Carry on Behind

This later Carry On is missing Sid James, Hattie Jacques, Barbara Windsor and Charles Hawtrey. Popular regulars Kenneth Williams, Joan Sims, Bernard Bresslaw, Kenneth Connor, Patsy Rowlands, Jack Douglas and Peter Butterworth are in substantial roles and are great. However the departed regulars are missed.

The story works well. It is essentially a series of sketches about various people at a campground, but the story threads form a cohesive whole.

Some characters work better than others. Ian Lavender and Adrienne Posta as a young couple with a huge dog don't seem to have been given any jokes. Their scenes are pretty limp and peter out with no punchline. This brings down the pace of the film.

The characters played by Bresslaw, Rowlands and Sims develop nicely as the film progresses. Sims starts as a battle axe but becomes more sympathetic.

The scenes with Jack Douglas and newcomer Windsor Davies as mates on a fishing holiday (with Davies hoping to hook some dolly birds) work well, and are funny. Davies does the impossible - successfully stepping into the Sid James role. Newcomers Carol Hawkins and Sherrie Hewson acquit themselves well as the young women unfortunate enough to have them in pursuit.

Kenneth Williams and guest Elke Sommer are archaeologists studying the old cesspool. Their bits are classic Carry On and very funny. Sommer fits in seamlessly and is the series' most successful guest star.

Kenneth Connor as the lusty owner of the camp site and Peter Butterworth as the scruffy odd jobs man are great too.

Liz Fraser returns after many years' absence but only has a small role.

Look out for Larry Dann as the main university student in the film. Dann had appeared in Carry On Teacher (1959) as a student, and this film saw his return. He went on to roles in England (1976) and Emmannuelle (1978), then was a long running regular in police TV series The Bill.

This is my first "Carry On"-film and I really and unexpectedly enjoyed this. I mostly started watching this for completism, to have at least seen one movie from the famous franchise. And then I really enjoyed it and watched it to the end. Why? The plot is crap, basically it's a bunch of diverse characters getting together on an English campground in march, which looks about as jolly as an toxic waste site in winter, and then getting up to some horribly contrived antics.

Still, like wine, old jokes can still be good. What makes this movie so enjoyable are the many excellent actors with their impeccable delivery. And the movie always stays slightly naughty and mischievous without ever becoming sleazy.

I don't understand why this has such a low rating. I know some consider it a poor remake of Camping, but I think it is far from it. I've always thought it to be one of the best. It's such a shame that they followed up with England, Emmanuelle, and Columbus; had they ended here, I think 'Behind' would have been held in much higher regard.

There are some truly funny gags, fun performances, and great double acts: Windsor Davies and Jack Douglas, Kenneth Williams and Elke Sommer, Peter Butterworth and Joan Sims. These were great comedy teams. Elke especially did a great job; it was her first Carry On, and she was just splendid-likable, funny, with great delivery and a cheeky smile.

There are some truly funny moments: Peter Butterworth trying to coax Kenneth and Elke to hire his caravan, Elke looking for scrubbers, the striptease-lots to choose from.

Even the theme music makes me laugh; it's such a cheeky and funny tune-perfect for the film.

I've always loved the way that shower door suddenly developed a glass panel at the top, that caravan site really was advanced!

9/10.

I don't laugh easily, haven't particularly liked British films, or lowbrow humor. But this flick had me in stitches 15 year ago. I remember a rapid succession of scabrous double entendres and sexual innuendo. It was so unrelentingly silly I felt mercilessly tickled. I wish I could say I became a fan of the Carry On series. But few other instalments amused me so much. Yet the gang is VERY talented and appealing and offers an exceedingly gentle sort of imbecility, totally unlike American low-brow, which is rather vicious. This series threatens to make an Anglophile out of me, AGAIN!

Ah, c'mon..! We *know* it's not a patch on Carry on up the Khyber and Carry on Cleo but it's still fantastic in it's own rubbish way. The whole universe of cuckolded, horny husbands, shrewish wives and anaemic-looking dolly birds still makes me laugh my ass off every time.

You can see the gags coming from a thousand yards away and the plot's wafer thin but Kenneth Williams cackles like a champ, Kenneth Connor sleazes for England and Elke Sommer still looks fantastic in that cheeky suede skirt.

I grew up with the Carry On films and watching one is like opening a can of Instant Nostalgia. I studied archaeology at university and people always ask me if I was inspired by Indiana Jones. I've got a sneaky suspicion it was really Carry on Behind.