Carry on Up the Jungle

This (surprisingly) consistently funny spoof of the Tarzan jungle epics from the "Carry On" gang is one of their better efforts I've watched so far: the rude, crude jokes come flying by with a welcome regularity and the old reliables - Sidney James (as boozing big game hunter Bill Boosey), Joan Sims (as an aristocratic lady who lost her husband and son in Africa many years earlier) and Charles Hawtrey (as the latter's husband who has spent his time in Africa lording it over a bevy of jungle girls) - enter gleefully into the spirit of the thing; the same goes for occasional participants in the series who join them here like Frankie Howerd (as the improbable leader of the expedition), Kenneth Connor (as a lecherous botanist) and Bernard Bresslaw (as the native guide).

Among the comic highlights are a snake sliding into Ms. Sims' undergarments at dinner-time (which she mistakes for the attentions of each of her male pretenders), the various bedtime romps which also involve Sims' son (the Tarzan figure) and a huge gorilla, James' shotgun 'standing up' at attention on seeing Sims taking a bath, Tarzan's various catastrophic attempts at leaping from one tree to another, his learning the English language and numeric system (which invariably stops at number 6, since he mistakes it for 'sex'), etc. The second half with Hawtrey sags slightly and the luscious Valerie Leon is not put to best advantage; amusingly, during this section, whenever our heroes are in peril, a classic musical cue from the 1960s "Spider-Man" animated series is heard on the soundtrack! All in all, as I said earlier, the result is generally engaging and quite enjoyable.

Speaking to an audience of keen bird watchers, Professor Ingio Tinkle tells the story of his latest exhibition into the African jungle. Part of a party led by adventurer Bill Boosey, Tinkle and his colleagues (including Lady Bagley and her maid) are on their quest to find the Oozalum bird when they come under threat from a ruthless tribe and their guides refuse to continue with them. However things become more complicated when the group are discovered by a man of the jungle who was raised by monkeys and has never seen other men (or women!) before.

As one would expect with a Carry On film, this is full of innuendo, sexist and occasionally racist humour with a very vague plot to set it all within. Needless to say this film continues the trend and it isn't long before the plot (something about finding the Oozalum bird) is lost in a sea of bed swapping, mistaken partners and innuendo. For fans it is funny but it is nowhere near the best of the series as none of it is really that clever – most of the gags are obvious and, although amusing, few made me laugh out loud and they didn't feel like there was any inspiration behind them. Modern audiences may find the sexist stuff a bit uncomfortable but to be honest, what did you expect from a Carry On film? There is a touch of racism although this too can be forgiven as a product of the period – although it is not as direct as you'd think, instead it is implied by the rubber lipped tribesmen and the fact that only white people are allowed to speak (the main 'black' character is Bresslaw!) or by having the women tribe be mostly white or light skinned – because 1970's audiences weren't ready for the sight of a white man having sex with a black woman (even implied). However the one racial joke I thought was clever was Sid James wondering why the same guide gets accidentally shot every time (the point being that it isn't the same one!).

The cast feature most of the regulars who are good enough comedians to be able to work with even this average material. Sid James does his usual stuff; Howerd has some very nice lines that hint at his sexual orientation although Connor is a bit flat when viewed next to him. Terry Scott is OK but has the least role of the film (although it is amusing that he stars with a character called June). The women have the usual short stick but both Sims and Piper are quite good. Hawtrey is funny in a late role that also plays with this physical appearance and sexual orientation. Bresslaw is stuck in yet another 'black face' role – why he is always picked I don't know. The support cast are mostly black clichés but, even 25 years on the Lubi tribe look very, very sexy!

Overall this is pretty much par for the course for Carry On films and it will only really please fans. The broad humour lacks actual wit even if it is funny in a crude fashion but it is far from being consistently funny and it is fairly average as the series goes. Those in the mood for this type of humour will enjoy it but the humour is too broad and too badly structured to really be funny or witty.

RANKING Definitely in the top tier of the series but only just. With Carry On Screaming ranked as number 1 and Carry on England as number 30, this is a reasonably good episode although it is a bit of a thoughtless rehash of what they've done before.

TYPICAL "Predictability" is the essence of Carry On films and this epitomises this. Change the costumes and you've got FOLLOW THAT CAMEL UP THE KHYBER but without being quite as funny and with a less clever story. Frankie Howerd does the Kenneth Williams role and although he's less likeable, he does a reasonable job.

SEXY LADIES The other essential of a Carry On film is saucy, sexy ladies and this doesn't disappoint on that count. A tribe of scantily clad, sex-hungry young ladies provide that essential element as does Jacki Piper who certainly ticks that box as well. The saucy humour in this is still the naughty seaside postcard style before it evolved into something less innocent as the series progressed through the seventies. It's all good fun.

Kind of a take on Tarzan films, this film stars a truncated version of the Carry On group, but it has Sid James, Joan Sims, Charles Hawtrey, Kenneth Connor, Bernard Bresslaw, Frankie Howerd and Jacki Piper, so thats fine. Its basically the adventures of an African safari and the crazy things which happen, such as mingling with the animals, tribesmen and each other. The only person I would have liked to see is Kenneth Williams, as they could have written a part for someone scared of his own shadow and he would have been perfect for it. That said, the film is full of the usual innuendos that the Carry On films all have and this one is fun. Not the best in the series but still worth watching.

The Carry On Gang get up to their usual monkey business, this time spoofing the Tarzan movies. This isn't their best effort...the script tries to fit in too many jungle cliches for its short running time, leading to a rather disjointed mishmosh of storylines. However, there are still many funny lines, and the Carry On regulars and semi-regulars (especially Frankie Howerd as the fussy professor) are in fine form. All in all, a very amusing way to spend 90 minutes.