Les Révoltés du Vénus

Carry On Jack is directed by Gerald Thomas and written by Talbot Rothwell. It stars Bernard Cribbins, Kenneth Williams, Juliet Mills, Charles Hawtrey, Donald Houston & Percy Herbert. It's the 8TH of the popular film franchise that would eventually finish at 31.

Albert Poopdecker (Cribbins) is all set to finally take up assignment on HMS Venus when he loses his uniform in a house of ill repute. Press ganged the next day onto the Venus, nobody believes him and he is forced to serve his time on board as a menial worker. However, there's mutiny afoot and Albert soon finds himself at the centre of all sorts of misunderstandings.

Not one from the series that is name checked by fans or critics, Carry On Jack is a little better than its reputation suggest it is. It's also a very important entry in the Carry On pantheon,for it was the first time Rothwell, the man who shaped the series, would be in sole charge of writing. It's also the first venture into historical parody, from where the series would get its best ideas and promptly make the best film's of the run. This one clearly revels in sending up Mutiny On The Bounty, HMS Defiant (using some of the same sets from that production) and the Hornblower writings. The absence of Sid James is very much felt since piracy and mutiny appear to be themes you would think suited him. But no Barbara Windsor is not an issue here, simply because there's only one female role of note, and Mills attacks it with gusto and delivers a fine performance. Cribbins, too, is full of life and raises enough laughs as he plays off of the reliable Hawtrey.

Not overtly smutty or as manic as some of the other historical parodies that followed it, Carry On Jack is a fun and tidy time filler. 6/10

I do like the Carry On films in general, and while Jack is not the best, it is still amusing. I have to admit I do prefer Cleo, Screaming and Khyber, but I do think it is better than Columbus, England and Emmanuelle, which I consider the nadirs of the series. Jack does have its problems, it does have a thin story, some of the pacing isn't as secure as it could have been and I do miss Joan Sims, Sidney James and Hattie Jaques. However, the film looks great, great costumes and sets, and while never absolutely hilarious it is amusing enough. And the acting is fairly good, Charles Hawtrey almost steals the show, Kenneth Williams isn't given as much to do but he is good, Jim Dale's is small but he is hilarious, Juliet Mills is pleasant (and has a great derriere), while Bernard Cribbins is very likable. Overall, not outstanding but worth watching. 7/10 Bethany Cox

One of the better Carry on films, set in 1700s England and aboard a ship, there's lots of nice detail here and genuinely good characters. Captain Fearless played by Kenneth Williams is brilliant and it's great to see Bernard Cribbins leading a film, we also get Juliet Mills, Donald Houston and Percy Herbert thrown into the mix, so not a conventional casting for a Carry on film! The jokes are very witty without being crude and certainly have a quality to them.

7/10: It's good and colourful

This title – intended as a spoof on the troubled MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY (1962) – emerges as the odd one out in the "Carry On" series: not only do we only find just three regular performers here (Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey and Jim Dale), but there's little typical material; taken on its merits, however, it isn't bad at all and not quite the dud described on the series' official website!

Incidentally, the irregular actors are the ones who score best – particularly Bernard Cribbins as an unlikely but likable hero (his character is named Poop-Decker!) and Donald Houston, intense as the villain of the piece; on the feminine side, there's the surprise casting of Juliet Mills (as a floozie who passes off as a midshipman – she sets out in search of her lost love, who turns out to be a pirate leader!). As I said, the "Carry On" stalwarts rather play second-fiddle here (especially Dale, who only gets an inconsequential bit early on), though Williams and Hawtrey manage to assert themselves during the film's latter half (when Houston and cohort Percy Herbert instigate a mutiny and our heroes are cast off at sea).

While there are obviously a number of laughs scattered throughout, the general tone is atypically serious: Williams – playing the cowardly skipper of the "Venus", he's given the unsurprisingly ironic name of Captain Fearless – even loses a leg and, consequently, gets twice the "desk job" he so craved for. Also in the cast is Cecil Parker as the long-suffering Admiral who sets the naïve, bumbling Cribbins off on a naval career and reappears at the end to decorate him and his companions (Houston has blackmailed Spanish Governor Patrick Cargill into yielding his entire fleet and is taking it victoriously back to England, when it's unwittingly destroyed by Cribbins & Co. – the ship's loaded cannons go off during a deck-fire, with the deed being taken for a successful attempt on their part to repel the oncoming Spanish invasion!).

Caught the second half of "Carry On Jack" about seven years ago. Thought it was completely unreal.

I recognized Cribbins from the Doctor Who movies with Peter Cushing. Here he reminds me a bit like John Cleese at times, and Trevor Bannister off "Are You Being Served?"

Clearly he is filling the blank left by Kenneth Conner.

Wonder why Juliet Mills appeared in this? As Haley's sister and Sir John's daughter, surely she could have gotten whatever she wanted and didn't have to join this bandwagon.

She reminded me of the young girl who "posed" as a boy in "Swiss Family Robinson". Not at all convincing.

The cow in the lifeboat bit was good.

The amputation joke would have NEVER existed in American film or television back in '64.

The one joke I always recalled was 'the captain fell on deck right where that plaque is.'

"I'm not surprised, I nearly tripped over the silly thing the other day myself."

When I first heard that line, I had to do a triple take.

No, Sid James, Kenneth Conner, Joan Sims, dear Hattie and Barbara Windsor (thus far, I have only seen her in one, Carry On Spying) weren't in this one.

The interchanging performers basically doing the same characters is a standout for this assortment of movies.

Now on to the next Carry On: Carry On Cowboy.

yee-hah!