Carry on Screaming!

Possibly the finest of the Carry On series, this film benefits hugely from the acting talents of the late, great Harry H. Corbett and the fabulously sexy Fenella Fielding. These two provide the usual Sid James / Barbara Windsor roles but play them with far more subtlety and aplomb than usual. Talbot Rothwell delivers a fine screenplay that beautifully lampoons Hammer Horror films while Kenneth Williams, Jim Dale and Peter Butterworth serve up great supporting performances. Jim Dale is worth a special mention here as a great physical comedian who never really received the recognition he deserved for his 'full body' comedy – he could teach the over rated Jim Carey a thing or two. 'Screaming', along with 'Khyber' and 'Cleo' remain great British comedies that have outlived the contempt and snobbery that was initially hurled against them to emerge as fine examples British cinema and humour. 7/10.

This one was my favourite Carry On when a kid, it's one of a few I can force myself to watch nowadays. I think I could stick with Khyber and Cleo but the rest forget it. Throughout the series from '58 to '70 there were some good moments, some ace smart-ass one-liners but a lot of swamp to crawl through, the humour eventually ending up in the gutter from '70 on. I left them all to it there and then.

Harry Corbett and Kenneth Williams have some great lines, in this version of Frankenstein - stealing women to "vitrify" into shop dummies. Williams: "I wish I was dead"; Fielding: "Don't you remember, you are"; Williams: "Oh yes. What a life!" And on and on, knockabout Music Hall and Variety stuff, some original but plenty borrowed from all sources from Abbott and Costello, the Addams Family, Will Hay etc. But in COS it generally works: therefore I admit I must still like it. I wish that Sid James had been in it as well, but I'm glad Barbara Windsor wasn't.

Maybe it's my rose-tinted spectacles kicking in with this one, but why on Earth do the Carry On films generally seem more popular now in the Noughties UK than 30 years ago?

I have to admit that this is the best Carry on Film of the series. It had me laughing throughout.

There were great performances throughout and I particularly liked the late Harry H. Corbett's role as Detective Sergeant Bung in it.

The plot was mad. The late Kenneth Williams played Dr. Watt who was the fiendish brains behind an evil plot. He had a huge Frankenstein-like henchman called Oddbod who would kidnap women for him. He would then turn the women into dummies and sell them to a local shop. Crazy eh?

I won't spoil any of the scenes for you but they are all funny and there's some great dialogue throughout. As for the ending, it had me in stitches.

I really believe this is the best Carry on Film in the series so I recommend checking it out.

The Carry On films were at their best in the early days when they offered more than just saucy double entendres. Don't get me wrong, there *are* plenty of great double entendres here, but they're set against the backdrop of a horror spoof. The unusual setting gives it a freshness that the other Carry Ons lack.

A changed cast helps too. Harry Corbett shines in the sort of role which normally goes to Sid James. He makes the part his own, only failing in the scenes where he argues with his wife. There's just no chemistry between him and Joan Sims to show why these people were once in love with each other.

But there's chemistry between Corbett and Fenella Fielding, the other guest star. She makes a wonderful evil seductress. Of the regulars, Williams is best. His usual eccentric, camp performance takes on an edge of madness that grows as the film progresses.

Recommended.

Carry on Screaming is a truly great film- I am not sure whether it is a cult classic though- but it is easily one of the better Carry On Movies, perhaps even THE best. The film is hilarious, the ending particularly had me in stitches, with a good plot and wonderful one liners, "Frying Tonight" is up there with "Infamy Infamy they've all got it in for me" and "it's all cock and no pea" as the funniest one liner not only in a Carry on but ever.

The performances were wonderful, and Harry H.Corbett's superb lead performance cleared away all the fears of Sidney James being sorely missed, though I will say, James I have always found one of the best Carry on regulars. There is great support from Charles Hawtry, Jim Dale and Joan Sims, but the picture belongs to Kenneth Williams as Dr Watt, just priceless. Overall, a classic Carry On, maybe not a cult classic, but a hilarious film all the same. 9/10 Bethany Cox