Carry On Advertising - Carry On Cleo

This blog is part of a new little series on Carry On Blogging, looking back at the changing face of the Carry On films during their original twenty year run. I thought it would be interesting to take a look at the way the films were advertised to the cinema-going public of Great Britain over the years. These days when I do go to the cinema, I try to avoid the trailers as they tend to go on for rather too long, but of course, with Carry On it's a different story!

Thankfully most of the original trailers are now available to peruse on the internet and they provide a unique time capsule of British film history. The changing tastes of mores of the film-going public can easily be traced through these adverts as can the changing face of the British film industry and the social attitudes of the time. It's also fascinating to see how first Anglo Amalgamated and then later on, the Rank Organisation, chose to market and sell these low budget, knockabout comedies. 

Moving on today to one of the series' biggest successes - the triumphant Carry On Cleo. Full colour all the way now and the films were growing in confidence. A sublimely sharp script from Talbot Rothwell poking fun at the recent big blockbuster film Cleopatra, Cleo features a tight-knit cast of class acts - Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Kenneth Connor, Joan Sims, Jim Dale and Charles Hawtrey, not to mention the star of the show, the amazing Amanda Barrie as Cleo herself. The Carry Ons were rarely as classy, as hilarious and as successful as this. 

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