Released 2 years later than "Carry On Cruising" but oddly in black and white whereas the earlier film was in colour, Carry On Spying is a spoof of spy/espionage films in general and a certain Mr Bond in particular. Given the Carry On treatment it does of course have more than its fair share of slapstick and silly banter, and in fact total stupidity. For some reason I find this one of the best of the early Carry On films, for reasons I'm not totally sure I understand myself, but shall attempt to explain below…
The Chief (Eric Barker) gets word that a fiendish plot is underway by the eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeevil organisation STENCH (the Society for the Total Extinction of Non-Conforming Humans - SPECTRE just sounds so lame now, doesn't it?!?!). Unfortunately he is very short on agents… in fact he has to rely on 3 new trainees and a complete idiot. Barker always tended to play this sort of role, and very few have ever quite been quite as good as a put-upon, long-suffering, constantly annoyed and frustrated chief as he was. Unfortunately he doesn't get all the much screen time, but it gets the film off to a good start. Regular Carry On actress Dilys Laye plays the seductive Lila, but her character doesn't enter into the story for quite a while so I won't tell you any more about her role in this film. The four intrepid agents out to foil STENCH and save the world etc are the following motley crew:
Kenneth Williams as Desmond Simkins
Barbara Windsor as Daphne Honeybutt
Bernard Cribbins as Harold Crump
Charles Hawtrey as Charlie Bind
Yes, the names are an indication of how terrible the humour is in this movie! Yet somehow, I really enjoyed it…
This was Barbara Windsor's first outing in Carry On films, and she became one of the regulars. (Incidentally I found out on IMDB that her very first screen role was as a schoolgirl in The Belles of St Trinians - you learn something new every day!) She really throws herself into the role and her bustling enthusiasm and irritating but somehow infectious laugh (get her together with Sid James and you're really in trouble) is one of the main reasons why this is such an enjoyable film. It's one of the main reasons why this is such a cheesy film, too… I've really never much liked Williams or Hawtrey in the roles they traditionally played in the Carry On films, but they do manage to get some laughs. Bernard Cribbins plays an almost straight role but I always found him to be naturally funny. Of course the absurdity of it all is what gets the laughs sometimes as well - seeing Bernard Cribbins trying to pass for a harem girl is just too much for the poor old suspension of belief part of your brain and it will just explode, leaving you to enjoy it for the amazingly daft movie it is.
For the time the sets are pretty good and it being in black and charm probably adds tot eh mood and nostalgic feel of the movie. It's 87 minutes pass quickly and despite your mind telling you "this is awful this is awful this is awful", it just touches part of your funny bone and strokes it a few times to leave you laughing despite everything. For a Carry On film it has a pretty decent plot, too.
The film is put together by the usual suspects - Gerald Thomas (Director), Peter Rogers (Producer), Eric Rogers (Music), Alan Hume (Cinematography). By this time the Carry On series was beginning to become an institution, but it had a long way to go. After this film, I'm really not too sure if it went up or down overall - whatever the case, despite being incredibly silly, Carry On Spying remains one of my favourites in the series and a film that stands the test of time - if only because time itself is too incredulous to get in its way…
(Thanks Sue [Millinocket] for adding this to the Epinions Database for me.)
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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.
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