Carry on Spying

This movie is not the best of the Carry on franchise but it works very well. Yes even with one or two moments of uneven pacing and an underused Dilys Lane, the film is very entertaining, with a nice simple story and some funny dialogue and gags. Carry On Spying is nicely filmed, has a quirky score and the acting is fine(even without Sidney James). Ever the old pros, Kenneth Williams and Charles Hawtrey give it their all and are great fun, while Judith Furse stands out as well. But it is the wonderful Barbara Windsor who steals the show, she was delightful in this movie. Overall, this film is simple and thanks to the acting and dialogue especially is very entertaining as well. 8/10 Bethany Cox

RANKING: The only "old style" black and white one to be in the top ten. What makes this stand out is it's got an actual plot. Unlike the later ones which relyied on our familiarity with the characters so much so that they could be just a series of smutty jokes, this one has a proper story - albeit a very, very silly one. Although it is a black and white one, it is NOT from the early batch of Norman Hudis films (which are not funny). No, this is a proper Talbot Rothwell picture who wrote virtually all of them from 1963 onwards...and being one of his first, the jokes are fresh!

TYPICAL: Kenneth Williams plays the role Kenneth Williams always played in the early sixties whether in film, TV or radio, particularly in HANCOCK'S HALF HOUR - and he's never been better or funnier than in this.

But is it a typical Carry On Film? No, definitely not. This is more of a James Bond spoof than what people would consider to be a Carry On film. The humour isn't that bawdy seaside postcard style which developed later on but there are a few saucy double entendres to give us a taste of things to come. The humour in this is more akin to the type of silly schoolboy humour you would have heard in the radio comedies of the late fifties and early sixties so if you're a fan of Hancock, Round The Horn and all that sort of stuff, you will definitely love this.

Don't however expect a parody in the classy style of CASINO ROYALE (1967) or AUSTIN POWERS, this makes AUSTIN POWERS seem like Chekhov.

SEXY LADIES: This was made before that factor became an absolute essential ingredient. Nevertheless, Barbara Windsor is quite cute and it doesn't matter in something like this that she hadn't really learned how to act yet.

This is one of the funnier efforts by the team. Its obviously a send up of other movies of the genre and is shot in glorious black and white which sometimes I prefer. Black and white seems to suit the carry on movies. Life may indeed be in colour but these movies were never a depiction of life. The campery of Kenneth Williams and Charles Hawtrey is as funny as ever. There are those two wonderfully reliable old British actors Eric Barker and the fabulous Richard Wattis as his assistant. It would be hard to find better actors to play the chief and his off sider. I loved the performance of Judith Furse.. hilariously butch.Bernard Cribbins is a great talent and he brings so much more to the series than the annoying Kenneth Connor did. This might have been the first with the great Barbara Windsor and what a spectacular career she had. She actually steals the film and I found myself roaring with laughter. Its a very good carry on but above all the introduction of one of Britains finest stars Magnificent Barbara Windsor. Barbara Windsor was much more than the sexy little bomb shell that added so much to these films and many others. She was a brilliant comedienne and I hope she gets the recognition she richly deserved. Her timing is brilliant.

Yes its all very corny but all great comedy is corny. Its rather fun seeing their idea of modern technology,those mobile phones are fun. Wonder what they would think of what we use today. I love the cheap effects of the movie such as the car wash, rather not explain but its hilarious. Its great fun seeing one of Australias most loved exports, John Bluthall in the early stages of a great career.

A grown man shouldn't really be discussing a 'Carry On' film, but this has always been my personal favourite; and the series soon went into a precipitous decline after the franchise was taken over by Rank in 1966.

It actually rewards knowledge of classic adventure films of the forties like 'The Maltese Falcon' and 'The Third Man', both referenced by the presence of Eric Pohlmann - since he is referred to as 'The Fat Man' and was actually in 'The Third Man (not to mention having recently voiced Blofeld in 'From Russia with Love') - and has some genuinely witty dialogue, including "Was it - THEM?" "Well it certainly wasn't - US!!" and "So you knew my father!!". There's even a little mild satire, such as the cipher clerk with a Russian accent played by Gerton (sic) Klauber squinting at an intercepted message as he reads it aloud to the head of MI5; and the sign on their table that greets our heroes in a Viennese restaurant reading 'Reserved for Party of British Agents'.

Cinematographer Alan Hume actually graduated to the James Bond series. The opening sequence beginning with Victor Maddern driving up to the north entrance of Pinewood Studios anticipates that of 'Get Smart!', while the finale at STENCH headquarters is well worth the wait. Embellished with atmospheric music from Eric Rogers, presided over by the memorably strange Dr. Crow and staffed by stern henchwomen dressed like Modesty Blaise, (SPOILER COMING:) it obligingly has a prominently displayed panel for blowing the place up like the lever in Frankenstein's laboratory at the end of 'Bride of Frankenstein'.

Richard Wattis did three days work on this; his one and only 'Carry On'. Liz Fraser had sadly just left the series, and her replacement by Barbara Windsor (although playing a genius with a photographic memory) showed the series was coarsening. But Dilys Laye compensates by providing a memorable dragon lady.

This is yet another popular (and good) entry in the "Carry On" series. Like JACK, CLEO and SCREAMING, it's a parody of a current film or fad – in its case the box-office sensation that were the James Bond extravaganzas (in fact, it was the first of innumerable spoofs/imitations of that long-running franchise). Kenneth Williams (complete with funny accent) is more or less at his best here; accompanying him are Barbara Windsor (this proved to be her series debut), Bernard Cribbins, Charles Hawtrey, Dilys Laye (as a femme fatale), Jim Dale (playing the gang's long-suffering contact man) and Eric Barker (as, what else, their superior).

While it cleverly features an androgynous villain (played by Judith Furse and voiced by John Bluthal), the film also lampoons earlier classic British thrillers – such as Hitchcock's 1930s efforts and THE THIRD MAN (1949). The action takes place in a variety of locales from a Viennese café to an Algerian harem; typical espionage elements are the gang's donning of various disguises to follow or elude enemy agents and the perilous train journey. By the way, the villains' headquarters are amusingly accessed via a public convenience – which also pays off with an inspired surreal ending. In a direct nod to the Bond model, we get silly acronyms for the various organizations involved (such as S.T.E.N.C.H., S.M.U.T., S.N.O.G., etc).