Follow That Camel (1967)

Director:

Gerald Thomas

Writer:

Talbot Rothwell (screenplay)

Genre:

Adventure | Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

You'll laugh up a (sand) storm when the "Carry-On" Gang invade the Sa(her)a

Plot:

A bogus legionaire proves his mettle during an arab attack.

Plot Keywords:

Legionnaire | Foreign Legion | Carry On | Historical | Sequel

Cast

Phil Silvers	...	Sergeant Nocker
Kenneth Williams	...	Commandant Maximilian Burger
Jim Dale	...	Bertram Oliphant 'Bo' West
Charles Hawtrey	...	Captain Le Pice
Joan Sims	...	Zig-Zig
Angela Douglas	...	Lady Jane Ponsonby
Peter Butterworth	...	Simpson
Bernard Bresslaw	...	Sheikh Abdul Abulbul
Anita Harris	...	Corktip
John Bluthal	...	Corporal Clotski
William Mervyn	...	Sir Cyril Ponsonby
Peter Gilmore	...	Captain Humphrey Bagshaw
Julian Holloway	...	Ticket Collector
Larry Taylor	...	Riff
William Hurndell	...	Raff

Also Known As:

Carry On... Follow That Camel (UK) (reissue title)
Carry on in the Legion (USA)

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:A (original rating) (passed with cuts) | UK:PG (video rating) (1987)

Filming Locations:

Camber Sands, Camber, East Sussex, England, UK

Company:

Adder

Trivia:

During the desert food scene - most of the food went off after three days of filming and the rest had to be sprayed with a preservative.

Goofs:

Continuity: A group of legionnaires are seen approaching the camera. Their shadows are to their left on the right side of the screen. They are next seen with their backs to the camera. Their shadows are now to their right on the right side of the screen.

Quotes:

Abdul: The Prophet has truly said. The behaviour of the white infidels is like blood coming from a stone. Bleedin' mystery.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Can We Carry On, Girls? (2001) (TV)

FOLLOW THAT CAMEL (Gerald Thomas, 1967) ***

I wasn't really expecting much out of this "Carry On" spoof on Foreign Legion films – but it turned out to be a highly agreeable entry in the long-running series. Unusually for them, the film-makers went for an American lead in the person of Phil Silvers – then again, his Sgt. Nocker here was directly inspired by the latter's popular Sgt. Bilko characterization (which originated on TV); actually, the clash of comedy styles works surprisingly well here.

Most of the series stalwarts are on hand – Kenneth Williams as German fort commandant Burger (with matching short hair); Charles Hawtrey as Captain Le Pice(!); Jim Dale as Beau West(!), a dishonored Englishman who joins the legion (accompanied by loyal valet Peter Butterworth) after losing girlfriend Angela Douglas; Bernard Bresslaw has one of his best roles as the flamboyant villainous sheik; and Joan Sims is Madam Zigzig, hostess of the local tavern. Anita Harris also makes an impression as a sultry belly-dancer.

Apart from the traditional desert-march-fraught-with-mirages sequence, there are a couple of delightful running gags here – the naïve Douglas (who decides to stick with Dale) is taken advantage of by several men on her journey to join her lover, and eventually ends in line to being made Bresslaw's 13th wife!; another involves the constant attempts to violently curtail the cock's heralding of each new day by the reluctant soldiers. This good-looking film – which actually anticipates the team's other outing with an exotic setting, the even better CARRY ON...UP THE KHYBER (1968) – is satisfyingly capped by an action-packed climax.