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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writer:
Talbot Rothwell (screenplay)
Release Date:
20 July 1970 (Denmark) more
Tagline:
Carry On laughing until you have hysterics, but...Don't Lose Your Head!
Plot:
The time of the French revolution, and Citizen Robespierre is beheading the French aristocracy. When word gets to England... more | add synopsis
User Comments:
Scarlet Pimpernel, ooh I say madame more (12 total)
Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only)| Sid James | ... | Sir Rodney Ffing / The Black Fingernail (as Sidney James) | |
| Kenneth Williams | ... | Citizen Camembert | |
| Jim Dale | ... | Lord Darcy Pue | |
| Charles Hawtrey | ... | Duc de Pommfrit | |
| Peter Butterworth | ... | Citizen Bidet | |
| Joan Sims | ... | Désirée Dubarry | |
| Dany Robin | ... | Jacqueline | |
| Peter Gilmore | ... | Citizen Robespierre | |
| Marianne Stone | ... | Landlady | |
| Michael Ward | ... | Henri | |
| Leon Greene | ... | Malabonce | |
| David Davenport | ... | Sergeant | |
| Richard Shaw | ... | Captain of Soldiers | |
| Valerie Van Ost | ... | Second Lady / Girl at Execution | |
| Jennifer Clulow | ... | First Lady |
Additional Details
Also Known As:
Carry On: Don't Lose Your Head (UK) (reissue title)
Carry on Don't Lose Your Head (UK) (reissue title)
Carry on Pimpernel (USA)
more
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
90 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Color (Eastmancolor)
Aspect Ratio:
1.66 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Certification:
Iceland:L | Australia:M | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (video rating) (1987)
Filming Locations:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
Jim Dale spoke out about the poor working conditions on the set, producer Peter Rogers was furious. more
Goofs:
Continuity: When the soldier slashes the priceless tapestry the cut marks differ between shots and then in a following shot the scene repeats again as a wide angle shot. more
Quotes:
[first lines]
Narrator:
Paris, 1789. The Great Revolution has begun. The hands of the masses are smeared with the blood of the poor bleeding aristocracy. Every day the tumbrels run a regular half-hour service between the Bastille and the many guillotines around the city. The growing mounds of noble heads are only matched by the growing mounds of unused return tickets...
more
Movie Connections:
Featured in Carry on Snogging (1998) (TV) more
Soundtrack:
Don't Lose Your Head more
FAQ
This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.more (12 total)
Message Boards
Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Don't Lose Your Head (1966)| Recent Posts (updated daily) | User |
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| best carry on | imcolfree |
| Mistake | karlshaw29 |
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| The Scarlet Pimpernel | Carry On... Up the Khyber | Carry on Dick | Follow That Camel | Carry on Again Doctor |
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Related Links
| Full cast and crew | Company credits | External reviews |
| IMDb Action section | IMDb UK section | Add this title to MyMovies |

Dandy fop Sir Rodney Effing has an alter ego, The Black Fingernail. A man, who along with his partner, Lord Darcy Pue, rescue French aristocrats from the clutches of the revolutionary police chief, Citizen Camembert.
Carry On producer Peter Rogers had severed his links with Anglo Amalgamated and swiftly signed up with Rank Organisation. Miffed at losing their number one cash franchise, and no doubt with a touch of petulance, Anglo's brass refused Rogers permission to using the "Carry On" prefix. Thus this picture was initially released as just "Don't Lose Your Head" in 1966. Eventually common sense prevailed, and this rightly became known as the 13th franchise entry as "Carry On Don't Lose Your Head" {tho the American release of it being called "Carry On Pimpernel" makes better sense one feels}.
Spoofing The Scarlet Pimpernel legacy with a ream of innuendo and double entendre's, the Carry On team deliver one of the better efforts from the series. This is in the main down to Talbot Rothwell's screenplay. Rothwell wrote the screenplay for 20 of the series efforts, he was someone who director and producer both trusted, and crucially that the cast also had faith in. Here his writing is excellent, if of course you be a fan of the saucy shenanigans that came with this particular part of British cinema that is? With characters called Citizen Camembert {refered to as the big cheese, get it?}, Duc de Pommfrit, Citizen Bidet and Sir Rodney Effing {yes that's two F's}, Rothwell lets loose with wave after wave of cheeky dialogue, all delivered with comic aplomb from the likes of Sid James, Joan Sims, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Jim Dale and the undervalued Peter Butterworth.
There's also a real good production from Rogers. Armed with £200,000, Rogers assembled a fine wardrobe of period costumes and hired out Clandon Hall, Cliveden House and Waddesdon Manor to give the story its 18th Century feel. It's also a film that asks of its stalwarts to do a little bit more than just say risqué lines and act the goat. Oh it's all still gaudy and simple in premise, for sure, but some nice swordplay and derring-do from the boys shouldn't go unnoticed. It of course is just like most of the others they made, a cheeky romp, but to me it's proof positive that the "Carry On" series had some crackers mixed in with the dregs. Sit back and romp with the rompers I say. 7.5/10