Les cinglés à la maternité

This is another madcap comedy from the Carry On group, this time set in a maternity hospital. The whole group is here and its a fun film. Kenneth Williams deftly plays the hospital administrator Sir Bernard Cutting, who is obsessed with his manliness, Kenneth Cope plays Cyril, who dresses as a nurse to try to find out where "the pill" is stored, while Sid James plays his father, who is the mastermind of the group looking to steal the pills to sell them on the black market. There are sight gags, mistaken notions etc, just what you would expect. Hattie Jacques deftly plays the matron of the title. Its a fun comedy, at a time when the Carry On films were hitting their stride. You should check it out.

It's fair to say Carry on Matron isn't perhaps as original as Doctor or Nurse, but there are some genuinely hilarious moments in this film, the duo of Kenneth Williams and Charles Hawtrey are the making of the film, their scenes together are comedy gold. Each time I watch the pair talking about 'Hamlet' it truly cheers me up. It is fair to say that some of the material has been recycled but it's still great fun.

Hattie Jacques is brilliant in the title role, I do find it a little sad she'd now been type cast as the battleaxe Matron, especially when you see how fabulous she was in Cabby. Kenneth Cope is odd in the part somehow but just about gets away with it, but poor Bernard Bresslaw, he was idiotic in this, a better actor then the part.

It is one of the better latter day Carry on films, lots of laughs, and a comedy master class from Kenneth Williams. I am struck by the quality of the production values, it looks and sounds great. I find this a truly feel good film.

One of my favourite Carry On films, and my favourite medical Carry On. Like 'Camping' this is a breezily paced fun comedy where nearly all the well-known regulars appear, and they are all very well cast as staff and patients of a maternity hospital.

Hattie Jacques as matron is given a warm funny character and large role where she can really shine. Kenneth Williams flails about in an enjoyable turn as a hypochondriac doctor. He lapses into lots of slapstick and "stop messin' about" silliness here. Barbara Windsor plays a friendly nurse with less sexiness and nudity than some of her other roles. Extra laughs come from Joan Sims as gluttonous patient Mrs Tidy, and Kenneth Connor as her impatient husband waiting endlessly for her overdue baby to appear. Charles Hawtrey has a fun supporting part as affable psychiatrist FA Goode who gets involved in a funny bedroom farce bit with Jacques and Williams.

Sid James plays his usual type, though here the lecherous angle is de-emphasised. He heads a criminal gang of his conscientious son Cyril (Kenneth Cope), dim Ernie (Bernard Bresslaw) and the sarcastic Freddy (Bill Maynard). Cyril reluctantly dresses as a nurse and is sent to the hospital to find the store of contraceptive pills that Sid plans to steal. Unfortunately Cyril finds himself quickly enmeshed in hospital routine, falls for Windsor, and attracts the attentions of the amorous Dr Prodd (a hilarious Terry Scott in his last Carry On). Cope hits all the right notes and also manages to be funny in a role crucial to the overall story.

I always enjoy Bill Maynard's performances and here he has a bigger part than usual, and lots of funny lines. Derek Francis is great as the quizzical porter, and Margaret Nolan, Madeline Smith, Wendy Richard and Amelia Bayntun contribute fun cameos as various patients. With so many in good parts it sadly leaves little for Patsy Rowlands and Jacki Piper to do, but nice to see them anyway.

Good production values overall and the music is great.

I love most of the Carry on films, especially Cleo, Up the Khyber and my favourite Screaming. And I do admit I prefer in general the earlier entries, which had more fun and charm in alternative to the later entries some of which had an over-reliance on smut.

Carry on Matron may have some slow-moving scenes and a thin and predictable plot, with some odd moments of overly-smutty innuendos and crude slapstick. But thanks to the witty gags, sharp script and fun performances, even with its shortcomings it still manages to be one of the better and funnier later entries of the series.

The production values are pleasant, the music is suitably quirky and the direction is solid. What really drives the film are the performances. Hattie Jacques does a fine job in the title role and Charles Hawtrey is as good as ever. The wonderful Kenneth Williams is hilarious and has some of the best lines and scenes, and Sid James plays it straight in a somewhat atypical role. And I mustn't forget the lovely cameos of Kenneth Connor as the nervous dad-to-be and Joan Sims as the overdue mum either.

All in all, an entertaining film. 7/10 Bethany Cox

A group of thieves plan to make a killing by stealing a large shipment of contraceptive pills that have been delivered to Finisham maternity hospital. Sending young Cyril in undercover, nobody planned that he would end up dressed as a nurse, living in the nurse's dorms and trying to convince everyone that he is a woman – rather too well in the case of amorous doctor Prodd. Cyril keeps trying to find the pills while being helped by his father Sid and the rest of the gang. Meanwhile the staff of the hospital carry on a collection of less-than-subtle and sordid affairs behind closed doors.

With the 1970's came the gradual end of the Carry On series of films that had run since the 1950's and, although the seventies had one or two that were genuinely good, it also had a couple that barely reached the standard set by the poor sex "comedies" that were being mass produced by the UK during this decade. While Matron is not one of the latter, it certainly is not one the stronger films of the decade – although there are moments that are very enjoyable. The plot is pretty terrible and the robbery of pills fails to engage simply because it is so damn stupid from start to finish; I know it is a comedy but if ever a man was a less convincing woman than Kenneth Cope then I don't know who it would be – it is a problem that the lynch pin of the narrative is him passing himself off as a nurse. The subplots are actually better and the best scenes feature great witty interplay between series legends Williams, Hawtrey and Jacques. There are also some nice little additions such as Connor's waiting station master and little throwaway gags such as one of the wards being known as "The Bunn Ward"! These aspects threw up the odd laugh but anytime it fell back to the central narrative it tended to be weak and just be a series of obvious jokes and clumsy chases/pratfalls.

The cast are pretty good if they have the material – in particular the trio of Jacques, Williams and Hawtrey. Scott has a basic role but is quite entertaining in his last appearance in the series but you do have to feel for Sid James who is dumped on the edge of the film with the weak plot to carry with little help from Bresslaw and Maynard. Windsor does her usual stuff but Cope is poor from the start to finish and cannot do anything with the silly narrative and pratfalls. Sims has little to do but it is nice to have as many of the faces as possible in the film.

Overall this is an average entry in the series; the plot is weak and can't provide much in the way of structure or laughs but the subplots provide some classic moments and some good material for the cast members lucky enough to get it. There are much worse films in the series than this one but there are much, much better ones as well; fans of the series will enjoy the classic moments and be patient with the rest, but it is unlikely that this film will be the one to win converts to the series.