Carry on Pimpernel
(1966)
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Carry on Pimpernel
(1966)
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| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
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Sid James | ... |
Sir Rodney Ffing /
The Black Fingernail
(as Sidney James)
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Kenneth Williams | ... | |
| Jim Dale | ... | ||
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Charles Hawtrey | ... | |
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Peter Butterworth | ... | |
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Joan Sims | ... | |
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Dany Robin | ... | |
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Peter Gilmore | ... | |
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Marianne Stone | ... |
Landlady
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Michael Ward | ... |
Henri
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Leon Greene | ... | |
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David Davenport | ... |
Sergeant
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Richard Shaw | ... |
Captain of Soldiers
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Valerie Van Ost | ... |
Second Lady /
Girl at Execution
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Jennifer Clulow | ... |
First Lady
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The time of the French revolution, and Citizen Robespierre is beheading the French aristocracy. When word gets to England, two noblemen, Sir Rodney Ffing and Lord Darcy take it upon themselves to aid there French counterparts. Sir Rodney is a master of disguise, and becomes "the black fingernail", scourge of Camembert and Bidet, leaders of the French secret police... Written by Simon N. McIntosh-Smith <Simon.N.Smith@cs.cf.ac.uk>
CARRY ON DON'T LOSE YOUR HEAD was made at the peak of the popularity of the Carry On films, where they could afford to splash out on lavish sets, costumes and locations in movies set in various historical eras. It's a pretty typical entry in the film series, and not the most appealing one I've seen; by now, at least half of the jokes were feeling quite stale, to me, and not a patch on the CARRY ONs of seven, eight years before.
That being said, there's still much to enjoy here, and aficionados of the films will be in their element. A delightfully weaselly Kenneth Williams camps it up as Citizen Camembert, Robespierre's right-hand man whose job it is to outwit the Black Fingernail, a masked folk hero who keeps on freeing aristocrats from the guillotine.
Sid James bags the role of the Fingernail and appears to be in his element, with plenty of his trademark dirty laughter and energy to spare. He's supported by a virtually wasted Jim Dale, whose role seems to be entirely redundant, and Joan Sims in one of those nagging wife type roles she always seemed to occupy in later years. The best cast members are Charles Hawtrey as the fey Duc de Pommfrit and Peter Butterworth as the befuddled Citizen Bidet.
The gags set in and around the guillotine are by far my favourite parts of this movie, although there's a rousing and elaborate sword-fight at the climax to get your teeth into. CARRY ON DON'T LOSE YOUR HEAD also contains one of my favourite gags of all time: Hawtrey is brought a letter just as he's about to be beheaded, and he tells the messenger to drop it into the basket where he'll "read it later". Class stuff.