos (Stanley Unwin, Jerry Desmonde, Kynaston Reeves, Howard Marion Crawford and Patrick Cargill) in a frequently hilarious but ultimately patchy and disjointed romp.

James' Bert Handy heads "Helping Hands", a well-meaning but hopelessly incompetent firm providing any services the customer may require: and, so it is that James is asked by an eccentric millionaire to take his place in the queue at a hospital's waiting room and is consequently mistaken for him and waited on by the matron (Jacques, naturally); Connor is in top form here: ostensibly hired as a babysitter, he finds himself acting as Fielding's lover to arouse her neglectful husband, being a librarian driven to hysterics when attempting to observe a public library's rule of silence, getting himself all wet when, completely misunderstanding a client's request, he engages in some Hitchcockian espionage aboard a train full of sinister passengers, getting engulfed by the "Bed of the Century" when attending an Ideal Home exhibition and, best of all perhaps, going "cold turkey" after his sixth attempt to stop smoking; Sims also has a memorable bit when she ends up drunk at a wine-tasting event and makes a shambles of the place to the chagrin of organizer Crawford; Hawtrey goes into the ring against a massive opponent when, acting as his second, he inadvertently injures the challenger!; Williams enjoys a tea party with a group of chimps at the zoo, etc.

The finale shows Cannon's infallible filing system going bonkers with each member of the group being sent out on the wrong assignment and, afterwards, the whole gang join forces in demolishing a dilapidated building…even if their original task was merely to clean it up a bit! In a notable appearance, celebrated comedian Stanley Unwin speaks his trademark nonsense language and drives the entire crew to distraction during his intermittent visits to their office…before multi-linguist Williams manages to explain that he is their landlord and is about to throw them out!

As one can make out, there are several funny bits in this film but it is also evident that its inherently episodic structure (which entails that some of the gang members are given precedence over others) fails to coalesce into a cohesive and completely satisfying whole.

A bunch of out of work folk are delighted when several positions come onto the market at the Helping Hands Agency...

As most reviews attest to, this fifth Carry On film barely has a plot to get your hands on. Pic basically takes the seven members of the agency through a series of vignettes, the jobs they are assigned to do ranging from chimp walking to modelling underwear!

Each slot allows for some amiable comedic opportunity, the best of which finds Joan Sims getting sloshed at a wine tasting function, Charles Hawtrey landing in a boxing match with a hulking brute, Kenneth Connor involved in a 39 Steps parody, and all of the workers pitched into chaos during an Ideal Homes Exhibition. Back at the Helping Hands office Sid James and his secretary Esma Cannon are flummoxed by the continuous appearance of Stanley Unwin talking his gobbledygook, which all leads to the big finale as the whole cast get to have a grand old time of things. While as usual there's fun to be had spotting the future stars of British TV and film who pop up in cameos.

Carry On Regardless finds the creators on safe and amiable ground. It's no high point of the series but it's good fun and lets some under valued comic actors work their respective charms. 7/10