Un thermomètre pour le colonel

In the last episode I was introduced to the girl who would be painted in Goldfinger (Shirley Eaton). In this one, I see Charles Bronson's wife Jill Ireland (Death Wish II, The Mechanic). You just never know who is going to turn up.

Of course, the usual "Carry On..." cast (Kenneth Connor, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Hattie Jacques (playing Matron) and Joan Sims in her first "Carry On..." appearance) is present to carry on with their gags in a hospital. Most of those gags, of course, revolve around typical male behavior in the presence of pretty nurses. Nothing very original, but it is fun.

Check it out.

The second in the popular series is one of the best, but also the first in a quartet of medical lampoons from this stable – the others being CARRY ON DOCTOR (1968), CARRY ON AGAIN, DOCTOR (1969) and CARRY ON MATRON (1972); I’ve watched the latter but not the other two, though I should be able to get to them fairly soon...

Anyway, coming very early in the series, CARRY ON NURSE – which manages to make the most of its single setting – isn’t as crude or as slapdash as a good many of the later entries regrettably proved to be: in fact, it’s pretty much in the vein of classic British comedy of the time (such as the satirical films by the Boultings). The cast brings together several practiced performers in the field: Kenneth Connor (his “Cor, Blimey” attitude as a boxer with a broken hand is somewhat reminiscent of Norman Wisdom), Kenneth Williams (having a less central role than would be the case later but in quite good form as a bookworm nuclear scientist who’s also something of a misanthrope), Charles Hawtrey (playing a radio fanatic, where his prissy antics are already a bit over-the-top), Joan Sims (as an accident-prone nurse), Hattie Jacques (as the fearsome Matron – which became her trademark role), Wilfrid Hyde-White (as an old man whose military record allows him privileged service at the hospital but hasn’t rescinded his gambling mania!), Leslie Philips (as a fun-loving sort who in a drunken binge with his fellow patients decides to have them perform his delayed operation themselves – the latter scene is the film’s hilarious highlight where, predictably, laughing gas is let loose at the most inopportune moment).

The nominal leads here are actually Terence Longdon as a recovering reporter and gorgeous Shirley Eaton as the idealized nurse, who provide the obligatory romantic interest; Jill Ireland (the future Mrs. Charles Bronson) has one of her earliest roles as the girl who finally ensnares Williams, while both Michael Medwin and Norman Rossington appear briefly – as, respectively, Connor’s manager (a self-proclaimed showman) and a punch-drunk remnant of the boxing profession. Other gags revolve around a snob patient who’s continually embarrassed by his commoner wife, another who’s occasionally compelled to run riot in the corridors, and an impossibly solemn-looking student nurse. Apart from throwing Longdon and Eaton in each other’s arms, the denouement sees the release of several of the ‘star’ patients from the hospital – and culminates with the long-suffering nurses’ revenge on the fastidious Hyde-White, by fitting a daffodil in his rectum instead of a thermometer just as the Matron is making her rounds!

While not a laugh riot, this film about nurses and patients at a ward at Haven Hospital holds your interest because of the endearing characters. Kenneth Williams is his usual fun self, aided by an interest in a young (and fairly beautiful, of course) Jill Ireland. Joan Sims plays a bumbling student nurse perfectly, while Hattie Jacques is near perfect as the unamused matron. The beautiful Shirley Eaton is also in this, any film I've seen her in she has been naturally good. The jokes are not hilarious or anything like that, but the film puts a smile on your face often enough (Charles Haughtry is funny in this). There have been (much) worse Carry On Films and some better, but this is a watchable one I think you'll enjoy but not love.

In Haven Hospital an entire ward is made up of men, ranging from the snooty Oliver Reckitt, the distracted Hinton, the gambling Colonel to the injured boxer Bernie Bishop. With nothing but men around young female nurses things could easily get out of hand but luckily the nurses are ruled by the Sister who in turn lives in fear of Matron, who rules the hospital with an iron fist. However when discipline is so strict, it is only a matter of time before the patients start to act out and rebel.

This is one of the earliest Carry On films in the long running series and it stands out from Constable and Sergeant because it has a much more ensemble feel to it and more of a rambling narrative that works better than the "serious story surrounded by sketches" stuff that the others had tries at doing. In this regard it does seem to keep up a constant tone and is amusing even if it rarely made me actually laugh out loud. This is the problem with a lot of the earlier films in the series – they lack the wit and cheeky humour of the films made in the heyday of the series and thus feel quite stiff and perhaps almost dull at times. There are enough amusing moments here to make it worth seeing but two or three good laughs in 90 minutes is not really enough I'm afraid.

The cast are the same from the first film with a few additions and yet still lacking some of the names that are synonymous with the series (Sid James in particular). Connor is OK in a simple role; Eaton is pretty to look at even if she has few laughs to her name; Hawtrey seems to be in his own film but is fun regardless; Phillips does his usual stuff but familiarity has not bred contempt in me and I enjoyed him; Hyde-White is good value and has the famous final scene to himself while Joan Sims runs around a lot in the way she did in the early days. Owen is OK but the film is stolen by a typical but funny turn from Williams and the very famous Matron character as played by Jacques, who suits the larger than life domineering character well.

Overall this is not a great film and it has not dated well at all. It is amusing but yet rarely that funny – a problem when it seems to be trying to be wacky and outrageous at each step. Time has not treated it well and it is the structured but cheeky Carry On films that have lasted the best. Fans of the series may like it and the cast certainly make it worth a look but this is nothing that special and were it not part of this famous series I doubt it would be seen that often by many viewers.

"Carry on Nurse" is one of the finer examples in the series. Only the second film to be made this still captures the naive charm of late 50s humour while exploring the more risque ground of the double-entendre.

The usual gang of misfits are present: Kenneth Connor, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Hattie Jacques (playing Matron!) and Joan Sims in her first "Carry On..." appearance.

The hospital setting works especially well in this film and indeed later entries in the series which sees the gang placed within some institution or other are usually worth a look to see how our heroes react and rebel against authority.

"Nurse", actually voted Best British Film of 1958, is a delight to watch and it's hard to equate this with something as bawdy as "Camping" or "Girls".

And the ending is a scream too with a most inventive use for a daffodil in medical history!