By the mid-1960s the Carry On series of British comedy films was gaining momentum, and about to enter its golden age, where some of its strongest and most fondly remembered films would be released.
Its ensemble cast of familiar faces was clearly having fun, the giant British distribution company Rank Organisation took over to release the movies, and very soon two of the all-time greats, Carry On Camping and Carry On Matron, would be released.
Those two films will have to wait for future Blu-ray releases, hopefully in a continuation of this series of chronological boxsets by Australian label ViaVision, but for now we can settle for the fourth volume which they’ve just released and which features Don’t Lose Your Head, Follow That Camel, Carry On Doctor and Carry On Up the Khyber. These are the first four films in the series to be distributed by the Rank Organisation.
Don’t Lose Your Head
Director: Gerald Thomas
Screenplay: Talbot Rothwell
Starring: Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Jim Dale, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims, Dany Robin, Peter Butterworth
Country: United Kingdom
Running time: 91 min
Year: 1967
BBFC Certificate: PG
First up in Volume 4 is Don’t Lose Your Head, a parody of The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy and set during the French Revolution in the 18th century. The film was the first in the series to be released by the Rank Organisation, and, like the subsequent Follow That Camel, was initially released without the words “Carry On” in the title. These were only added later when the pair were re-released, due to the popularity of the series.
The story opens in France during the Revolution in 1789 where me meet revolutionary leader Citizen Camembert (Kenneth Williams), who is watching the aristocracy being beheaded with his sidekick and lacky Citizen Bidet (Peter Butterworth).
Then we are whisked to England where we are introduced to Sir Rodney Ffing pronounced Effing “with two f’s” (Sidney James) and Lord Darcy Pue (Jim Dale), who hear about the beheadings and decide to travel to France, intervene and save the day. Cue daring rescue efforts as the pair go undercover to save the aristocracy from death, leaving pieces of paper with two fingers, one featuring a black finger nail, as a calling card. Citizen Camembert vows to stop the secret avengers.
Our heroes save the Duc de Pommfrit (Charles Hawtrey in his usual scene stealing performance) in a fabulous scene where the rescue happens under the nose of Citizen Camembert, and our heroes trick the executioner into killing himself in the process.
The rest of the story is a cat and mouse tale, with a variety of undercover moments for James and Dale to have fun with, and appearances by other Carry On gang members, as well as some roles for other familiar faces, including future Blake’s 7 star Jacqueline Pearce.
All the Carry On gang are on fine form, particularly James, Williams, Hawtrey, Butterworth, and Joan Sims (as Desiree Dubarry, Camembert’s sister). Special mention for French actress Dany Robin, in her only appearance in the series as Sir Rodney’s love interest, Jacqueline. Robin and James have some fun moments breaking the fourth wall when they first meet, and Robin gives good gusto in her role, making it a surprise it was her only appearance in a Carry On.
There’s plenty of double entendres, mistaken identity and laughs galore in a decent, though not top tier, entry in the series. The crew made good use of a bigger budget, which shows through the costumes and sets, and use of historical buildings, like the National Trust’s Cliveden in Buckinghamshire
Film: 
Follow That Camel
Director: Gerald Thomas
Screenplay: Talbot Rothwell
Starring: Phil Silvers, Kenneth Williams, Jim Dale, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims, Angela Douglas, Peter Butterworth, Bernard Bresslaw, Anita Harris
Country: United Kingdom
Running Time: 95 min
Year: 1967
BBFC Certificate: PG
A year after Don’t Lose Your Head, producer Peter Rogers was attempting to break into the US market, which led to the need for an American star for the next entry in the series. Up stepped Phil Silvers, known for his eponymous show where he portrayed the role of Sergeant Bilko, making his only appearance in the film series, which again didn’t have Carry On in the title until it was re-released.
Nocker is a Sergeant in the French Foreign Legion, who helps newly enlisted Bertram Oliphant “Bo” West (Jim Dale) and his faithful manservant Simpson (Peter Butterworth). Bo’s reputation in England is in tatters after a love rival besmirches him but is followed to the Sahara by the love of his life Lady Jane Ponsonby (Angela Douglas) after she learns he’s innocent.
That’s the set-up to get the key heroes to the Sahara where they meet not only Nocker but other faces familiar to fans of the series. These include Nocker’s lover Zig-Zig (Joan Sims), Commandant Maximilian Burger (Kenneth Williams) and his sidekick Captain Le Pice (Charles Hawtrey) and Sheikh Abdul Abulbul (Bernard Bresslaw).
Silvers settles right into Carry On life and feels right at home. He’s got fabulous chemistry with the regulars, particularly Williams and Hawtrey. Silvers apparently had short-term memory loss at the time of filming meaning he had to read his lines from boards off screen as he couldn’t learn them, but it doesn’t seem to hamper his performance. Series regular Sid James was originally due to play Silvers’ role but was unavailable as he was filing the ITV sitcom George and the Dragon at the time.
Williams adopts a French accent and, as is so often the case, throws himself fully into the role. In fact, all of the usual gang play their roles really well. It’s also always nice to see Angela Douglas, one of the few highlights from an otherwise pretty weak earlier entry, Carry On Jack, and she’s fabulous here and has wonderful chemistry with Dale.
The production values, as is often the case for the series, bely the budget and the film looks a lot more expensive than it was. Sahara scenes were filmed at Camber Sands near Rye in East Sussex, and in Lancashire but don’t look as though they were filmed in England, and the costumes are also great.
Where the film falls down though is the script. A good number of the jokes land, but more miss than usual and scenes feel as though they end very abruptly; which can occasionally be the case in others in the series, but in this entry those moments stand out a mile and really jar.
So, whilst I was entertained, as is usually the case with a Carry On, I felt this was more middle of the road than usual, and not one of the strongest entries in the series.
Film:
Carry On Doctor
Director: Gerald Thomas
Screenplay: Talbot Rothwell
Starring: Frankie Howerd, Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Jim Dale, Barbara Windsor, Hattie Jacques, Joan Sims, Anita Harris, Bernard Bresslaw
Country: United Kingdom
Running Time: 94 min
Year: 1967
BBFC Certificate: PG
The hospital-set Carry On movies have always been my favourites. Perhaps it’s because Carry On Matron is such a funny film, or perhaps it’s just the modern day setting and scope for lots of colourful characters as staff and patients that I like so much. Carry On Doctor is no different; it’s one of my favourites and features a wonderful performance by Frankie Howerd, a great comedian who only appeared in two Carry Ons (the other was Carry On Up The Jungle) but was tailor-made to be part of the comedy film troupe.
Here top-billed Howerd stars as fake faith healer Francis Bigger, who gets his comeuppance and ends up in hospital after suffering an accident. He’s in a bay alongside Charlie Roper (Sid James) who fakes his symptoms as he doesn’t want to be discharged from hospital, terrible flirt Ken Biddle (Bernard Bresslaw) who frequently wanders over to the ladies ward to see a patient he’s taken a shine too, and Mr Barron (Charles Hawtrey), who is suffering sympathy pains for his wife, who is due to give birth to their first child. The larger than life characters lead to Bigger wanting a side room. On the hospital staff front we have popular but clumsy Dr Jim Kilmore (Jim Dale), his love interest Nurse Clarke (Anita Harris), detested Dr Kenneth Tinkle (Kenneth Williams) and battleaxe Matron Lavinia (Hattie Jacques). Novice nurse Sandra May (Barbara Windsor) also soon arrives to repay Tinkle for ‘saving’ her life, though we learn this is far from the case.
The script in Doctor is marvellous, and there’s some excellent one lines, wordplay and double entendres, the cast are all on fine form and the characters they portray are very memorable. The film is also filled with some excellent scenes and set pieces, including Biggers’ opening sermon where his hard of hearing assistant, portrayed by Joan Sims, steals the show, and Biggers’ journey to hospital (hint, it’s an ambulance journey from hell). One of the standout sequences sees Dr Kilmore trying to rescue Nurse May from a rooftop when he mistakenly thinks she’s going to jump (she’s actually sunbathing), leading to some perilous moments and disgrace for the doctor. The finale, where the patients try to get their own back on Tinkle and Matron and get Kilmore his job back, is also incredibly memorable.
Hattie Jacques, so marvellous in the fabulous Matron, makes her first appearance in the series since Carry On Cabby, and Barbara Windsor, who appears on each disc thanks to the 1970s Carry On Laughing TV series, makes her first Carry On film performance in this set, returning after appearing in her debut in the series for Carry On Spying three years prior.
James, Hawtrey and Bresslaw as three of the patients often steal the show, particularly Hawtrey who thinks he’s having the baby his wife is due to give birth to, the role for the aforementioned Sims is very different to her usual parts but very funny, and Dale gives one of his most likeable performances in the series. James is confined to a bed for the most part; it was his first Carry On film after suffering a heart attack, but he is clearly having a lot of fun being back in front of the camera.
Eric Rogers’ score is fabulous and among my favourites in the 31 film series. There’s a wonderful theme tune which plays over some funny opening credits, which is very hummable. His scores are a highlight of the films, and well worth listening to in their own right.
Carry On Doctor is a hoot from start to finish. All of the cast are on fine form, headlined by a fantastic performance from Frankie Howerd, the script is great and there are memorable set pieces aplenty.
Film:
Carry On Up The Khyber
Director: Gerald Thomas
Screenplay: Talbot Rothwell
Starring: Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Roy Castle, Joan Sims, Angela Douglas, Terry Scott, Bernard Bresslaw, Peter Butterworth
Country: United Kingdom
Running Time: 89 min
Year: 1968
BBFC Certificate: PG
If you look at a list of the best of the Carry On series, it’s highly likely that Carry On Up The Khyber will be towards the top of the tree. In 1999 it ranked 99th in a BFI list of the greatest British films ever made. It’s a fabulous, laugh a minute British classic.
The story follows Sir Sidney Ruff-Diamond (Sid James), who is in charge of a British outpost near the Khyber pass. He’s protected by the feared men of the Third Foot and Mouth regiment, feared as they’re thought to wear nothing under their kilts. But the fear soon dissipates when one of the troops, Private Widdle (Charles Hawtrey) is caught wearing pants by Bungdit Din (Bernard Bresslaw), who gives this information to The Khasi of Kalabar, (Kenneth Williams) who vows to use what he’s learned against the Brits and start a rebellion. Sir Sidney, Captain Keene (Roy Castle) and their compatriots must quash the rumour.
The script is simply wonderful, with some wonderful lines and sequences of dialogue; the frequent mentions of Tiffin (it has a rude meaning in the film) being a highlight. One of the real gems of this entry is what feels like an extended role for Charles Hawtrey, who is fabulous as the bungling Private Widdle, his line delivery and facial expressions stealing the show. Hawtrey’s performances are a real highlight of this set and so different between the films, despite maintaining some formula; compare this with his performance in Carry On Doctor.
Sid James, Kenneth Williams and Bernard Bresslaw are also at the top of their game and clearly having a devilishly good time. In addition, Roy Castle makes his only Carry On appearance in the role usually preserved for Jim Dale, and he’s fine with some good chemistry with his love interest Angela Douglas, who plays Princess Jelhi, the Khasi’s daughter, who sadly makes her fourth and final performance in the series. Terry Scott returns to the crew following a small role in Carry On Sergeant and is also on fine form as Sergeant Major MacNutt, whilst Joan Sims is her usual best as Lady Joan Ruff-Diamond.
Among the set pieces is a hilarious dance which sees male stars Hawtrey, Scott, Butterworth and Castle go undercover as dancing girls and made to dance alongside Sims and Douglas, whilst British comic Cardew Robinson performance tricks as The Fakir. A battle at the start of the third act which sees Scott and Hawtrey discover a machine gun won’t fire but instead plays music instead is a hoot. And finally, the finale is a real treat, the Brits maintaining their stiff upper lip and having dinner and music played for them whilst the Karsi and Bungdit Din launch an all out assault on them.
Carry On Up The Khyber is one of the absolute best in the series, bolstered by a terrific script that is frequently hilarious, full of corking one liners, all delivered by the gang at their finest.
Film:
Carry on Collection Volume 4 is available now from Australian label ViaVision and can be bought from their website at https://viavision.com.au/shop/carry-on-film-collection-4-blu-ray It’s a region free set, like the other three in the series, and means the label has so far released the first 16 Carry On films in chronological order.
Three of the films have been restored for this set by ViaVision who carried out 4K scans from the original 35mm negatives in 2024, whilst Khyber is from a 2K scan. Picture quality for all four films is excellent, though the three 2024 4K scans obviously look the strongest. None of the films display any print damage or blemishes, outside of any stock footage used, tones and colours are natural and the picture displays fine grain. Audio is also good with no issues.
Special Features
Don’t Lose Your Head:
Audio commentary by actor Jim Dale
Carry on Composing – new interview with conductor/ arranger Gavin Sutherland on composer Eric Rogers
Theatrical trailer
Photo Gallery
Carry on Laughing: The Prisoner of Spenda – an episode of the 1975 ATV comedy series
Carry on Laughing – episode 16 of the 1980s Thames Television ‘best of the Carry On films’ compilation series
Follow That Camel
Audio commentary by Jim Dale
Archive on-set interview with actor Phil Silvers
Theatrical trailer
Photo gallery
Carry On Laughing: The Baron Outlook
Carry On Laughing: Episode 8 of the 1981-1983 Thames Television compilation series
Carry On Doctor
Audio commentary by Jim Dale
Theatrical trailer
Photo gallery
Carry On Laughing: The Sobbing Cavalier
Carry On Laughing: Episode 1 of the 1981-1983 Thames Television compilation series
Carry On Up The Khyber
Audio commentary by Jim Dale
Theatrical trailer
Photo gallery
Carry On Laughing: Orgy and Bess
Carry On Laughing: Episode 15 of the 1981-1983 Thames Television compilation series
Don’t Lose Your Head
The archival audio commentary features author Robert Ross and actor Jim Dale and it’s marvellous, very warm, friendly and an easy and entertaining listen. Dale talks through how he got involved in the Carry Ons and what he loved about working on the films. Both discuss the background to the film, the production, the crew and much more. There’s some interesting insights from Dale on the shooting and his thoughts on other remembers of the Carry On gang. His memories of Charles Hawtrey and Sid James, in particular, are great to hear. We also hear the origin of Dale’s stage surname (his birth surname was Smith) and funny anecdotes about Kenneth Williams. Highly recommended.
The interview with conductor/ arranger Gavin Sutherland about Eric Rogers, provides an interest insight into how Rogers came about comparing for the Carry Ons, recording 22 in the series. Sutherland is now the custodian of Rogers’ work and gives a wonderful overview of the composer’s career and place in the series. He adds a rich layer of knowledge about what went into recording a Carry On score, the number of musicians involved, recording times and more. Sutherland also explains how he came to be custodian of Rogers’ work. It’s a fantastic piece.
The trailer runs for three minutes, and shares a few of the memorable scenes.
Carry On Laughing: The Prisoner of Spenda is a 22 minute episode of the ATV television series. This one is episode one and stars Sid James, Barbara Windsor, Joan Sims, Jack Douglas, Kenneth Connor, Peter Butterworth and David Lodge in a parody of The Prisoner of Zenda. The TV show was created at a time when the film series’ popularity was declining at the box office. It ran for two series and a total of 13 episodes in 1975. It’s always a pleasure to see the Carry On team and whilst the TV series is very different to the film series, and not a patch on it, with a lot of canned laughter, it’s great these were included in the set. There are four in total in the boxset, which are the first four episodes, so hopefully we’ll get the complete collection across further sets from ViaVision.
Also included is episode 16 of the 1981-1983 Thames Television compilation series, also called Carry On Laughing. Running for 26 minutes, this one opens with a clip from Carry on Doctor of Frankie Howerd’s character arriving at hospital. The first part features clips from the hospital-based Carry On films, before we get clips from a range of films including Jungle, Follow That Camel, Camping, Henry and Don’t Lose Your Head.
The photo gallery contains almost 59 images, mostly production stills, though we do get the poster too.
Follow That Camel
Jim Dale again features on this commentary with Robert Ross and it’s as fun, entertaining, informative and easy to listen to as the first on this set. Dale is fabulous again sharing wonderful anecdotes, including about Silvers’ short-term memory loss, and about co-stars Williams and Harris. There are more silences this time round but it’s still a very fun and lovely discussion.
The archive interview with Phil Silvers features the star on set. During its seven minute running time, it finds Silvers on fine form talking about the series, and his love of Britain. He shares how in America he turned down the roles of a sergeant as he felt they’d be too close to his Sergeant Bilko character. We get two separate clips during the runtime which looks like two different takes. It’s a nice inclusion.
The trailer runs for three minutes and features narration and specially shot opening and closing segments with Silvers before showing some clips from the film.
The photo gallery autoplays and features eight images.
Carry On Laughing: The Baron Outlook is episode two of the 1975 television series. This one is 25 minutes long and stars Sid James, Joan Sims, Barbara Windsor, Kenneth Connor, Peter Butterworth, Diane Langton, and David Lodge. This has a medieval setting and some decent one-liners.
Carry On Laughing: Episode 8 of the 1981-1984 Thames Television compilation series features clips mostly from Doctor, Jungle, and Henry (lots from Henry),
Carry On Doctor
Jim Dale and Robert Ross provide another archival commentary and, similar to the others, it’s terrific. It opens with lovely anecdotes from Dale about how he got a part in the series and his recollections of Frankie Howerd. Ross points out locations like Maidenhead Town Hall, which doubled as the hospital exterior and Dale shares anecdotes about those he worked with, the series and his career, which are a pleasure to hear. Fans of the actor and the Carry Ons will find plenty to enjoy and, potentially, learn.
The three-minute trailer gives a good run through of some of the gags.
The photo gallery autoplays and features the poster and around 40 production and publicity stills.
The episode of the 1975 Carry On Laughing series this time is episode three, The Sobbing Cavalier. It stars Sid James, Jack Douglas, Barbara Windsor, Joan Sims, Peter Butterworth, David Lodge and Bernard Holley and is set during the English Civil War. This 24-minute episode raised quite a few chuckles for me with some decent double entendres and one liners.
We also get episode one of the 1980s compilation series by the same name. It runs for 26 minutes and opens with clips from some of the hospital films, mostly Again Doctor and Matron.
Carry On Up The Khyber
The archival audio commentary again features Robert Ross but this time he’s joined by producer Peter Rogers. Rogers initially comes across as difficult and grumpy and doesn’t give much away to start with but thankfully warms up pretty quickly (though not completely) and does give plenty of factoids of information. He shares that the Khyber Pass scenes were shot on location in Snowdonia in Wales and is at his best when talking about director Gerald Thomas, and not when the topic of money comes up. There are some gems though about some of the other cast and collaborators, like Peter Butterworth. Not as good as the Jim Dale commentaries but still a very worthwhile listen.
The three-minute theatrical trailer gives a decent overview of the movie.
The photo gallery autoplays for 40 seconds and contains eight images.
Carry On Laughing: Orgy and Bess features Sid James, Kenneth Connor, Barbara Windsor, Hattie Jacques, and Jack Douglas and is set during the time of the Spanish Armada. It is episode four of the 1975 series and is another pretty funny effort that is an easy watch.
Carry On Laughing: Episode 15 of the 1981-1983 Thames Television compilation series runs for 26 minutes and features clips from Carry On Dick, Henry, Up The Jungle, and Up The Khyber.
ViaVision continue their fabulous chronological release of the Carry On films, and pass the halfway point in the series with Volume 4. The set features one of the absolute best (Khyber), an excellent hospital-set entry (Doctor) and two other solid entries. ViaVision have done a very good job on their three 4K scan restorations and the fourth, Khyber, gets a good 2K scan, and the set comes with some excellent archival commentaries, a very good new interview on composer Eric Rogers, and the first four episodes of the 1975 TV series Carry on Laughing. Highly recommended for fans of the series and British comedy, and here’s hoping we get the rest of the Carry On films from ViaVision in the future. When they teased this release they suggested there would be more than one more set, so fingers crossed!
Disc/Package:
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