Carry on Constable

With a flu epidemic decimating the ranks of the local bobbies, the police are forced to quickly take on some new recruits who in other circumstances may not have quite made the ranks – a decision made by Inspector Mills and then dumped on Sergeant Wilkins to deal with. However not even Wilkins' low expectations are met when at least a handful of the new recruits turn out to be barely able to manage themselves, never mind the wider community.

This is quite an enjoyable little film that is never funny but manages to be amusing if you are in the mood for a light, dated comedy. The story is simply a rerun of Carry on Sergeant in the way that an efficient Sergeant (in this case Sid James) is charged with turning a bunch of bumbling, inept recruits (this time into the police) into an effective unit of men, encountering much amusing bumbling along the way (with even some of the same actors playing the same sort of characters). In this regard it is pretty much a cookie-cutter of a story but to look down on the film for being unoriginal and basic is to really miss the point when it comes to the Carry On films. Aside from the poor story, the film is actually quite amusing but never really made me laugh more than once or twice; certainly those not in a forgiving mood will dislike this because it doesn't have much life to it but those looking for a movie for a wet Saturday afternoon will maybe enjoy it.

The cast are a selling point and do manage to do quite a bit with the basic material even if they don't raise it that much. Sid James has a minor role in his first Carry On film and, although he is a good presence, he is less effective than he was in other films. Barker is a nice straightman and holds up that side well enough while the main comedy is brought off by the recruits themselves. Connor repeats his "uptight and resisting love" performance to reasonable effect. Hawtrey and Williams do good work with their usual stuff (Williams playing upper-class early in the series) while Phillips makes a nice addition with his usual stuff. Sims and Jacques are OK but have very little to do around the edges but are nice filler.

Overall this is nothing special but it is amusing in its own way despite never making me laugh. The script does throw up a few nice touches and is cheeky rather than smutty or anything like that and, despite being a rerun of Carry On Sergeant, it is still enjoyable in a rather amusing and light sort of way.

This was the fourth of the Carry On series and although dated by the police uniforms is one of the best simply because all of the regulars are equally well used and for once Sid James is kept under control and used as a foil for some of the situations which works well with his expressive face. Kenneth Williams is still in the intellectual role which eventually gave way to the over-the-top persona in the later films. Leslie Phillips gels well with the others ( even better than he did in Carry On Teacher )

If anything this film underuses the female stalwarts with Hattie Jacques and Joan Sims being love interests.

I enjoy the Carry on movies, they are entertaining, cheeky and witty and make my day when I need it. While a tad too short and rather basic and cookie-cutter in the story structure, this fourth entry known as Carry on Constable is an enjoyable one and lifted by the Carry on debut of regular Sid James, and he is funny as always. The rest of the cast are rock solid as well with Kenneth Williams and Joan Sims especially standing out. The writing is cheeky in alternative to smutty, a trait that plagued some of the later entries, and while not the original on the block the gags are equally amusing. The film looks good too with nice locations and the like, musically it is quite quirky and it is snappily directed. Overall, very enjoyable. 8/10 Bethany Cox

The wonderful thing about watching some of these lovely early Carry ON movies is the small cameos of wonderful British actors. Some were never really house hold names but the thing is that every time they appeared in a movie they would light up and bring something very special to even the most mediocre movies. Esma Cannon as a deaf old woman in this movie is a superb example. This lovely actress always added something very special to every film she was in and after reading the biog on IMDb she had what looks like an incredibly impressive career. Joan Hickson just about steals the film as the tipsy lady fond of a tickle of booze. She is absolutely fabulous. We all know in later years she played a very understated Miss Marple but in this movie you see her at her glorious best.The great Irene Handl is there too and she lifted every film she was in. Miss Handl came to Australia to star in Goodnight Mrs Puffin and BusyBody. She was a brilliant actress but few would know who she was by name. Sid James is less tacky in this movie and I really enjoyed him in this. Kenneth Connor is still rather annoying and I still find him the weak link. I wonder if the shower scene in this film is the first time we saw some bum in a movie. Its very brief. The Hawtrey and Williams drag scene when they go under cover is delightful. Hawtrey remains my personal favourite, he was indeed camper in this than the early ones. Hatti Jaques and Joan Sims are wonderful as always. Hatti is becoming my favourite apart from Hawtrey. It is interesting to see Sid James before they made his characters tackier and tackier. I found this a very pleasant little romp, I cant say I really laughed but I did enjoy it The production values considering the budget in these films was very impressive. For me its the small cameos I loved the most.

The fourth film in the long running British comedy series, Constable sees Sid James making his Carry On debut as Sergeant Frank Wilkins, whose police station has been hit by a flu epidemic leaving him relying on rookie officers to make up the numbers. Fresh from training college, PC Charlie Constable (Kenneth Connor), PC Timothy Gorse (Charles Hawtrey), PC Stanley Benson (Kenneth Williams) and PC Tom Potter (Leslie Phillips) make a series of blunders that look likely to result in Sgt Wilkins' transfer to another station. In order to make up for their mistakes, the four newbies attempt to track down and arrest a tough gang of thieves they believe to be holed up somewhere nearby.

Constable sees little bit of cheeky innuendo ('You stupid constable!, 'I've lost my pussy') and gratuitous bare flesh (four bare male backsides and Shirley Eaton in her underwear) creeping into the Carry On formula, making this one a stepping stone between the more gentle comedy of the earlier films and the more ribald humour of latter entries. For much of the running time, though, the film is simply good-natured knockabout fun, consisting of a series of amusing episodic scenes, with a little romance thrown in for good measure, the whole thing coming together for a predictable feel-good ending designed to leave the viewer with a warm glow. As always, the likable cast put in winning performances, and as silly as it all undeniably gets, it's hard not to have a reasonably good time.