Carry on Girls (1973)

Director:

Gerald Thomas

Writer:

Talbot Rothwell (writer)

Release Date:

November 1973 (UK)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

When it comes to Beauty Queens - it's carry on and bust!

Plot:

Local councillor Sidney Fiddler persuades the Mayor to help improve the image of their rundown seaside town by holding a beauty contest...

Plot Keywords:

Beauty Contest | Bikini Girls | Sexual Joke | Reference To Dracula | Catfight

Cast

Sid James	...	Sidney Fiddler (as Sidney James)
Barbara Windsor	...	Hope Springs
Joan Sims	...	Connie Philpotts
Kenneth Connor	...	Mayor Frederick Bumble
Bernard Bresslaw	...	Peter Potter
June Whitfield	...	Augusta Prodworthy / Paula Perkins (voice)
Peter Butterworth	...	Admiral
Jack Douglas	...	William
Patsy Rowlands	...	Mildred Bumble
Joan Hickson	...	Mrs. Dukes
David Lodge	...	Police Inspector
Valerie Leon	...	Paula Perkins
Margaret Nolan	...	Dawn Brakes
Sally Geeson	...	Debra
Angela Grant	...	Miss Bangor

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:L | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (video rating) | Australia:PG | Singapore:NC-16

Filming Locations:

Brighton, East Sussex, England, UK

Company:

Rank Organisation, The

Trivia:

Renee Houston was cast as Mrs Dukes but ill health caused her contract to be cancelled, so Joan Hickson took over her role.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Obvious stunt double when Hope Springs drives off the pier on the motorbike to catch up with Sid who is ahead on the go-cart.

Quotes:

Connie Philpotts: Hello, Mrs. Dukes, I thought you were going to the cinema.
Mrs. Dukes: I did, but I had to leave. A young man sat next to me and started to make improper suggestions.
Connie Philpotts: Again? Really, you should complain to the manager.
Mrs. Dukes: I can't - he's after me too, you see!
Connie Philpotts: Well, Mrs. Dukes, perhaps you shouldn't make yourself look quite so attractive.
Mrs. Dukes: Oh it's not that, I can't help it. I give out waves, you know.
Connie Philpotts: Really?
Mrs. Dukes: Yes, my late husband used to call it OOMPH!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Cor, Blimey! (2000) (TV)

An old formular rejuvenated

Despite that fact that this film was one of the last Carry On's to be made and the classic jokes and gags were rather tired by now, for some reason they seem especially funny. There is nothing very different from this carry on film to the countless others, except for the fact this time the material seemed to really work, even though everyone knows the jokes. This Carry On adventure is set in an English seaside town. Kenneth Connor is the rather inebriated town Mayor, with Sid James (in his usual character type) and June Whitfield (the mother in Absolutely Fabulous) on the committee. It has come to the committee's attention that the town is losing tourists and something must be done. Sid cracks the idea of holding a Beauty contests and soon all the leggy birds that 1973 could offer were swanning down to the sea-side Hotel owned by Joan Sims. And of course that's where the fun starts - a Hotel taken over by scantily-clad women being chased by dirty old men, etc. More fuel is added to fire by June Whitfield who plays a feminist assisted by a women who looks like a member of the Hitler Boy Youth (intentional, I take it). This is one of the funniest Carry On films, and one of the best to view.