petersj-2

This film is a mystery. It has great scenery, a wonderful cast and visually splendid stunts. For its time it was a a bit of a sleeper, perhaps as it was seen as a kind of imitation of Those Magnificent Men. The film seems to have all the right ingredients including a huge budget. So how come its tedious and frankly boring. It is rather fun looking at the who's who of film. The dashing Walter Chiari, the glorious Tony Curtis and Susan Hampshire and of course Gert Frobe. Pete and Dud come off best but there seems to be nothing much that can save what is unfortunately an over blown mish mash. Its a pity really because a great deal of heart and a even more money went into making it

Some movies can be so bad that they are funny. The trouble with this movie is that it tries desperately to be funny but isn't. Many looked forward to seeing a new Carry on movie but despite a very good and talented cast this movie is very hard to sit through. Its hard to say why it doesn't work but its probably because the genre has out lived its used by date. The old carry on movies had a loyal and faithful audience but they belonged to another time. These days we can watch them and they bring back sweet memories of sitting in an old theatre (like the Grosovenor in Melbourne)and licking on your Dixi ice cream. It is rather nice that the gay characters don't do the silly hinting and that Julian Clary can be quite open. He seems to be the only performer who seems to get a laugh. Thankfully most people support gay rights and same sex relationships are simply a life style choice. "Carry on Columbus" really is a terrible mess and there are no laughs.

I would love to see this series again. I wonder how well it holds up. It made a star of Ken Shorter who was a superb television actor. Of course it was brave ground breaking television all about a young man who stood up against the authorities at a time when conscription was introduced. At the time many would have seen Shorter's central character as a coward but today I guess we would all see it differently. It was a brave anti war film. We live in very conservative times today with a huge swing to the right so its hard to really say. The acting was very good although it may look a little rough by todays standards. Still I would like to see it again as I would be very curious to see whether or not it holds up.