Carry on England

One of my favourite Carry on films. Yes, it is silly but then all the carry on franchise is silly. Kids love them but don't understand the double entendres, adults love them but don't appreciate the silliness. You kind of grow out of them. This one still has me roaring and using quotes out of it 30 years after I roared at it as a kid. Can't say the same for earlier ones. Windsor Davies and Kenneth Connor make a great team. I think it's a shame that it gets the poor reviews it gets just because the old team, Sid James, Charles Hawtry, Barbara Windsor, Bernard Bresslaw to name a few not in it but in the same respect, I only like James Bond starring Roger Moore because that was my era but my partner prefers Sean Connery because that was his era. Horses for courses I say.

By the time the 'Carry On' series had got to this point all subtlety had been lost as had most of the regular cast. Only Kenneth Connor and Joan Simms appear here and the latter had a relatively small role. Connor plays Captain S. Melly who has just being given command of an anti-aircraft battery; he has a couple of problems however; it is a mixed squad whose personnel would rather be enjoying each others company than preparing to take on the Luftwaffe and they don't have a real gun. The film follows Melly and his Sergeant Major as they attempt to train the squad as well as trying to keep them out of each other's huts. I was expecting this to be much worse when I saw how few of the regular cast were present… that isn't to say it is good; it just isn't terrible either. Connor does a decent job as Melly and Windsor Davies is great as Sergeant-Major 'Tiger' Bloomer even if the character is to all intents and purposes the same one he played in 'It Ain't Half Hot Mum' as he spends most of the time shouting and turning bright red. There are a few funny moments but many of the jokes are too puerile; thinking the aircraft name 'Fokker' is funny because it sounds like an obscenity is the sort of thing that would seem amusing to somebody in primary school but not to anybody much older. There were also a couple of topless scenes that seemed out of place in a Carry On film; the series was better when the humour was a little naughty without being blatantly smutty. I wouldn't recommend going out of ones way to watch this; if you want a good comedy set in war time Britain just watch an episode or two of 'Dad's Army'… they have far more laughs and actually feel as though they are set during war time.

There was an urban myth doing the rounds back in the seventies that this film was part-financed by the Beatles' Apple Corps company. If that is the case, then the fab four must have ingested more dodgy chemicals than anyone would have thought possible, because this is as bad as it gets. Patrick Mower and Judy Geeson are to comedy acting what sealions are to light engineering, and every moment they're on screen you'll want to hide behind the furniture. Kenneth Connor has little to do that isn't embarrassing in some way (his impersonation of a Nazi plane has to be one of the most cringe-making moments in the history of cinema) and the few loyal Carry On team members who could be bothered to turn up for this lazy, crude, shambolic outing are thrown away in cameo parts. The only part that raised a smile with me was Diane Langton attempting to operate the steering mechanism on the anti-aircraft gun, only to be thwarted by her protuberant bosom. Then Peter Jones, whose lines are intentionally awful but rendered even worse by his drab playing, completely kills the scene with his comment about "keeping abreast of the situation". One can only dream of what Talbot Rothwell (the screenwriter who bowed out of the series two years before) would have had Sidney James saying about this seaside postcard scenario...

Poor entry in the Carry on Series, and perfectly justifies the decision to stop making them a few years later. Kenneth Connor as Major S Melly (need I say more), is appointed to an AA gunnery battery in the middle of nowhere and finds that the enlisted men,(and women) are more concerned with satisfying their own carnal desires than defending the old country from invaders. Everything about this movie is wrong, from the fact that only 4 or 5 of our regulars are here and a plot so weak it must have been written on single ply toilet paper (which would explain a lot). In fact the movie was that bad, it was the first,(and to the best of my knowledge only) Carry On film to be withdrawn from Cinemas due to poor audience figures. Joan Sims is there only to give a link to the past and is sad to see her so bloated and overweight. Peter Butterworth does manage to raise a chuckle with his two-faced praise of his drole CO. Jack Douglas is as always annoying and I fail to find a single funny thing he did in his entire carry on career. The Great Windsor Davies re-creates his role as the tough talking Sgt Major from 'It Ain't Half Hot Mum' who along with Melvyn Hayes,(his co-star Hot Mum) are the only non-regulars to give performances worthy of the Carry On name. Praise must be given to Kenneth Connor in his first leading role since the early B&W days of the series, he makes the most of the script he was given and turns in a fine comedic performance rather than rely on the naff one liners called for in the script. As always, Connor does well and troops along regardless (Ironically Connor was in fact a Gunner in the Army during WWII.) The less said about Judy Geeson and Patrick Mower the better. This movie was a mistake from it's planning to it's release and is a tragic inclusion to an illustrious series of films.

Carry on England is really clutching at straws, this one actually has more of the greats like: Kenneth Connor, Joan Sims, Peter Butterworth, Windsor Davies and Jack Douglas but their characters are just so poor it's pathetic to watch. The story is terrible and I almost fell asleep several times, they also upped the sexual content as well, which I'm not against (I'm not a Puritan) but it's just unnecessary if there's no joke behind it. The jokes are awful. 1/10: Will leave a bad taste in your mouth, probably best to avoid this one on the boxset

This is yes the worst film of the Carry On series(I have not seen Emmanuelle)but the standard is so high it was not going to be possible to match it with no SID JAMES no KENNETH WILLIAMS no CHARLES HAWTREY no JIM DALE no BERNARD BRESSLAW no BARBARA WINDSOR no TERRY SCOTT etc but the remaining cast of JOAN SIMS, KENNETH CONNOR, PETER BUTTERWORTH, JACK DOUGLAS,WINDSOR DAVIES and a few others like PATRICK MOWER, PETER JONES, JUDY GEESON etc make this a good comedy and a great one compared to some of the crap that comes out nowadays. It is nothing compared to the carry on films before it but it is still a good addition and PETER ROGERS and GERALD THOMAS have done a great job with the cast they have been given

I made the effort to watch it, I felt I should have had something out of the experience, committing an hour and a half of my time to it. what a total and utter disaster of a movie. They should really have finished once they completed Carry on Behind, the last really great movie in the series. A huge shame for Joan Sims, she had the best pedigree coming into it, and she was appallingly served, what a waste of her talent. Patrick Mower and Judy Geeson were a total shambles, neither should have been cast, no timing, no humour, coupled with the pathetic script they were all doomed. The best element had to be Windsor Davies, well suited to the role, the only one in it that got me to crack half a smile 2/10 They should have stopped half way through, too many faces missing, the moment had passed.

This movie is no masterpiece, by any stretch of the imagination, but it has been unfairly maligned for quite a while and I'd like to use my two-pennies to defend it. The Carry On series has provided some fantastic films (Up the Khyber, Cowboy, etc.) and to say that England is one of the worst in the series is probably fair. But it still remains a reasonable comedy with some funny moments, and some good performances, perfect fodder for a rainy saturday afternoon. If you want to see the worst Carry On, check out the diabolical Carry On Emmanuelle. If, however, you want an easy laugh or two, the this is a definite contender. 6/10.

Rubbish! Absolute rubbish! The Carry Ons were really running out of steam here, and all that can be said in favour of this one is that it isn't as bad as the next one, Carry On Emmannuelle. Too many new faces, the few remaining old hands completely wasted, too many actors known from TV appearing here in their TV roles. Too much nudity. The Carry Ons work best when they suggest and joke about sex. This is painful, and should be avoided.

Don't take this the wrong way, I really like the Carry On movies but this movie was awful. First of all, the film looks fairly cheap, no really clever costumes and sets as far as I could see. And I actually found the music annoying in alternative to quirky, and the direction was sloppy, complete with messy pacing. The dialogue is not funny, the gags are poorly timed, the story isn't there and the actors really struggle with the material(no wonder). Kenneth Connor has been great in a number of Carry Ons, but that was when he was supporting. I found him bland here, and Peter Butterworth looks bored. Joan Sims is wasted, and I just missed Sidney James(who sadly passed away), Kenneth Williams and Charles Hawtrey, these guys even with superficial material always seemed to know what they were doing. Overall, a complete mess, with the fact that it is quite short being pretty much the only redeeming quality. 1/10 Bethany Coz