Carry on England (1976)

Captain S. Melly takes over as the new Commanding Officer at an experimental mixed sex air defence base. It's 1940 and England is under heavy bombardment, but the crew seem more interested ... See full summary »

Director:

Gerald Thomas

Writers:

David Pursall (screenplay), Jack Seddon (screenplay)

Stars:

Kenneth Connor, Windsor Davies, Judy Geeson

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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

Storyline

Captain S. Melly takes over as the new Commanding Officer at an experimental mixed sex air defence base. It's 1940 and England is under heavy bombardment, but the crew seem more interested in each other than the enemy planes above. Captain Melly plans to put a stop to all this, and becomes the target of a campaign to abandon his separatist ideals...

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Plot Keywords:

sequel | carry on | independent film

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Taglines:

It's the biggest bang of the war

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Genres:

Comedy | War

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Details

Official Sites:

Carry On Line

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 November 1976 (USA)

Also Known As:

Antaa mennä Englanti

Filming Locations:

Burnham Beeches, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

£220,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Rank Organisation, The

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White (archive footage in closing scenes) Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

There was ongoing correspondence between producer Peter Rogers and the actor's union Equity about lunch breaks during filming.

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Goofs

When the Sergeant Major Bloomer sounds the wake up call in Melly's hut, the Sergeant Major's rope on his uniform is on his right shoulder. But in the next shot when he is shouting at Sgt. Len Able, the rope is on his left shoulder.

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Quotes

[hysterical laughter]
Capt. S. Melly: What are you laughing at?
Pvt. Murray: Well, I'm happy Sir.
Capt. S. Melly: Happy? What, here?

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Connections

Follows Carry on Cabby (1963)

User Reviews

Everyone knows by now that the series should not have tried to Carry On as long as it did.

Carry On England is a massive disappointment, mainly due to the lack of that feeling of comfortable familiarity that many of the other entries had. It's not the very worst of the lot but it's pretty bad and the laughs are few and far between.

Gerald Thomas directs, as ever, but it's now the turn of David Pursall and Jack Seddon to provide a below-par screenplay. The plot concerns an uptight captain (Kenneth Connor) who is given the job of running an experimental mixed sex air defence base. This, of course, means that everyone is trying to snog each other while the captain tries to stop them. And that's it really. It all feels a nit like Police Academy, except there are fewer laughs.

Few of the proper Carry On stalwarts are here. There's Connor and Joan Sims but that's about it. Peter Butterworth is on screen but it's a very minor role. Windsor Davies returns, after his turn in Carry On Behind, and does even better this time round (well, it's a sergeant-major role that's more suited to him anyway) but that good work is undone by Patrick Mower being decidedly uncharismatic, Jack Douglas getting far too much time to show off his irritating tics and tourettes schtick, Melvyn Hayes not doing all that much at all and Judy Geeson looking pretty but not really adding any other value.

More a character comedy than a gag-a-minute film, this movie needed characters that you wanted to enjoy spending time with. It didn't have them and that's the biggest problem. It's still much better than the movie that would follow on from it (Carry On Emmannuelle).