Carry on Matron

It's fair to say Carry on Matron isn't perhaps as original as Doctor or Nurse, but there are some genuinely hilarious moments in this film, the duo of Kenneth Williams and Charles Hawtrey are the making of the film, their scenes together are comedy gold. Each time I watch the pair talking about 'Hamlet' it truly cheers me up. It is fair to say that some of the material has been recycled but it's still great fun.

Hattie Jacques is brilliant in the title role, I do find it a little sad she'd now been type cast as the battleaxe Matron, especially when you see how fabulous she was in Cabby. Kenneth Cope is odd in the part somehow but just about gets away with it, but poor Bernard Bresslaw, he was idiotic in this, a better actor then the part.

It is one of the better latter day Carry on films, lots of laughs, and a comedy master class from Kenneth Williams. I am struck by the quality of the production values, it looks and sounds great. I find this a truly feel good film.

I love most of the Carry on films, especially Cleo, Up the Khyber and my favourite Screaming. And I do admit I prefer in general the earlier entries, which had more fun and charm in alternative to the later entries some of which had an over-reliance on smut.

Carry on Matron may have some slow-moving scenes and a thin and predictable plot, with some odd moments of overly-smutty innuendos and crude slapstick. But thanks to the witty gags, sharp script and fun performances, even with its shortcomings it still manages to be one of the better and funnier later entries of the series.

The production values are pleasant, the music is suitably quirky and the direction is solid. What really drives the film are the performances. Hattie Jacques does a fine job in the title role and Charles Hawtrey is as good as ever. The wonderful Kenneth Williams is hilarious and has some of the best lines and scenes, and Sid James plays it straight in a somewhat atypical role. And I mustn't forget the lovely cameos of Kenneth Connor as the nervous dad-to-be and Joan Sims as the overdue mum either.

All in all, an entertaining film. 7/10 Bethany Cox

This is another madcap comedy from the Carry On group, this time set in a maternity hospital. The whole group is here and its a fun film. Kenneth Williams deftly plays the hospital administrator Sir Bernard Cutting, who is obsessed with his manliness, Kenneth Cope plays Cyril, who dresses as a nurse to try to find out where "the pill" is stored, while Sid James plays his father, who is the mastermind of the group looking to steal the pills to sell them on the black market. There are sight gags, mistaken notions etc, just what you would expect. Hattie Jacques deftly plays the matron of the title. Its a fun comedy, at a time when the Carry On films were hitting their stride. You should check it out.

... and I've found most folks either love or hate the Carry Ons as a rule, and for many it's a generational thing (i.e., the films either evoke fond memories of their youth in a Britain that's vastly different from the UK of today, or they draw out unalloyed scorn for the lewd side of British comedy). And, truth be told, there's lots NOT to like about the Carry Ons, starting with the hit-or-miss quality and cheap production values of the series' entries as well as the broad style of humor found therein (a style that irritated more innovative British comics such as Tony Hancock). And, yes, for me the series proves scientifically the thesis that one film can have too many breast jokes. But, at the same time, when the core group (Sid, Hattie, Kenneth, Joan, Charles, etc.) is present and the humor is firing on all cylinders, you can see why these movies made a ton of coin: because at their best, they're hilarious.

Carry On, Matron has one of the dandiest premises in the series: a gang of crooks plans to steal birth control pills from a maternity hospital and sell them on the black market...just the kind of crime one would expect from a gang led by the ribald Sid James! Indeed, there are no prizes for good taste here, including a patient who's nine months pregnant (Joan Sims) who shows up at the hospital with false labor and then settles in to eat like a horse, and Sid's crooked son (Kenneth Cope) who dresses as a nurse in order to obtain a floor plan but ends up being harassed by the lecherous Dr. Prodd as well as distracted by his terminally curvaceous roommate (Barbara Windsor). Factor in Hattie Jacques' deft turn as Matron and Kenneth Williams, in spectacularly twitchy form, as a hypochondriac Chief of Staff, and you have yourself a movie that will keep you laughing in spite of yourself.

A gang of thieves plan to make their fortune by stealing a shipment of contraceptive pills from Finisham maternity hospital and make one of them disguised and infiltrated the hospital.

The last excursion into the often-used hospital territory, and one with bright moments and performances, though it goes over the top in a very laborious way.