Carry on Sergeant

This movie proves once again that the English have a devastatingly sharp wit combined with great slapstick humor. It also proved to this old American that despite differences of accents and uniforms that early life in the Army was pretty much the same in both Her Majesty's service and in the US Army in the 1950s. This is my first time viewing of what I gather is a classic series in Great Britain of "Carry On" movies and I came to it quite late -and intend to look for later movies in the series. I urge Americans of any age to give themselves a treat and watch this movie.(BTW,everyone in this movie is just great in their roles -watch and see what I mean. Fans of James Bond movies also get to see Shirley Eaton (remember "Goldfinger" and the beautiful girl coated in gold?)

My vote is a ringing 10.

And subtle this is, making Sergeant an extremely strange Carry On experience.

As the first of the original five films these form, along with Cabby, (not counting the intentional noir of Spying), the only examples of the series in black and white. Far away from the whistles and bells, boobs and bums of the accepted format, the largely all-male cast plays out a light character comedy. The few female roles are better developed than in the 70s; something you might suspect would be the other way around.

There's the odd sight of players who never made a repeat appearance, such as stars William Hartnell and smug Bob Monkhouse, here quite good in his dashing leading man role. Of what were to become the regulars, Charles Hawtrey is his usual self in one of his funniest performances, though it's weird to see Kenneth Williams actually acting. Here he plays it straight as Jim, the spoilt rich kid with a degree. His bolshie character – "don't you think this is a trifle out of date in a world bristling with H-bombs, Sergeant?" – is quite refreshing, and Williams plays him with admirable conviction. Later he would opt for camping up his roles in more and more over the top performances, which were nevertheless much funnier. This is what marks the fundamental difference between Sergeant and the majority of the franchise; it has a greater mark of quality, but it isn't that amusing.

Occasional lines show what was to come ("Your rank?" "Well that's a matter of opinion") and there's also the "raise your back sight" line and the scene with the fire extinguishers. Some of the jokes are a little obvious, such as Kenneth Connor's vaguely irritating hypochondriac being called Strong. Though the relative cleanness of his ultimate medical check up shows how much broader and coarser the series was to become. This is more in the traditional mould, where the comedy arises out of the situation, rather than the situation being contrived around non-stop jokes and innuendo. While the next year's follow-up, Nurse would see quite racy shaving and daffodil scenes, it was still tied in to the same sort of (relative) naturalistic performances. It wasn't until around 1962's Cruising that the Carry Ons as they're most remembered started to emerge. This is strange, because while the first seven films with their sub-Ealing sensibilities now seem out of place in the franchise, they ARE the Carry On franchise. The Talbot Rothwell scripts which are so well remembered are actually subversions of the series into broader comedy. Certainly dated, Sergeant's humour is unusually underdefined, particularly in a modern context. This is the film all over, then: commendable, if not actually all that funny.

The first ever Carry On sees the worst ever freshment platoon on National Service training, as their Commander attempts to retire with his first ever star platoon.

Kenneth Connors, as he was in all the early Carry Ons, is superb as the hypochondriac recruit, while Kenneth Williams does a beautiful send up of himself as the intellectually superior member of the platoon. Charles Hawtry does his usual role. This film also includes Bob Monkhouse and the late, great Bill Owen, though Owen's role is simply not big enough for him to shine.

This film lacks the chaos of the later films, and the presence of a Barbara Windsor or Hattie Jacques who can give as good as they get against the men but still, a very enjoyable comedy and the one we must thank, or blame, for the success and continued popularity of the Carry Ons.

In 1960 Britain was the first European country to scrap conscription . This is not to be confused by the American style draft system because with very few exceptions all able bodied men who turned 18 had to serve two years in the forces regardless of social and educational background . The scrapping of conscription was a good thing because there's nothing more dangerously useless to an army than a soldier who doesn't want to be a soldier

I'm pointing this out because that's the concept behind CARRY ON SERGEANT - A professional NCO who receives the worst possible raw recruits into his platoon and you find yourself questioning who you're supposed to feel sorry for the most , the recruits who don't want to be there or the sergeant who doesn't want them there but that wouldn't have been the case when this film was made , a 1958 audience would have related more to the recruits than to the sergeant . This sort of idea will go above the heads of a modern day audience and the film has dated very badly not least because it's the very first in CARRY ON franchise . Anyone expecting sexual innuendos will be very upset to see they're more or less conspicuous by their absence . In fact with the exception of a few cast members like Kenneth Connor , Charles Hawthrey and Terry Scott a lot of people would with hindsight have trouble believing that this was in fact part of the CARRY ON franchise

I've got to be honest and say the lack of the CARRY ON trademarks is no bad thing because if double entredes is the selling point of a comedy then 1958 censorship rules would have meant the innuendo would have been curtailed and that would have meant no humour full stop . Instead this is a gentle but ultimately heart warming English comedy featuring a typecast but impressive enough William Hartnell training a platoon he thinks is destined for failure

The first "Carry On" is not among the best: it's an all-too-typical army comedy, albeit an agreeable one. William Hartnell stars as a Sergeant about to retire but who has yet to win a contest for leading his barracks' finest platoon, so he determines to achieve just this with his last batch of recruits – unfortunately for him, these include Kenneth Connor, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Bob Monkhouse, Terence Longdon and Norman Rossington (actually, such a dumb subject that he's been rejected by several previous outfits and has been stranded in the camp ever since)! As can be seen, this same plot would eventually be worked into two later series outings – CARRY ON TEACHER (1959), down to the sentimental ending, and CARRY ON, CONSTABLE (1960), with Eric Barker once again as the disciplinarian but flustered Captain.

Shirley Eaton provides the eye-candy as Monkhouse's fresh bride, who contrives to get a job in the barracks' kitchen in order to be near him; her companion, ugly-duckling Dora Bryan, has set her eyes on hypochondriac Connor (who is forever appearing before medical officer Hattie Jacques with some mysterious ailment or other, until she decides to have him undertake a thorough test by several specialists so as to declare him physically fit once and for all!). Hawtrey is typically bumbling; Williams scores best as a smug, know-it-all recruit (he plays it quite straight and, again, variations of this were seen in CARRY ON NURSE [1959] and CARRY ON, CONSTABLE). Needless to say, once the boys realize what the outcome of their training would mean for the long-suffering Hartnell, they put their best foot forward to send him home with his well-deserved prize in tow.