Le collège s'en va-t-en guerre

The third Carry On film and arguably the best of the first three, this one is amusing from start and always full of laughs. The jokes are funnier than in the two previous entries, and Leslie Phillips is in particularly good form this time. It is still very silly, and in terms of the plot it is not all that much better than 'Carry On Sergeant' and 'Carry On Nurse', with the practical jokes becoming a bit tiresome towards the end and a story that is very simplistic. Still, the film comes highly recommended from me, as everything seems to fit together rather well, including appropriately used music. It is not a perfect film, but definitely a bit of a delight to watch.

This school-based variation on St Trinian's, with the little horrors (including a very young Richard O'Sullivan) driving their teachers mad, was one of the earliest of the Carry On series and a particularly good one.

Key members of the team come together here - Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims (always worth watching, hilarious), Hattie Jacques, and Kenneth Connor - alongside other showy actors such as Ted Ray, Leslie Phillips, and Rosalind Knight.

Names are fun as ever (Sims is 'Miss Allcock') and the action is fun, frenetic, and entertaining. I loved the scene with the itching powder that ruins a meeting; as well as the chaos in the staff room - not to mention of course the goings-on with the two horny couples (Phillips and Sims; Connor and Knight). Never a dull moment.

The third Carry On film in the series, Teacher still manages to maintain the gentle, clean fun of its predecessors.

Many of the favourites are present here (Williams, Hawtrey, Sims, Jacques, Connor) and are well at ease in the roles they would make their own for the next 20 odd years.

Kenneth Connor is a delight as the bumbling science teacher who finds himself falling for the prudish school's inspector while Leslie Phillips is as smooth as he ever was as the well-oiled child psychologist. Ding dong!

It is interesting to note here that at this early stage, it is Joan Sims who plays the blonde bombshell in the series - a much different role to the screaming, bawdy characters she would play later.

To sum up, Teacher is basically a series of set pieces in which the kids of Maudlin Street School, so desperate for their current headmaster not to leave, set about causing havoc so as to create a bad impression for the school inspectors.

Of course it's all harmless, St. Trinians meets Greyfriars fun and there's a happy ending too. In all, a great addition to the series.

Maudin Street School is hardly a paradise and, when a new school starts looking for a headmaster in his rural hometown, the Maudin headmaster plans to go for the job. However his first problem is a school inspector and child psychologist coming to visit the school and give it a full assessment. On learning this news the pupils decide to get a bit of revenge on the headmaster and the staff by orchestrating a campaign of problems and bad behaviour; but not so direct that the staff will be able to work out who is responsible and easily bring it to a halt.

In the third of the Carry On series, the film moves away from the basic template of Sergeant and Constable and goes for a different plot in a school setting. The basic frame is that the staff are being forced into a series of pratfalls by the scheming pupils while busily trying to impress the inspectors at the same time. Into this mix is thrown the usual element of romance (with Connor getting his third bite at the "shy man desired by forward female" cherry in three films) and the whole thing is rather slight. The humour doesn't have the heavy focus on bums, tits and innuendo that the series developed but this is not to say that it is the height of wit because it is not. Instead the humour is a mix of physical humour and some mild word play and, as such it is actually quite amusing if you are in the mood, although I'd be surprised if you found yourself roaring with laughter at any point.

The cast are OK even if they are mostly just repeating the roles they have had from the first two Carry On films. As I said Connor has the same character and essentially the same subplot but is OK with it. Hawtrey camps it up well while Williams is nicely proper and stuck up. Phillips does his usual stuff reasonably well in a minor role but his partner, Knight, is not that good and is a bit stiff. Sims continues with the "fanciable female" role in this film (although she would become more the "battleaxe wife" as the series went on) and didn't totally convince me. After being a bit flat in Constable, Jacques has a good slice of the comedy while also having her usual matron-style character.

Overall this is an OK entry into the series although those used to the more bawdry entries into the series may be a little disappointed with how slight it is. The plot is unengaging and only acts as a frame for the comedy that is mainly pratfalls with some wit in the dialogue. Few viewers will be roaring with laughter (or even laughing out loud that much) but it is a little bit harmless fun that should distract for a short while.

The third film in this Carry On series was funnier than the previous two, or I am now getting the hang of who "the core" cast members may be.

The plot seemed simple enough, then took a very different twist just toward the end.

Humor-wise, the staff getting drunk was pretty good and that class discussion with Williams did have me laughing and rewinding back ("the girl who lives just down the road from us!")

With still no idea what to expect from the rest of these Carry Ons, it seems to me after three films that there is to be two romances in each films. I suspect that will change eventually.

Best thing I have seen thus far of Carry On was when everyone was hugging at the end of "Teacher" because the headmaster wouldn't be leaving and Williams, Jacques and Hawtrey all hug, each man giving her a kiss in between them.

They all stepped away and Jacques moved to the back.

The two men then came forward again for a very passionate embrace and upon realizing Jacques wasn't with them, they separated and Hawtrey gave Williams such a slap.

Nice fun and a nice perspective on school and education in film, especially this close to "Blackboard Jungle".