Carry on Venus

source: Carry on Venus

I have seen all of the Carry On's once and this one I did not remember by the title. Once I started watching it, it started out slow and Jim Dale only has a cameo. That's why I give it only a 9 out of 10. The plot has crew of the ship nabbing people for their crew. They get Bernanrd Cribbins, Juliet Mills and Charles Hawtrey. Juliet Mills takes Cribbins name so she can go to Spain and find the man she loves. He goes along with it and is taken to the brig for impersonating an officer. Kenneth Williams gives his second best performance on the entire collection of Carry On films in this film. He plays captain fearless and he is nothing but a coward. He gets sick at sea, he won't punish crew members and he avoids battles at sea. This leads to a mutiny and the main four are sent off in a small boat. Cribbins, Mills and Williams make this film so enjoyable. I cannot believe why they were not in more films. Juliet really looks attractive in her uniform. Cribbins did make two others that were not my favorites. This film also has very beautiful scenery which a lot of the others do not have. This is a very underrated film by most of the fans. Back to the film. The four manage to sneak back on the ship while it's docked. They take control and set sail. Juliet finds out she now loves Cribbins and he loves her as well. They are attacked by pirates and taken prisoner. The head pirate is Juliet's lost love. She agrees to be his if he lets the others live. Cribbins is able to defeat the pirates and he takes over for the ailing captain. They do surgery on his foot while the enemy destroys themselves and they get the credit for it. The final scenes shows them being congratulated. Kenneth gets a desk job and he's happy. Hawtrey says that's the second desk job he got this week. The camera pans down to show his foot was replaced by the foot of a desk. Solid movie and a great ending.

Watched this for the first time since I was 5 or 6 last night and it pre-dates Carry On's golden age and is a bit boring to be honest, okay I was watching it at midnight, but I dozed through the third quarter and considering I was wide awake and laughing out loud through an episode of the IT crowd at 1am the movie has to take some of the blame! The film struggles because most the carry on team are missing! Bernard Cribbins is hog tied by a bad script with few laughs. Not even the usually watchable Keneth Williams can spark much interest. In fact the best moments come from Jim Dale's cameo right at the start of the movie. His hilariously OTT west-country accent and plain charisma steal the movie. No wonder he became the leading man a few years later! Coming from Plymouth I did enjoy the opening scenes. there is a great line about Plymouthians later in the film. Jim Dale does a generic west country accent rather than a proper Plymouthian "Janner" accent which would've been amazing, but he's still the best thing in the movie. To summarise, awful script, few laughs, few carry on stars, too long. Sadly, you can watch the first 15 minutes and then turn it off safe in the knowledge that you've seen the best bits and its going down hill from here... I've given it 2/10 rather than 1/10 for Jim Dale's cameo. If you are looking for Carry On movies at their hilarious best then, try Carry on Sergeant, Cowboy, Cleo, Up the Kyber and Screaming. Pure British comedy gold, Don't let this turkey colour your judgement of a wonderful comedy institution.

Despite only having TWO (albeit the best two) regulars (Williams and Hawtrey) (Dale could not be considerd a regular at this point), this remains one of my favourites. Only Kenneth Williams could pull of the "Throw the book at him" joke. Likewise only the Carry On team could have a cow in tow on a ship without it being TOTALLY stupid. Despite lacking Sid James (possibly as the pirate?) this is very good!

This isn't the best of the carry-ons but its nowhere near the worst.There are only three of the regulars in Carry-On Jack,and they are Kenneth Williams,Charles Hawtrey and Jim Dale and if you can count Peter Gilmore as the fourth as he did appear in a few other Carry-Ons{Henry,Up The Kyhber,Cabby}in brief roles.However Carry-On Jack does have a splendid cast such as Juliet Mills,Bernard Cribbins,Patrick Cargill and some other famous faces from British cinema,who you will easily recognise.The jokes in this one are very few and far between although the idea of the whole story is amusing,a woman stealing an officers clothes so that she can impersonate him and run off to sea.The story is quite good and would be very amusing for kids,as it has the usual slapstick humour and also has battle scenes and pirates.This Carry-On is rarely seen on TV these days and is probably one of the first Carry-Ons to be made in colour.Id highly recommend this one for the under twelves,although its also mildly amusing if your an adult.

I have just watched my first two "Carry On" films: this one and Carry on Cleo. I am a big fan of Round the Horne, so I was overjoyed to find out that Kenneth Williams (whom I have never seen in real life- on film or TV, etc.) would be the star. However, I was disappointed with Carry on Jack; either it is because Williams doesn't have a very big part as he did in C.O. Cleo, or there was two much action and a very unfunny side plot (the first-mates or whoever plotting against the captain). As well, Albert Poopdecker wasn't as funny as I had hoped, as he was pretty much the main character. It was "Yeah, I see the humour." but wasn't laugh-out-loud stuck-with-you humour. Overall, Carry On Cleo was by far the funniest so far; Carry On Jack can just, well, carry on and keep going!

How old was I when I saw this film? Old enough to know that no sailor worth his salted pork and rum ration would think anybody with a classical "cliffhanger" backside like Juliet Mills had at that time could possibly be a man. Juliet Mills was a full bodied young woman who would attract stares anywhere she went wearing the tight trousers she wore impersonating a midshipman. Watching it we were supposed to suspend disbelief and believe that a rugged crew on a warship would not know the difference between the shape of Juliet's bum and that of a young man. Were we expected to believe the sailors were virgins? Regarding the word "Jack" sailors were often referred to as "Jack Tar", probably because of the amount of tar that would be used sealing leaks on the wooden hulled ships, some of which would stick to the sailors.

I don't know what the title Jack relates to, probably some kind of pirate word, or maybe to do with Treasure Island (Jack Hawkins), but anyway, this is the Carry On film where they're all pirates. Basically Midshipman Albert Poop-Decker (Bernard Cribbins) has managed to get himself aboard frigate Venus, commanded by actually quivery Captain Fearless (Kenneth Williams), and they all have adventures on the high seas through Spanish waters, rebelling and shipwrecking. Also starring Juliet Mills as Sally, Charles Hawtrey as Walter Sweetly, Donald Houston as First Officer Jonathan Howett, Percy Herbert as Mr. Angel, Ed Devereaux as Pirate Hook, Jim Dale as Young Carrier, Ian Wilson as Ancient Carrier, George Woodbridge as Ned, Cecil Parker as First Sealord, Jimmy Thompson as Adm. Horatio Nelson, Anton Rodgers as Hardy, Patrick Cargill as Spanish Governor Don Luis and Peter Gilmore as Pirate Captain Patch/Roger. I can see why this film is not as memorable as most of the others, I did lose interest a little ,and didn't understand everything going on, and there was hardly any innuendo at all, only some jokes about the woman disguised as a man, and it has only three regulars, all male, where are Hattie Jacques, Barbara Windsor and Joans Sims when you want them? Okay!

Carry on Jack is not the most memorable Carry On, in fact its all a bit silly really and lacks much of the sauciness of latter films. I think Talbot Rothwell was still finding his feet as it has more of a Norman Hudis feel to it. There are incompetent silly people somehow triumphing in the end, squeaky clean but quite lovely heroines (despite coming from Dirty Dicks) and the bad guys getting their comeuppance in the end. Personally I don't blame the Venus crew for getting rid of their captain. I would have even tied a weight to his (gammy) leg to make sure. Still better was to come and there is at least a nod to that here. Give it a watch if you are a Carry on fan (like me), but its no 'Camping' or 'Up the Khyber'

Very poor script but Cribbins is by no way a leading man. Charlie and Kenny do their best but overall its bad