Carry on Girls

Despite that fact that this film was one of the last Carry On's to be made and the classic jokes and gags were rather tired by now, for some reason they seem especially funny. There is nothing very different from this carry on film to the countless others, except for the fact this time the material seemed to really work, even though everyone knows the jokes. This Carry On adventure is set in an English seaside town. Kenneth Connor is the rather inebriated town Mayor, with Sid James (in his usual character type) and June Whitfield (the mother in Absolutely Fabulous) on the committee. It has come to the committee's attention that the town is losing tourists and something must be done. Sid cracks the idea of holding a Beauty contests and soon all the leggy birds that 1973 could offer were swanning down to the sea-side Hotel owned by Joan Sims. And of course that's where the fun starts - a Hotel taken over by scantily-clad women being chased by dirty old men, etc. More fuel is added to fire by June Whitfield who plays a feminist assisted by a women who looks like a member of the Hitler Boy Youth (intentional, I take it). This is one of the funniest Carry On films, and one of the best to view.

This latter-day "Carry On" entry doesn't feature such series stalwarts as Kenneth Williams, Hattie Jacques or Charles Hawtrey, but still manages to be great fun – if, in no way, a classic. Council member Sid James (tied up with hotel manageress Joan Sims) decides to drum up business for their modest town by organizing a beauty contest. Kenneth Connor (sporting a funny accent and fuzzy hair-do) is the long-suffering Mayor – who, apart from his office duties, has to contend on a daily basis with openly contemptuous wife Patsy Rowlands (theirs is inspired mismatch casting indeed). Another couple is James' best pal Bernard Bresslaw and his young wife Valerie Leon (initially made to appear frumpy-looking but who eventually undergoes a make-over when, unbeknownst to her spouse, she determines to enter the contest herself out of jealousy).

Barbara Windsor is "Miss Easy Rider"(!) and she's involved in rivalry throughout – erupting soon enough into a catfight in Sims' hotel lobby – with ex-roommate Sally Geeson. June Whitfield is the feminist council member who opposes the contest; to this end, she engages photographer nephew Robin Askwith (later star of several naughty "Confessions" films – I've never watched any, but am on the point of acquiring a few) to cover the preparations in order to uncover some misdeed which would allow her to put a stop to the whole 'debasing' event. Jack Douglas as the hotel concierge incorporates his hilarious twitching routine (also seen in CARRY ON ABROAD [1972] and "Lamp-Posts Of The Empire", an episode from the CARRY ON LAUGHING [1975] TV series). The finale – in which the contest is systematically sabotaged by the puritanical female townfolk (including the Mayor's own wife!) is an undeniable highlight of the film but is, essentially, a direct lift from a much earlier entry in the series – the superior CARRY ON TEACHER (1959)!

Although it doesn't quite scale the dizzy heights of CARRY ON UP THE KHYBER and does suffer somewhat from an obviously farthing-scraping budget, GIRLS is still vintage stuff from the Carry On crew, with a fast-moving, pun-heavy script from the great Talbot Rothwell ("I want a nice warm room with hot and cold running chambermaids" - Sid James, one of his many classic lines), plenty of memorable characters including the dotty Miss Tewkes, the randy old Admiral, the punch-drunk bellboy...hang on, this is starting to sound like FAWLTY TOWERS! If the film has one insurmountable obstacle it's the casting of the ageing, dumpy and diminutive Barbara Windsor as a beauty queen. This isn't even believable in a comedy situation where Sid James is a babe magnet and the gormless Bernard Bresslaw gets jiggy with the statuesque Valerie Leon! The rest of the contestants (with the possible exception of future EASTENDER Wendy Richards) look the part, however, and Carry On regular Margaret Nolan is especially memorable as the busty Dawn Brakes, though the PC brigade would no doubt frown on the...er...physical humour the film derives from her buxom presence! There's also a short but priceless cameo from DAD'S ARMY's Private Godfrey, who has one of the film's funniest lines, and Jimmy Logan is hilarious, camping it up in a role that was evidently meant for either Kenneth Williams or Charles Hawtrey and winning the day with his sheer exuberance. There are some sequences that don't really fit the Carry On mould - the Windsor-Nolan cat-fight, for example, shows signs of desperation, and Kenneth Connor doesn't have enough screen time as the proudly dapper but eternally disgusted Frederick Bumble (a shame, as his performance is note-perfect throughout), but all things considered this is a fine example of seaside postcard humour, and much funnier than the cruder Carry On variations that followed.

CARRY ON GIRLS is probably the one CARRY ON film that cements this film series's reputation as the 'smutty postcards' of the film world. It's certainly the sauciest of all the CARRY ON films to date, using the excuse of a beauty contest to reveal the flesh of as many girls as possible, and indeed the fresh beauty of the starlets (in particular Valerie Leon, Margaret Nolan, and Wendy Richard (!)) puts everybody else, the regular team included, into the shade.

The story is some silly thing about scheming councillors (Sid James playing himself, and a delightfully stuffy Kenneth Connor) arranging a beauty contest only to have their efforts thwarted by the local women's lib, led by an enjoyable June Whitfield. In reality, though, what we get are endless innuendos, risqué sight gags, and plenty more besides. It's a film in which Peter Butterworth's groping old bloke is played for laughs, so what more can you say?

Yes, the format feels a little tired and stale by now, with Bernard Bresslaw's cross-dressing antics bringing to mind those of Kenneth Cope in CARRY ON MATRON and a general seen-it-all-before sense to the proceedings. But, for better or worse, CARRY ON GIRLS provides one of the most unforgettable set-pieces of all the franchise, and I'm talking about THAT eye-popping cat-fight between Barbara Windsor and Margaret Nolan. People always remember the exercise scene from CARRY ON CAMPING but this goes considerably further and once watched is difficult to erase from the memory banks.

This is a fun movie. Yes, it may be politically incorrect by today's standards. Sure. But who cares? What's funny is funny. I for one can find the humour in the CARRY ON movies -- and I was born after the last of the series was made! There's nothing explicit in GIRLS, nothing truly offensive (the makers poke more fun at the men than they do the women) and come on, it's just harmless boob and bum laughs, anyway.

I love this movie because it makes me laugh, and makes me laugh every time I see it (which is quite a few times now). The jokes all hit the mark. There is an actual plot, unlike the comparable sex comedies being made today. The acting is fantastic. Sid James, Barbara Windsor and the usual gang know what they're doing and they do it perfectly. The only true weakness I would say is the directing and editing, though I would chalk that up to the obvious constraints of making films on a low budget.

And, in conclusion, to all those who decry the CARRY ON films as being old sexist rubbish, let me just say, in the words of the late great Sid James: "Knickers!"