Carry On Cruising... an affable British comedy
Written: Jul 02 '07
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Quite funny in places...
Cons: ... not in others!
The Bottom Line: Not a classic by any means, but light-hearted fun and it has its moments.
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| captaind's Full Review: Carry on Cruising |
Carry On Cruising is the sixth in the ever-enduring Carry On series (there is talk of yet another one - Carry On London - though in a way we can only hope this never gets finished…) The first Carry On film, "Carry On Sergeant", wasn't supposed to be the first in a series but its success spawned on of, it not the, longest running movie series of all time.
This one was released in 1962 and features Sid James as the hapless Captain Crowther, who is on his final voyage with the liner he works for and looking to go out with flying colours. He has a crew who have been with him for years and work so well with him that he barely needs to give orders and certainly never needs to worry about how well they are carried out. Fate, however, is dealing him an unkind hand - for his final trip he will have a crew full of new faces, and pretty gormless faces at that. Joining as shipmates from hell he has First Officer Leonard Marjoribanks (Kenneth Williams), Ships' Cook Wilfred Haines (Lance Percival), Barman Sam Turner (Jimmy Thomspon), and Ship's Doctor Arthur Binn (Kenneth Conner), among a few other unruly entrants. With a lot riding on this cruise, the new crew members seem very unlikely to impress, coming from a variety of backgrounds, almost none of them nautical. Notwithstanding of course that the Doctor is a stuttering nervous wreck, the Cook is seasick, and the Barman doesn't know how to make the Captain's favourite drink…
Running parallel with this is a plot about two friends, Glad Trimble and Florence Castle (Liz Fraser and Dilys Lane), one of whom is trying to forget all about love, the other rather having the opposite idea. Naturally enough they both initially fall for the same man, the very muscular keep fit instructor. Tensions mount, and an unlikely love interest is in the air.. Or he's trying to be…
Like all the Carry On films, this is all very silly and contains a fair amount of the bawdy British humour so beloved of seaside postcard designers. However this early film in the series does not descend to the level of vulgarity that some of the later ones do, and it has a few funny moments. Many of the characters are quite funny in themselves because they're so completely hopeless - you know it's not really funny, but laugh or grin anyway. (I particularly find this is the case when watching Kenneth Conner.) Some of the peripheral characters bring some good laughs in as well - they're not always funny, but Esma Canon as an old lady who could drink anyone under the table and Ronnie Stevens who's been to every port on the planet - and stayed in the ship's bar while the other passengers disembark - are enjoyable goofy. Liz Fraser an Dilys lane get a few laughs too, and give the male viewer some eye candy. I'm not sure any of the male cast could really be considered eye candy for the female viewers…
There's little here to surprise anyone who's seen any others in the series, and every actor who stayed in the series for a long time, such as James, Williams, Conners, etc, played pretty much the same character in each film. It's not earth-shattering, and it's not one of the funniest Carry On films, but it's an amiable comedy with just about enough going for it to make decent light entertainment.
Other Information
Director: Gerald Thomas
Runtime: 89
Rating: U (despite one or two bawdy moments there is nothing that today would do more than mildly raise an eyebrow.)
Links
Because the Carry On films are quintessentially British (not always particularly good, but very British!), this is an entry to Barbara (ifif1938)'s Write Off of all things British and French, commemorating her 500th review.
See also:
Top Ten Comedies
Top Ten British Films
Recommended:
Yes
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