Carry on Up the Jungle (1970)

User Rating:

5.6/10   

Director:

Gerald Thomas

Writer:

Talbot Rothwell (screenplay)

Release Date:

March 1970 (UK)

Genre:

Adventure | Comedy

Tagline:

Who were you expecting . . . the galloping gourmet?

Plot:

The Carry On team send up the Tarzan tradition in great style. Lady Evelyn Bagley mounts an expedition to find her long-lost baby...

Plot Keywords:

Carry On | Sequel | Amazon Tribe | Africa | Witch Doctor

Cast

Frankie Howerd	...	Professor Inigo Tinkle
Sid James	...	Bill Boosey (as Sidney James)
Charles Hawtrey	...	Tonka the Great / Walter Bagley
Joan Sims	...	Lady Evelyn Bagley
Terry Scott	...	Ugh, the Jungle Boy
Kenneth Connor	...	Claude Chumley
Bernard Bresslaw	...	Upsidaisi
Jacki Piper	...	June
Valerie Leon	...	Leda
Reuben Martin	...	Gorilla
Edwina Carroll	...	Nerda
Valerie Moore	...	Lubi Lieutenant
Cathi March	...	Lubi Lieutenant
Danny Daniels	...	Nosha Chief
Yemi Ajibadi	...	Witch Doctor (as Yemi Ajibade)

Also Known As:

Carry on Jungleboy (UK) (working title)
Carry on Up the Congo
Carry on Up the Jungle or Show Me Your Waterhole and I'll Show You Mine (Australia) (poster title)
Carry on Up the Jungle or the African Queens or Stop Beating About the Bush or Show Me Your Waterhole and I'll Show You Mine (UK) (complete title)

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:L | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (video rating) | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Fulmer, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company:

Rank Organisation, The

Trivia:

Legend says that the jungle scenes were filmed in Kew Gardens, London. In fact, they were all filmed at Pinewood Studios, the same place all the "Carry On..." films were made.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the scenes June appears before she meets Jungle Boy, she clearly wears glasses. In the scenes which she appears after that, she doesn't.

Quotes:

Lady Evelyn Bagley: There is my reputation to think of. You would need to be very circumspect.
Prof. Inigo Tinkle: Oh, I was! When I was a baby!

Movie Connections:

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

Amusing mix of crude joking but a bit average not very inspired

Speaking to an audience of keen bird watchers, Professor Ingio Tinkle tells the story of his latest exhibition into the African jungle. Part of a party led by adventurer Bill Boosey, Tinkle and his colleagues (including Lady Bagley and her maid) are on their quest to find the Oozalum bird when they come under threat from a ruthless tribe and their guides refuse to continue with them. However things become more complicated when the group are discovered by a man of the jungle who was raised by monkeys and has never seen other men (or women!) before.

As one would expect with a Carry On film, this is full of innuendo, sexist and occasionally racist humour with a very vague plot to set it all within. Needless to say this film continues the trend and it isn't long before the plot (something about finding the Oozalum bird) is lost in a sea of bed swapping, mistaken partners and innuendo. For fans it is funny but it is nowhere near the best of the series as none of it is really that clever – most of the gags are obvious and, although amusing, few made me laugh out loud and they didn't feel like there was any inspiration behind them. Modern audiences may find the sexist stuff a bit uncomfortable but to be honest, what did you expect from a Carry On film? There is a touch of racism although this too can be forgiven as a product of the period – although it is not as direct as you'd think, instead it is implied by the rubber lipped tribesmen and the fact that only white people are allowed to speak (the main 'black' character is Bresslaw!) or by having the women tribe be mostly white or light skinned – because 1970's audiences weren't ready for the sight of a white man having sex with a black woman (even implied). However the one racial joke I thought was clever was Sid James wondering why the same guide gets accidentally shot every time (the point being that it isn't the same one!).

The cast feature most of the regulars who are good enough comedians to be able to work with even this average material. Sid James does his usual stuff; Howerd has some very nice lines that hint at his sexual orientation although Connor is a bit flat when viewed next to him. Terry Scott is OK but has the least role of the film (although it is amusing that he stars with a character called June). The women have the usual short stick but both Sims and Piper are quite good. Hawtrey is funny in a late role that also plays with this physical appearance and sexual orientation. Bresslaw is stuck in yet another 'black face' role – why he is always picked I don't know. The support cast are mostly black clichés but, even 25 years on the Lubi tribe look very, very sexy!

Overall this is pretty much par for the course for Carry On films and it will only really please fans. The broad humour lacks actual wit even if it is funny in a crude fashion but it is far from being consistently funny and it is fairly average as the series goes. Those in the mood for this type of humour will enjoy it but the humour is too broad and too badly structured to really be funny or witty.