Carry on England (1976)

Director:

Gerald Thomas

Writers:

David Pursall (screenplay) and
Jack Seddon (screenplay)

Release Date:

October 1976 (UK)

Genre:

Comedy | War

Tagline:

It's the biggest bang of the war

Plot:

Captain S. Melly takes over as the new Commanding Officer at an experimental mixed sex air defence base...

Plot Keywords:

Sequel | Carry On | Independent Film

Cast

Kenneth Connor	...	Captain S. Melly
Windsor Davies	...	Sergeant-Major 'Tiger' Bloomer
Judy Geeson	...	Sergeant Tilly Willing
Patrick Mower	...	Sergeant Len Able
Jack Douglas	...	Bombardier Ready
Joan Sims	...	Private Jennifer Ffoukes-Sharpe
Melvyn Hayes	...	Gunner Shorthouse
Peter Butterworth	...	Major Carstairs
Peter Jones	...	Brigadier
Diane Langton	...	Private Alice Easy
Julian Holloway	...	Major Butcher
David Lodge	...	Captain Bull
Larry Dann	...	Gunner Shaw
Brian Osborne	...	Gunner Owen
Johnny Briggs	...	Melly's Driver

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

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

Filming Locations:

Burnham Beeches, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company:

Rank Organisation, The

Trivia:

An early publicity campaign, pitched to the Rank Organisation, claimed that the film would star Kenneth Williams, Carol Hawkins and Penelope Keith (all of whom declined roles) as well as Adrienne Posta, James Bolam, Ian Lavender, Susan Penhaligon and Anne Aston (none of whom were eventually cast).

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When the toggle on the gun is pulled back that supposedly injures Captain S. Melly's fingers, it doesn't actually make contact with them.

Quotes:

Sgt. Tilly Willing: Alice, I don't think I can hold this pose much longer. I'll get a cramp.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Carry on Snogging (1998) (TV)

Painful experience

Unable to raise a few laughs, CARRY ON ENGLAND is the swan song of the serie. Even afterwards, CARRY ON EMMANUELLE or/and COLOMBUS made it too painful to live through.

The screenplay is simply non-existent, just a symptom of one. The lead characters are poor. The cinematography is plain Tv-movie like. The routine is based on trousers taken off, shoutings, lovemaking then trousers taken off, shoutings, lovemaking then, oh, I forgot, some breasts quickly shown. Simply NOT FUNNY.

Joan Sims has a ridiculous part and it's real shame, being the only decent actress all around. Judy Geeson is awfully bad, giving the worst performance of her career with Norman J Warren's INSEMINOID. Peter Rogers & Gerald Thomas were incapable of finding a new breath in the Carry On serie : the new actors just don't work together and the screenwriters (they were two!!!) just try to put some rehash of some stuff made years ago and way much better.

I really missed Hattie Jacques, Kenneth Williams, Barbara Windsor and the whole bunch. They were worth watching any Carry On even though the screenplays were really poor, like in CARRY ON AT YOUR CONVENIENCE. But I guess everything has an end, but this one is really painful to watch. My fast forward button still remember it!

If you want to try something really funny, then get CARRY ON MATRON or CARRY ON UP THE KHYBER, these are are true gems. But you can pass that one.

2/10