Carry On... Up the Khyber

This film defines British comedy. The jokes, puns, and characters are all classic carry on. I'd say this is the best of the series, and atcually the most accomplished plot-wise. The 'dining room attack' scene, I think, is one of the best moments in film history, and should be seen. Highly recommended.

This is now generally regarded as the best CARRY ON movie which,in retrospect,may not be saying that much.On the other hand,there seems to be an increasing fondness here in Britain(and perhaps even the US)for the series' persistent innuendo,cheerful vulgarity,slapstick corn,and venerable comic performers(most of whom are sadly long since gone) now nearly four decades after it's peak.Compared with much cinema gross-out humour today(as typified by the Farrelly Brothers in the US,with the UK's SEX LIVES OF THE POTATO MEN not far behind,perhaps literally!),the CARRY ON style of fun with it's saucy double entendres virtually present in every line seems oddly charming and innocent when in previous generations appeared as crude and tasteless,certainly to many weary film critics of the time.It could come across as witless and repetitive,as it certainly did in the later CARRY ON's of the 1970's(when the series finally finished),but despite the relentless puns on view here,UP THE KHYBER executes them all with an unexpected style,panache and energy,with arguably the entire series' most memorable visual gags and genuinely funny verbal one-liners.

The talented comedians on view,Sid James,Kenneth Williams,Peter Butterworth,Joan Sims,Terry Scott,Charles Hawtrey,Bernard Bresslaw,etc. are all on fine comic form throughout,handling the timing with considerable aplomb,with the farcical plot(the film's only negative point;it is never subtle,and it's attempts at satire are fleeting to say the least,probably very deliberately)about colonial conflict in India caused by British 'Devils in Skirts' not turning out in underwear oddly seeming to work rather well.It has great confidence and courage in it's convictions,and some lines and ideas("Gone For Tiffin","Fakir,Off!!",the 'Arsitarsi' tribe),and especially the dining room sequence(perhaps the funniest in the series' entire history)are the very best examples of typical lowbrow British humour.

Even the production values seem above average for the CARRY ON's,admittedly streamlined but still fairly elaborate and convincing,only faltering in it's actual depiction of the Khyber Pass itself,which is actually Snowdonia in North Wales.The film's very non-PC racial stereotyping and impersonation could be a problem for some,but may in fact add a certain extra period charm.

UP THE KHYBER represents CARRY ON humour at it's peak,preceded as it was by some of the other best efforts in the series(CLEO,SCREAMING,DOCTOR).With the arrival of the 70's,the CARRY ON's went into gradual decline from around 1973,ending in EMMANUELLE in 1978,generally recognised as the worst,before the critically-derided COLUMBUS emerged in 1992.UP THE KHYBER,however,shows us how amusing the series could be at it's best.

As with glass, you can see straight through this movie, for what it is. Hilarious and witty, as is the talent of this huge Classic British Comedy Team.

Come on, you know deep down, they couldn't resist making a movie that rhymed with "Khyber Pass".

What a wonderful awry of comical satire and self-ridicule that Khyber Pass is. This, 1968, typical nostalgia trip from the Great Carry On team has bought us the usual Cast. We see Sidney James, as Sir Sidney-Rough Diamond and the beautiful Joan Sims as his torturous wife, Lady Joan Rough-Diamond, the very intelligent Kenneth Williams as the Rhandi Lal, the Khasi of Kalabar. Here, personally, I think that this is Bernard Bresslaw's, as Bungdit Din, best performance, his last Carry On was 1975's Carry On Behind, he passed away in June 1993, aged 59.

Without wanting to give too much away here, for you have to see Up the Khyber to appreciate the delivery of the script, ad libbing and comic simplicity that is Up the Khyber, which, excuse the pun here, carries itself off very well. Too much forewarning will only dilute the movies hilarious gags.

Not seeing Up the Khyber for many years, it was really a pleasant surprise, forgetting just how funny it is, and the combination, and their delivery, of the names of the characters. Lets face it; the absurd and totally ridiculous names of these characters are what truly make this movie.

This movie contains one of the most obvious (non) location doubles that I have ever seen. Since when has the real Khyber Pass in India looked like the green rolling hills of Wales, I mean, it's a five bar gate along a rocky green path running up Mount Snowdonia, they even put a tiny wooden sign on top, saying, "Please shut the gate". The Extras, seen at the Khyber Pass, who are dressed as local "natives" look like locals that have been paid to wear Turbans for the day, and the make up department haven't even applied make up. If it were not so funny, then it just would not be the Carry On it is. You just know too, that they must have had a great laugh trying to pull this one off. Pure admiration.

This movie shouldn't be passed over; it really is one of the best, where as Carry On Screaming was the better Produced, this is better scripted.

There is Glass and there are Diamonds, this is a Diamond of a movie.

Priceless.

Subtitled "The British Position In India", I was recommended to see this film by my friend Rav, who reportedly "busts a gut" every time he see Kenneth Williams in blackface and turban. I was pleased to have seen it on recommendation as it made me feel less guilty about viewing a Carry On that is vested not only with the usual quota of bawdy sexism, but also a generous dollop of racial stereotyping.

Yet despite it all, Carry On Up The Khyber still manages to be a very funny film. I can't claim to have seen the entire series (this was the 16th of 30 movies), but what I have seen leads me to cite this as probably the best. Produced at a time when Britain still had a significant film industry, the picture is allowed to play out without any of the desperate mugging and over-emphasised pauses that punctuate the majority of contemporary English comedy movies (including, ironically, Carry On Columbus, the ill-advised 1992 "comeback").

Khyber is relaxed because it knew it had a ready-made audience, and the humour also works because it is self-aware. Desperately cheesy lines (such as Peter Butterworth saying "What pretty earrings... are they rubies?", only to be met with "No, they're mine") are delivered shamelessly, and with a timing that acknowledges how truly awful some of the one-liners are.

Occasionally there is a line that plays to a higher audience, such as Kenneth Williams yelling at a man banging a gong: "I do wish you wouldn't keep doing that... Rank stupidity". There's also some slight political references to the famous slogan "I'm Backing Britain" and mention of the British being used to cuts, though I'm afraid I'm far too young to know what these are directly referring to. Generally, though, the humour is a series of puns on the word "Khazi" and rejoinders such as Sid James and Williams: "I'd even go so far as to say you're a bit of a shot". "Well, I hope I heard you correctly".

Even so, the humour, particularly constant attempts to nearly-ape the "f" word, did cause problems with the censor. In particular Bunghit Din's (my favourite Carry On member, the underrated Bernard Bresslaw) hilarious line of "Fakir - off!" was ordered to be reshot with an additional pause between the two words.

The rapid-fire pace of the gags mean that infrequent clunkers (such as Joan Simms attempting the old "call me an elephant" - "okay, you're an elephant" line, ancient even by Carry On standards) are quickly forgotten in the wealth of material. Superbly directed as well, particularly the closing scenes where the British (who are lampooned as much - if not more so - than their opponents) keep a stiff upper lip during bombardment.

The whole plot is, of course, absolutely ludicrous, suggesting that the final days of the Raj came about when a British regiment was discovered wearing underpants. The whole thing is the sort of film that would never be made nowadays, which is in many ways a good thing, yet there is a certain knowingness behind the eyes of the actors that keep it from dating.

There was a small dealer here in Brazil that offered us a lot of British movies, but hereInafter didn't hear a thing about them unfortunately due sales declines so much in those hard economics past years, one of them of the valuable series Carry on where are fully exploitation of British humor style, it's seems silly at first look but certainly it isn't, there are a faithful copy of custumary and legendary British nonsense, their usual accent puts a hot peppery over so peculiar behaviors from them, this priceless comedy remind us from latest Monty Phyton's pictures, they slagging of themselves, unmissable!!!

Resume:

First watch: 2012 / How many: 2 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7.25