Carry on, Constable (1960)

Director:

Gerald Thomas

Writers:

Norman Hudis (screenplay)
Brock Williams (idea)

Release Date:

9 January 1961 (Sweden)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

Tha hilarious "Carry On' team in their newest laughter hit! [Australian poster]

Plot:

With a flu epidemic running rife, three new bumbling recruits are assigned to Inspector Mills police station...

Plot Keywords:

Police | Sergeant | Carry On | Detective Sergeant | Dog

Cast

Sid James	...	Sgt. Frank Wilkins (as Sidney James)
Eric Barker	...	Inspector Mills
Kenneth Connor	...	PC Charlie Constable
Charles Hawtrey	...	PC Timothy Gorse
Kenneth Williams	...	PC Stanley Benson
Leslie Phillips	...	PC Tom Potter
Joan Sims	...	WPC. Gloria Passworthy
Hattie Jacques	...	Sgt. Laura Moon
Shirley Eaton	...	Sally Barry
Cyril Chamberlain	...	Thurston
Joan Hickson	...	Mrs. May
Irene Handl	...	Distraught Mother
Terence Longdon	...	Herbert Hall
Jill Adams	...	WPC Harrison
Freddie Mills	...	Jewel Thief
Brian Oulton	...	Store Manager
Victor Maddern	...	Detective Sgt. Liddell
Joan Young	...	Suspect
Esma Cannon	...	Deaf Old Lady
Hilda Fenemore	...	Agitated Woman
Noel Dyson	...	Vague Woman (as Noël Dyson)
Tom Gill	...	Citizen
Frank Forsyth	...	Citizen
John Antrobus	...	Citizen
Robin Ray	...	Assistant Manager
Michael Balfour	...	Matt
Diane Aubrey	...	Honoria
Ian Curry	...	Eric
Mary Law	...	Shop Assistant
Lucy Griffiths	...	Miss Horton
Eric Corrie	...	Citizen
Peter Bennett	...	Pickpocket
Jack Taylor	...	Cliff
Eric Boon	...	Shorty
Dorinda Stevens	...	Young Woman
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ken Kennedy	...	Wall-Eyed Man
Ronald Adam	...	Motorist (uncredited)
Jeremy Connor	...	Willie - Boy in Street (uncredited)
Tom Cubitt	...	Jeweller (uncredited)
Arnold Diamond	...	Chief Constable (voice) (uncredited)
Tex Fuller	...	Van Man (uncredited)
Colin Gordon	...	(uncredited)
Mary Jones	...	Radio Actress (voice) (uncredited)
Janetta Lake	...	Girl with Dog (uncredited)
Alfred Pim	...	Newsvendor (uncredited)
Anthony Sagar	...	Angry Customer (uncredited)
Bruce Seton	...	(uncredited)
Charles Stanley	...	Newspaper Man (uncredited)
Frederick Treves	...	Radio Announcer (voice) (uncredited)
Margaret St. Barbe West	...	2nd Shop Assistant (uncredited)
Ian Wilson	...	(uncredited)

Directed by
Gerald Thomas

Writing credits
Norman Hudis		(screenplay)
Brock Williams		(idea)

Produced by
Peter Rogers	....	producer

Original Music by
Bruce Montgomery

Cinematography by
Edward Scaife		(director of photography) (as Ted Scaife)

Film Editing by
John Shirley

Casting by
Betty White

Art Direction by
Carmen Dillon

Makeup Department
George Blackler	....	makeup artist
Stella Rivers	....	hairdressing
Eddie Knight	....	makeup artist (uncredited)

Production Management
Frank Bevis	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Peter Manley	....	assistant director
Ray Freeborn	....	third assistant director (uncredited)
Eric Rattray	....	second assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Vernon Dixon	....	set dressing

Sound Department
Bill Daniels	....	sound recordist
Robert T. MacPhee	....	sound recordist
Les Wiggins	....	sound editor (as Leslie Wiggins)

Camera and Electrical Department
Alan Hume	....	camera operator
George Courtney Ward	....	still photographer (uncredited)
Kenneth J. Withers	....	focus puller (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Yvonne Caffin	....	dress designer

Editorial Department
Jim Sibley	....	assistant editor (uncredited)

Music Department
Bruce Montgomery	....	music director

Other crew
Joan Davis	....	continuity
Jean Hall	....	production secretary (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Peter Rogers Productions (as A Peter Rogers Production)

Distributors

• Anglo-Amalgamated Film Distributors (1960) (UK) (theatrical)
• Governor Films (1961) (USA) (theatrical)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• Umbrella Entertainment (2011) (Australia) (DVD)
• Umbrella Entertainment (2011) (Australia) (video) (VOD)
• Warner Home Video (1988) (UK) (VHS)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

86 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:G | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | UK:U (passed with cuts)

Filming Locations:

Alacross Road, Ealing, London, England, UK

Company:

Peter Rogers Productions

Trivia:

The role of Sergeant Wilkins was intended for Ted Ray following his work on Carry on Teacher (1959). However Ray was unable to commit owing to contractual problems. Chic Murray was considered, before Sid James started his full-time membership of the Carry On... team.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Sgt. Wilkins and P.C. Thurston go on patrol in the police car, it's registration number varies between scenes, from 892FPC to UUV133.

Quotes:

Mrs. May:[drunkenly] As a connoisseur of police personalities, let me state that I have never before been arrested with such charm. Never! I salute her!

Movie Connections:

Featured in "The Many Faces of...: Sid James (#2.3)" (2013)

Man slipping on a banana skin

Any Briton old enough to remember the sixties and seventies, and those younger Britons with an interest in the history of British comedy or the British cinema, will have a good idea of what a "Carry On" film involves- bawdy, seaside-postcard humour revolving around sex, with plenty of jokes involving sexual puns, innuendoes and doubles entendres. The cast will include several voluptuous, scantily-dressed dolly birds, one of whom will always be played by Barbara Windsor, and most or all of the following:-

A dirty old man (generally played by Sid James) A supercilious and slightly camp character (Kenneth Williams) A weedy, ineffectual and more-than-slightly camp character (Charles Hawtrey, or occasionally Frankie Howerd) A formidable, physically unattractive old battleaxe (Joan Sims or Hattie Jacques, or occasionally both) A straight man (Jim Dale)

The above description would fit most of the later entries, those from the late sixties or seventies, but in fact the series dates back to 1958 and the earlier entries are rather different in tone. The first three "Carry Ons" from the fifties lampooned national institutions- the Army, the National Health Service and the education system- and "Carry On Constable" did the same for the police. It was the first of the series to be released in the sixties, but the "Swinging Sixties" did not necessarily begin to swing on 1st January 1960, and in the early part of the decade permissiveness was still in short supply. This was a time when Sid James had not yet become a dirty old man (at least not as far as his screen persona was concerned), when Joan Sims was still slim and attractive, when nobody had heard of Barbara Windsor and when "Carry On" humour was still relatively clean and decent rather than suggestive.

The basic idea for the film- a group of incompetent recruits joining the police- is similar to that of the later long-running American "Police Academy" franchise. Five new officers straight from training school arrive at police station which is severely understaffed due to a flu epidemic. They are, to say the least, a mixed bunch. PC Stanley Benson (a typical Kenneth Williams character) is a pompous would-be intellectual with his own eccentric theories about criminology. PC Charles Constable, whose surname makes him the butt of several jokes, is gloomy and absurdly superstitious. PC Tom Potter is a suave but lecherous upper-class cad (like most characters played by Leslie Phillips, both in the "Carry On" series and elsewhere, even though Phillips himself was from a working-class background). Special Constable Timothy Gorse (like most characters played by Charles Hawtrey) is the camp and ineffectual one. The only capable member of the team is the only woman, WPC Gloria Passworthy.

Compared to most of the later "Carry Ons", this one has very little smutty humour, although it was the first to include some nudity. (Male, very brief, and not full-frontal). Much of the humour is character- based, and the scriptwriters are able to get some mileage out of the characters played by Williams and Connor. Williams plays the sort of arrogant know-all who never allows his pet theories to be disturbed by inconvenient facts; he believes that his knowledge of physiognomy enables him to tell at a glance which people are honest and which are criminals, and his belief is not in the least affected by the fact that he is invariably proved wrong. Constable Constable is so superstitious that he allows both his professional work and his love-life to be governed by his horoscope, and is terrified of dogs because they are "the symbol of Pluto, darkest and most evil of the planets".

Not all the characters are so successful. Phillips's posh playboy and Hawtrey's effete weakling arouse a "seen it all before" feeling, and, unfortunately, too many of the attempts at humour derive from some very unoriginal slapstick or tired old routines- a man being knocked into a pond by a boisterous dog, an old lady being helped across the road against her will by an over-enthusiastic policeman, etc. There was even a "man slipping on a banana skin" gag, something that would have been a bit corny even in 1860, never mind 1960. Perhaps this explains why the "Carry On" scriptwriters were so keen to embrace sexual humour as soon as the relaxation of censorship would allow it. Those bawdy puns which make us groan today probably seemed quite fresh and original in the sixties- certainly more so than banana-skin jokes. 5/10