Carry on Screaming!

This one was my favourite Carry On when a kid, it's one of a few I can force myself to watch nowadays. I think I could stick with Khyber and Cleo but the rest forget it. Throughout the series from '58 to '70 there were some good moments, some ace smart-ass one-liners but a lot of swamp to crawl through, the humour eventually ending up in the gutter from '70 on. I left them all to it there and then.

Harry Corbett and Kenneth Williams have some great lines, in this version of Frankenstein - stealing women to "vitrify" into shop dummies. Williams: "I wish I was dead"; Fielding: "Don't you remember, you are"; Williams: "Oh yes. What a life!" And on and on, knockabout Music Hall and Variety stuff, some original but plenty borrowed from all sources from Abbott and Costello, the Addams Family, Will Hay etc. But in COS it generally works: therefore I admit I must still like it. I wish that Sid James had been in it as well, but I'm glad Barbara Windsor wasn't.

Maybe it's my rose-tinted spectacles kicking in with this one, but why on Earth do the Carry On films generally seem more popular now in the Noughties UK than 30 years ago?

The chemistry between Fenella Fielding and Harry H Corbett is outstanding. They just sparkle on screen together. She was a remarkable performer and added class to every movie she did. I love her sexy sultry voice. Harry H Cobett is as he always was perfect. he looks as though he had been doing these movies for years. He was a brilliant performer. I had to good fortune of seeing him on stage when he came here to Australia to star in the JCW production of Neil Simons LAST OF THE RED HOT LOVERS. He was brilliant. Intentional or other wise it was a great idea to change the cast and introduce guests and new faces every now and then. I must say I prefer Harry to Sid James, even though Sid was a fine performer in his own right.The rest of the cast are great. I had not taken much notice of Amanda Douglas in previous movies but her performance in this is quite delightful. Jim Dale of course is as sexy as ever and a fine performer. His physical comedy is quite brilliant. Its the first one for Peter Butterworth. I really liked him in this and his drag is pretty good.Joan Sims is the wife from hell and gives a suitably nasty performance. Its rather funny to note that British people slept wit potties under their beds. I wonder if they still do? I guess so. The film looks great. I love the opening credits. We don't see much of Charles Hawtry in this but he gives a much straighter performance in this and its fun. It looks rather like a Hammer film. Kenneth Williams hams it up superbly as always. Its a bright clever film. I gave it an eight.

Carry on Screaming is a truly great film- I am not sure whether it is a cult classic though- but it is easily one of the better Carry On Movies, perhaps even THE best. The film is hilarious, the ending particularly had me in stitches, with a good plot and wonderful one liners, "Frying Tonight" is up there with "Infamy Infamy they've all got it in for me" and "it's all cock and no pea" as the funniest one liner not only in a Carry on but ever.

The performances were wonderful, and Harry H.Corbett's superb lead performance cleared away all the fears of Sidney James being sorely missed, though I will say, James I have always found one of the best Carry on regulars. There is great support from Charles Hawtry, Jim Dale and Joan Sims, but the picture belongs to Kenneth Williams as Dr Watt, just priceless. Overall, a classic Carry On, maybe not a cult classic, but a hilarious film all the same. 9/10 Bethany Cox

The Carry On films were at their best in the early days when they offered more than just saucy double entendres. Don't get me wrong, there *are* plenty of great double entendres here, but they're set against the backdrop of a horror spoof. The unusual setting gives it a freshness that the other Carry Ons lack.

A changed cast helps too. Harry Corbett shines in the sort of role which normally goes to Sid James. He makes the part his own, only failing in the scenes where he argues with his wife. There's just no chemistry between him and Joan Sims to show why these people were once in love with each other.

But there's chemistry between Corbett and Fenella Fielding, the other guest star. She makes a wonderful evil seductress. Of the regulars, Williams is best. His usual eccentric, camp performance takes on an edge of madness that grows as the film progresses.

Recommended.

Carry On Screaming is the 12th film of the popular Carry On series of film's that began in 1958 and ended in 1992. Behind it are the usual team with Gerald Thomas directing, Peter Rogers producing and Talbot Rothwell writing the screenplay. There's no Sid James, Barbara Windsor or Hattie Jacques for this one, but most of the regular actors appear, with Harry H. Corbett joining the cast for the first and only time. The film is a parody of the Hammer Horror film's that were also massively popular during the 50s and 60s.

Fresh from spoofing the historical epic with Carry On Cleo (1964), and the western with Carry On Cowboy (1965), the Carry On team were well into their stride and hitting a purple patch. One that was arguably their best run of film's that culminated with Carry On Up the Khyber in (1968). "Screaming" is a delight, one of the franchise's most fondly remembered offerings. The standard sexy innuendo and nudge nudge nudgery so befitting the series is still there, but as with the previous two outings, it's quality satire enveloped. With the makers showing no little amount of skill and knowing of the genre they spoof.

Plot wise it's an amalgamation of classic horror, it basically uses House Of Wax as its starting point and runs with it. Taking in anything from Frankenstein and Dr Jeykll & Mr Hyde along the way; all cloaked in a Gothic, fog bound Edwardian England sheen. The sets (particularly the riotous Dr Watt's (Williams) laboratory) and effects are suitably Hammer like, as is the colour; where Alan Hume's photography nails the lurid tone required.

Of course none of the production value matters if a horror/comedy isn't funny. Thankfully "Screaming" is, be it the wonderfully alluring Fenella Fileding vamping it up, or the lovable twin menace of Oddbod and Oddbod Jr, the visual joys equal the sharpness in the script. There's also in jokes to be sampled too, while the film is not without a creepy vibe to accentuate the sheepish blend of sex and murder. Sid James was unavailable due to commitments to work with Tony Hancock, so in came Corbett, who delivers a blast of a turn, with his "change" sequence a laugh out loud moment. Carry On Screaming doesn't feature three of its most well known stars, with even Charles Hawtrey only cameoing here after being shoe horned in at the request of the American distributors. That it's one of the best in the series is quite a feat. Frying Tonight indeed. 8/10