Carry on Again Doctor

I love a vast majority of the Carry On films such as Screaming, Cleo and Up the Khyber, and this entry is no exception. Sidney James is underused but still has fun as Gladstone Screwer, admittedly an odd name,and the film does feel a little short but Carry on Again Doctor is still very funny and entertaining. Jim Dale does an above decent job taking centre stage as Doctor Nookey, with excellent comic timing. Kenneth Williams is great as always, and Charles Hawtrey has one of his better outings as Dr Stoppidge, allowing to hiss vehemently and bitterly. The locations of the Bautific Islands are very nice, and the script is filled with one liners that are witty and hilarious. Plus the slapstick finale is genuinely funny, quite possibly one of the funnier finales in the franchise. 8/10 Bethany Cox

I never really took to Jim Dale in these films, and here he isn't really any better. He is the disgraced "Dr. Nookey" who after an assignation that went a bit wrong, is despatched to a distant hospital where he encounters "Screwer" (Sid James) - the procurer of a miraculous slimming formula. Determined to capitalise on this, he returns to Britain and with Hattie Jacques again donning her matron's uniform is soon making a mint. His good fortune attracts the attention of his erstwhile boss "Dr. Carver" (Kenneth Williams) and soon he has to fend of those not just envious of his success, but also those who want to see him six feet under (theatrically speaking!). I think the clue here is in the title: "Again". This is really just a rehash of old jokes and old scenarios just topped and tailed with a different front page. The jokes have been versioned several times before and to be honest, I felt the cast looked a little battle-weary. Barbara Windsor is growing in confidence and owning the screen more now, Joan Sims still has some of the best one-liners (along with James) and the film certainly doesn't hang about - but there are only just so many times Williams can flare his nostrils before you actually want some smoke to come out.

After suffering one too many indiscretions, the disgraced Doctor Nookey is packed off to a remote island hospital by the go-getting Doctor Frederick Carver. Whilst this is intended as punishment for Doctor Nookey, the doctor soon learns that the orderly at this hospital Gladstone Screwer has created a secret potion which aids weight-loss. Doctor Nookey returns back to England and sets up a weight-loss clinic with Screwer supplying the potion. However, when several parties learn of Nookey's success they decide that they too want a piece of the action...

Whilst it has some similarities to Carry On Doctor (in the sense that Jim Dale's character is ousted through misunderstandings and mistreatment) Carry On Again Doctor just wasn't quite as good....

It was the first half of the picture for me where the film ran in to some problems; whilst Carry On Doctor didn't have the strongest narrative in the franchise it did feel more focussed; several people were feigning illness and each character was doing all they can to stay in hospital for as long as they could. There was also a small story arc connecting each of the patients which gave Carry On Doctor a bit more structure and purpose until we get to what is the crux of the story.

Carry On Again Doctor doesn't have the same structure and focus and honestly it's all a bit too whacky and I didn't find the characters or the jokes were quite as appealing second time around. Whilst it's hard not to laugh at some of the situations Nookey finds himself in, the laughs come a bit more cheaply and I also felt that Nookey wasn't quite as likeable as the character that he portrayed in Carry On Doctor.

Thankfully, the film does greatly improve in the second half when Nookey meets Screwer (Sid James was wonderful in this type of role and really lit the screen up whenever he was in front of the camera). It carries on is this vein when Nookey returns back to England and sets up the "Moore-Nookey" clinic which is an amusing visual gag in and of itself. Carver's slimy character doing everything he can to obtain the ingredients of said potion is really something and it's poor Dr Stoppidge who is the stooge that is used on this occasion. It must be said that what happens at the end when the wrong potion is administered was both hilarious and unexpected.

In summary then Carry On Again Doctor is saved by a strong second half and by the cast who, as usual, work wonderfully together in making this farce perhaps more enjoyable than it could have been (thank god nearly all of the regulars were here as I felt it could have been worse had they not have been).

It's funny enough to be worth seeing, but it's a tad more unfocussed and not quite as sharp as Carry On Doctor.

Carry On Again Doctor returns to the well-tilled field of bedpans, undressed patients, and discussions about symptoms, from wind to bowels being regular dialogue fodder. The third of the medical-themed adventures tackled by the team, this time the focus is on the hospital staff rather than the patients who are mostly just cameos; it features a rare, slightly nasty and cynical streak for the series, essentially a film about people being selfish, lying, manipulating and cheating to get ahead in the profession. I was at first concerned this was where the series stopped being fun but the fast-moving plot and changing locations keep the show moving and, like so many others in the series has great performances, a wonderful script, and some genuinely funny lines. Offset by Jim Dale's accident-prone pratfalls, Carry On Again Doctor is an assured and confident piece of filmmaking even if the focus has waned, it doesn't hang about and provides a lot of visual dynamism to any otherwise crazy film.

The 18th of the Carry On series and the third of the medical themed adventures, plot finds Jim Dale as Doctor Nookie, who is stitched up by his superiors and sent to a tropical Beautific island to tender medical treatment to the natives. What he actually finds when he gets there is a rainy windswept isle that has no need for his services at all. The compound is run by Gladstone Screwer (Sid James), a crafty old sort who deals in whisky and cigarettes and has a wife for every day of the week. Screwer also has something else of interest that perks up the flagging interest of Nookie, a potion that considerably aids weight loss. Nookie senses an opportunity to make a financial killing back in Blighty whilst simultaneously getting one over the superiors who had him sent to his island misery.

This was the last of 10 Carry On films for Jim Dale before he returned for the ill conceived "modern" reinvention that was Carry On Columbus in 1992. I don't know if the makers knew that Dale would be leaving the series and thus made him the lead character in this jovial farce? But it proves to be a smart move. One of the unsung heroes of the series, Dale's energy and comic reactions to plot situations were always a joy to watch, and here, with James in customary wise cracking support, he lifts the film above the ordinary with a show of endearing buffoonery. He also did his own stunts and broke his arm on this production. Director Gerald Thomas keeps things brisk, with the double location axis of the plot stopping things from stagnating visually, Charles Hawtrey goes undercover in drag to provide the last third of the film with some quality laughs and the likes of Barbara Windsor and Valerie Leron raise the pulses considerably.

Thin of plot but big on charm and laughs, one of the better Carry On movies. 7.5/10