The Star of … Carry On Regardless

I have decided to dedicate a new series of blogs to what I consider to be the very best performances in each of the thirty original Carry On films. As ever, it's a purely personal take on these films from yours truly and of course you are welcome to agree or disagree as you see fit! 

Since I started the blog in 2015 I have often championed the underdog or the under appreciated. The Carry On series employed hundreds of cracking comedy actors during their twenty year lifespan and while I've done my best to celebrate as many of them as possible, there is still much to do to preserve their legacy. Some of the actors featured in this new series will be household names and leading lights, others perhaps not so well known. Whoever they are, I hope you enjoy reading about my chosen few.

The first in this series saw me write about my love for Kenneth Connor's role as Horace Strong in Carry On Sergeant and then, moving forward to later in 1958, we focused on Kenneth Williams in Carry On Nurse. My star of Carry On Teacher, released in 1959, was that wonderful character actress Rosalind Knight, playing strict school inspector Felicity Wheeler and my star of Carry On Constable was the debuting Sidney James. Today I'm moving on to look at the 1960 film, Carry On Regardless. 

 

The basic premise of Regardless is the Helping Hands Agency with Sid James and Esma Cannon at the helm. They employed the regular gang of goons to undertake all kinds off odd jobs and the film that results is really just a collection of loose sketches. It works really well but at some points, because the cast is so big, you forget they are all in it!  Kenneth Connor gets the majority of the film and is superb throughout although this means actors like Bill Owen, Charles Hawtrey and Terence Longdon are criminally underused.

So who is the star of the film for me? 

In many ways I think Regardless is probably Kenneth Connor's finest hour. Yes Sid James had got his feet under the Carry On table but at this stage of the game Sid was still the Norman Hudis authority figure that all the maniacs caused chaos around. Norman obviously enjoyed writing for Connor and most of the very best sequences star Kenneth. Whether it be misunderstandings with the voluptuous, bored housewife Penny Panting (seductively played by Fenella Fielding), getting confused amongst a bunch of animated Chinese people expecting a translator, attempting to stay silent in a reading room full of elderly gents or demonstrating the "Bed of the Century" at the Ideal Home Exhibition, Kenneth is on sparkling form and gets to display is full set of joyous comic gifts. 

 

My favourite scene featuring Kenneth is the fairly long sketch that sees Esma Cannon get the wrong end of the stick following a rather confusing phone call with the imposing Eric Pohlmann (who would return as The Fat Man in Carry On Spying of course). Eric is after a forth at bridge however in a very clever Hudis bit of business, this is misunderstood by Cannon and Connor as a meeting at the Forth Bridge in what becomes Gerald Thomas' tribute to The 39 Steps. Don't forget there had been a version of this famous story produced at Pinewood and starring Kenneth More only the year before Regardless went into production, so it was fairly fresh in the minds of the audience. As an aside, that film was directed by Gerald's brother Ralph, produced by Peter's wife Betty Box and featured such familiar Pinewood faces as Joan Hickson, Sid James and Brian Oulton. 

The Carry On version sees Kenneth Connor don a trenchcoat and hat and pretend to be a subtle super spy, complete with Connor's American-accented voice over and lots of Thomas attention to detail. Once aboard the train bound for Scotland, Kenneth encounters a pair of dodgy looking types played by Victor Maddern and Denis Shaw. It's a brief little vignette but in true Hudis style this underworld meet up turns out to be a simple game of cards in a train compartment. Moving to the buffet car, Connor meets the seductive Russian Betty Marsden, a mistress of accents and voices if ever there was one, thanks to her starring role in both Beyond Our Ken and Round The Horne on radio. More misunderstandings take place leading Kenneth to receive a good sound slap around the chops from Betty before crashing into a bowl full of Brown Windsor soup. This leads Connor to break deliciously from his spy persona to once again become the bumbling little man we know and love.

 

Of course there is no rendez-vous and when Kenneth jumps from the train on the bridge he ends up completely drenched in a muddy puddle full of goodness knows what. It's typical Carry On fare from the Hudis era but Connor plays it all beautifully and it's honestly one of his best ever sequences on film. The fact that Kenneth is billed above the likes of Sims, Williams and Hawtrey shows just what power and sway he held in the Carry Ons during the early 1960s. He's clearly a pivotal member of the team and an absolute joy to watch.

Connor simply has to be the star of the film as he grabs more screen time than anyone else and that's no mean feat given just how many class comedy character people appear across the 90 minutes. There is no doubting that Regardless is very much an ensemble piece featuring a stunning cast packed full of the very best of British comedy talent at the time, however it is Connor who rises above the rest and is, for me, the true star of Carry On Regardless. 

You can follow me on Twitter @CarryOnJoan and on Instagram

Carry On Advertising - Carry On Regardless

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. 

So we continue today with one of the later Norman Hudis efforts, Carry On Regardless. It's a right rag bag of a film and apparently not one of Norman's favourites. But I love it and it surely boasts one of the biggest ever casts of recognisable British comedy actors - everyone from Betty Marsden and Nicholas Parsons to Fenella Fielding, Molly Weir and Joan Hickson. Hope you enjoy it. 

You can follow me on Twitter @CarryOnJoan and on Instagram

Two Classic Carry Ons Coming Up on Film4!

Once again Film4 are delivering the goods. Two wonderful black and white Carry On films from the Norman Hudis era are being shown on the channel over the next seven days and here are the details: 

Carry On Teacher - Thursday 18 October, 17.00

Another favourite of mine from the early Norman Hudis era of the series, Carry On Teacher blends the best elements of Ealing comedy and St Trinian's to make one of the most innocent of all the Carry Ons. A group of children rebel during an official visit from some school inspectors in the hope they can prevent their beloved headmaster from leaving to take up a new job. Gerald Thomas coaxes some lovely performances from the child actors in the cast, principally from leads Richard O'Sullivan and Carol White. Ted Ray makes his only Carry On appearance as the headmaster William Wakefield and forms a superb double act with his longtime radio co-star Kenneth Connor as bumbling science master Gregory Adams. Rosalind Knight grabs a larger role in Teacher, following her cameo in Nurse, this time playing severe school inspector Felicity Wheeler while the likes of Hattie Jacques, Joan Sims, Charles Hawtrey and Kenneth Williams are also along for the fun as the gaggle of accident prone, squabbling teachers. 

Further reading:  Carry On Blogging Interview: Josephine Bailey
Carry On Blogging: Whatever Happened to the Saboteurs?

 Carry On Regardless (1961) - Sunday 21 October, 16.50.

Although writer Norman Hudis is on record as saying this was his least favourite of all the Carry Ons he wrote, I love Regardless. It's the most episodic film of the entire series, basically made up of a series of sketches held together by the central comic force of Sid James as the owner of the Helping Hands Agency. Helping Hands employs a rag bag of diverse workers willing to undertake (almost) anything. This premise gives Hudis a huge amount of scope and the results, in the hands of a cosy bunch of lovable Carry On eccentrics, is just brilliant. It also features the biggest supporting cast of superb British comedy actors even seen. Everyone from Fenella Fielding and Stanley Unwin to Molly Weir, Jerry Desmonde and Joan Hickson appear, mostly fleetingly. Sid is assisted by the likes of Esma Cannon, Kenneth Connor, Joan Sims, Bill Owen and a debuting Liz Fraser.

Further reading: Carry On Blogging: Why I love Carry On Regardless
Carry On Blogging: My Favourite scene - Carry On Regardless


You can follow me on Twitter @CarryOnJoan and on Instagram

My Five Favourite Liz Fraser Performances

We lost a great talent this week with Liz Fraser passing away. I know my Twitter feed has been pretty focussed on this the last couple of days but I think Liz's contribution to the best of British film and television warrants this coverage. A big thank you to everyone out there who commented positively on my tribute to Liz, posted after I heard the sad news. It wasn't easy to write but I'm glad it was well received.

I thought, after the sad news, I would take some time to write a blog on my favourite Liz performances. As she was on our screens for seven decades and worked with just about everyone this is no easy feat. So what I've come up with is a purely personal list of favourites. Some are from the cinema, some the small screen. Some are starring roles, some are small yet important cameos. 

I hope you like my choices.


Cynthia Kite in I'm All Right Jack (1959)

I couldn't do this without including Liz's breakthrough role in this Boulting Brothers classic. Despite being almost sixty years old, I caught this film again recently and it made me laugh and kept me fully engaged throughout. Not only that, it also made my husband laugh and he has a very un-British, very American sense of humour. The tale of trouble at the works boasts a stellar cast, headed by Ian Carmichael and Peter Sellers. Liz shines as Peter's sexy young daughter Cynthia who flutters her false eyelashes at Ian's Stanley Windrush and dons many a tight sweater. This role saw Liz nominated for a BAFTA and her career as a British comedy icon and glamorous sex symbol began. In an interview with The Art Desk in 2015 Liz was still immensely proud of this film and rightly so. Her seduction of Ian Carmichael in his bubble car is a highlight with that knock out line: "Is them your own teeth?" Brilliant.

Delia King in Carry On Regardless (1961)

Liz joined the Carry On team for three adventures in the early 1960s followed up by a supporting turn in Carry On Behind in 1975. She brought a breath of fresh air to the established cast and although labelled another 'Carry On Blonde' she was always much more than that. Yes, she was blonde, busty and beautiful but she was also a damn fine comic actress. She brought something different to the films from other 'Carry On Blondes' such as Shirley Eaton or Barbara Windsor. I think my favourite of Liz's Carry On roles is her very first, as an eager member of the newly established Helping Hands Agency. Although a late addition to the cast following the withdrawal of Hattie Jacques due to illness, Liz fitted like a glove. She was acting with her Hancock co-star Sid James and alongside lifelong friend Joan Sims and everything just clicked. In a cast bursting with talent, Liz holds her own.  And in my eyes, she never looked lovelier. 

Sandra in Double Bunk (1961)

By all accounts, Liz's own personal favourite from all the films she made, Double Bunk is just a delight from start to finish. In many ways it's Genevieve by boat and that's not a bad thing. It's charming, innocent black and white fun with a touch of sauce. Starring alongside Sid James, Ian Carmichael and Janette Scott, Liz joins a rather unexpected voyage on a rusty old houseboat. Liz is again working closely with Sid and the pair share tremendous chemistry. She also provides the silver screen with one of the sexiest and yet most innocent strip teases in order to pinch some petrol from fiendish cad Dennis Price. Double Bunk is light and frothy and fairly inconsequential but it wins through on bright, breezy charm and the cosy familiarity of a bunch of actors who get on well in real life having a hoot together in the studio.

Margery Harper in The Professionals: Backtrack (1979)

With the British film industry in severe decline by the late 1970s, actors like Liz were appearing more often on television. The Professionals, an action adventure crime fighting series featuring heightened violence and focussing on the negative aspects of Britain in the 1970s, may not immediately feel like the right home for an actress like Liz but her appearance is an utter joy. The Professionals, starring Gordon Jackson, Martin Shaw and Lewis Collins as leading members of CI5, although a hard-hitting drama, also featured many moments of surreal humour. As blowsy antiques dealer cum fence Margery Harper, Liz shines in an over the top performance of high camp, tight flared trousers and buckets of green chartreuse. Helping out agents Bodie and Doyle, Liz's Marge takes more than a shine to Shaw's Ray Doyle while making several hilariously snide asides to the brutish Bodie (Collins). It's camp, knowing and Fraser is obviously having a whale of a time. Where else can you find Liz Fraser screeching around Kensington in the middle of the night, dressed in furs in the back of a big American car? Wonderful stuff.

Mrs Brent in Miss Marple: Nemesis (1987)

Joan Hickson was the definitive Miss Marple. Her BBC adaptations from the 1980s and early 1990s are just the best. For me, they'll never be surpassed. They always boasted a superb cast of supporting actors and Nemesis is one of the best. Liz appears in just one scene in this feature length drama, playing a grief-stricken mother fond of a tipple. As Mrs Brent, Liz shares one small but powerful scene with actor John Horsley's Professor Wanstead. Mrs Brent's daughter Nora has disappeared and is presumed dead. Although initially bright and cheerful in her respectable 1950s semi, as Wanstead starts to ask questions, Mrs Brent's face slowly cracks and the emotion is palpable. Liz achieves this excellent emotion by completely underplaying it and the tears she sheds are very real. As her character sips her orange squash laced liberally with gin, the facade slips. This role remained a favourite of Liz's and you could tell she was very proud of it, even though it was the subject of two frequent quips. The first, that she loved it as it provided regular royalty cheques from the BBC and the second that the day after it was first broadcast a woman stopped her in the street to commend her saying, "I didn't know you could act!" 

That was Liz though. There was a spiky bluster to her but you could tell she had a heart of gold. She was proud of some of the roles she played, less so of others. She was a realist and took jobs because she both enjoyed the work and needed to work. I hope she would approve of my choices here and I hope you'll agree she was right to be proud of each and every one of them.

You can read my tribute to Liz Fraser here



You can follow me on Twitter @CarryOnJoan and on Instagram

The actress Carole Shelley has died

Sad news to report this evening. Blog reader Garry has been in touch to let me know that the actress Carole Shelley has died at the age of 79. Carole, although born in the UK was a long time resident in the United States and passed away at her home in Manhattan on 31 August.

Carole Shelley made her first appearance in a Carry On in Carry On Regardless in 1961. Carole played Mrs Delling in scenes which saw her come home early while her husband (Jimmy Thompson) was asking Liz Fraser's Delia King to try on some new frillies on her behalf. Delia was of course from The Helping Hands agency. Much farce ensues, involving Liz, a cupboard and a dodgy man's accent.

Carole came back to join the Carry On team again in the classic 1963 series entry, Carry On Cabby. Carole plays the dreadfully titled Dumb Driver in this film. She is really one of the many glamorous Glam Cab drivers, first seen in the line up alongside Amanda Barrie. Again it is a cameo role but her gift for comedy is clear for all to see. So what else did Carole Shelley get up to in her acting career?

Carole Shelley began her career in Britain, starring in several other films at the time she made her Carry On appearances. She played a typist in No My Darling Daughter in 1961 and Mrs Smith in Michael Winner's The Cool Mikado in 1963. She also turned up in episodes of the BBC Sunday Night Play and The Avengers. For whatever reason after this point, Carole relocated to the United States where the majority of her career has played out.

In 1968 she co-starred in The Odd Couple, a vehicle for Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau. She would reprise the role in the television series screened in 1970. Also in 1968 she went on to appear in the Tony Curtis film, The Boston Strangler. Later film roles include Some Kind of Nut (1969); The Whoopee Boys (1986) and most recently the big screen version of Bewitched, released in 2005 and starring Nicole Kidman. On American television, Carole has appeared in the likes of The Cosby Show, All My Children and Frasier. 

The majority of Carole Shelley's career has been on stage. Shelley made her Broadway debut as Gwendolyn in The Odd Couple in 1965 (the role she went on to play on television and on film. She went on to appear in such diverse productions as As You Like It, Absurd Person Singular, Billy Elliot, Show Boat and Cabaret. Carole won a Tony Award in 1979 for her performance in the stage production of The Elephant Man and was nominated again in 1987 for Stepping Out. In 2003 she created the role of Madame Morrible in the original production of Wicked.  

A talented actress with a wide career on both stage and screen, on both sides of the Atlantic, my condolences to Carole's family and friends. 


You can follow me on Twitter @CarryOnJoan and on Instagram

Enjoy a Classic Carry On tomorrow on Film 4

Film 4 are showing two classic black and white Carry Ons tomorrow afternoon. What a treat for fans of the best of British comedy. I have a real soft spot for the early films and tomorrow they are showing two of my favourites. The first, my all time favourite film in the entire series and the first to be written by the legendary Talbot Rothwell. The second, one of Norman Hudis' finest, featuring the biggest cast of recognisable British character comedy actors ever seen! 

Here are the details:

13.00 - Carry On Cabby (1963) 

My own personal favourite from the entire run of films, this black and white kitchen sink Carry On classic was released in 1963. Originally not even destined to be part of the series, Call Me A Cab was quickly rebranded Carry On Cabby when Peter Rogers realised what a hit he had on his hands. A grittier script than usual, this one really does tug at the heart strings while also raising a smile or two. The first script from prolific writer Talbot Rothwell, the story revolves around the frustrated wife of a rather traditional male taxi firm owner who gets her own back on her neglectful husband by setting up a rival business. The difference is Glam Cabs only employs glamorous female drivers! The central performances of Hattie Jacques and Sid James as warring couple Charlie and Peggy Hawkins are the heart and soul of the film with a small but compact cast of supporting actors which include reliable turns from Kenneth Connor, Liz Fraser, Esma Cannon and Charles Hawtrey. Also look out for future Carry On leading man Jim Dale in his series debut as an expectant father and Cleo star Amanda Barrie as Glam Cab driver Anthea.

Further reading -  Carry On Blogging: Hattie Carries On as Peggy Hawkins
Carry On Blogging: My Favourite Scene in Carry On Cabby

Carry On Blogging: My Favourite Carry On


14.50 - Carry On Regardless (1961)

Although writer Norman Hudis is on record as saying this was his least favourite of all the Carry Ons he wrote, I love Regardless. It's the most episodic film of the entire series, basically made up of a series of sketches held together by the central comic force of Sid James as the owner of the Helping Hands Agency. Helping Hands employs a rag bag of diverse workers willing to undertake (almost) anything. This premise gives Hudis a huge amount of scope and the results, in the hands of a cosy bunch of lovable Carry On eccentrics, is just brilliant. It also features the biggest supporting cast of superb British comedy actors even seen. Everyone from Fenella Fielding and Stanley Unwin to Molly Weir, Jerry Desmonde and Joan Hickson appear, mostly fleetingly. Sid is assisted by the likes of Esma Cannon, Kenneth Connor, Joan Sims, Bill Owen and a debuting Liz Fraser.

Further reading: Carry On Blogging: Why I love Carry On Regardless
Carry On Blogging: My Favourite scene - Carry On Regardless


You can follow me on Twitter @CarryOnJoan and on Instagram

My Top 20 Carry On Actors: Number 19 - Liz Fraser

This is part of a brand new series of blogs where I will take a purely personal look at my favourite Carry On actors. I will be doing a countdown of my top twenty actors and actresses in this, the sixtieth anniversary year of Carry On. So why top twenty? Well top ten didn't allow me to include all my favourites and any more than twenty and I'd be at it forever, as it were.

This top twenty will be a mix of regular top team actors and many of those instantly recognisable supporting actors who popped in and out of the series, adding superb cameos here and there. You will probably agree with some of my main choices and be vehemently opposed to others, but it's meant to encourage debate! 

So here we go with Number Nineteen: that blonde bombshell from South London, Liz Fraser.

As an actor, Liz Fraser is known for her glamorous blonde comedic persona but she is so much more than that. As one of the many Carry On blondes, Liz has an important place in the history of the series as she was the first to be gorgeous and funny. She more than holds her on against the men and her fellow actresses and is a joy in her three early Carry On films. 

Coming in at short notice to replace an ill Hattie Jacques in Carry On Regardless, the re-written role of Delia King launched Liz as a fresh young part of the team. Fraser returned for eye-catching roles in the colourful, breezy Carry On Cruising in early 1962 and then a supporting role as Kenneth Connor's girlfriend Sally in the brilliant "kitchen sink" Carry On, Cabby in 1963. Although she was offered the role Juliet Mills went on to play in Carry On Jack but turned it down in favour of broadening out her film career with more dramatic parts. Liz did return for a small role as Windsor Davies' suspicious wife in Carry On Behind but it was a far cry from her earlier roles.

I will always have a soft spot for Liz, she's a colourful personality and a cracking actress, capable of much more than you may think. She's had a very varied career on stage and screen and should be remembered for much more than these Carry On appearances as great as they are. A lifelong friend to Joan Sims and a brilliant force of nature, Liz would almost definitely be higher up this list if she had gone on to appear in more of the Carry On series.

So Liz Fraser comes in at Number 19 in my top twenty list of favourite actors. Who'll be next?

You can follow me on Twitter @CarryOnJoan on Facebook and on Instagram

Carrying On with More4 this Christmas!

It really does feel that every Carry On film is being dusted off by our television networks this Christmas, not that I'm complaining. Next week sees Channel 4 show a different Anglo Amalgamated Carry On each week day afternoon, and 4's sister channel, More 4, will be showing three more from Boxing Day morning onwards.

Here are the details:

Boxing Day, 10am - Carry On Teacher (1959)

Another favourite of mine from the early Norman Hudis era of the series, Carry On Teacher blends the best elements of Ealing comedy and St Trinian's to make one of the most innocent of all the Carry Ons. A group of children rebel during an official visit from some school inspectors in the hope they can prevent their beloved headmaster from leaving to take up a new job. Gerald Thomas coaxes some lovely performances from the child actors in the cast, principally from leads Richard O'Sullivan and Carol White. Ted Ray makes his only Carry On appearance as the headmaster William Wakefield and forms a superb double act with his longtime radio co-star Kenneth Connor as bumbling science master Gregory Adams. Rosalind Knight grabs a larger role in Teacher, following her cameo in Nurse, this time playing severe school inspector Felicity Wheeler while the likes of Hattie Jacques, Joan Sims, Charles Hawtrey and Kenneth Williams are also along for the fun as the gaggle of accident prone, squabbling teachers. 

Further reading:  Carry On Blogging Interview: Josephine Bailey
Carry On Blogging: Whatever Happened to the Saboteurs? 


27 December, 10am - Carry On Jack (1963)

Probably one of my lesser favourites, this swash buckling yarn from the early 1960s marked a return to colour for the Carry Ons and also saw the films take on a period subject matter for the very first time. Until this point, every series entry had been firmly based in the present day so for the loyal cinema-going audiences this must have been quite a shock! Jack, written by Talbot Rothwell, is also fairly light both on innuendos and familiar cast members. Indeed of the regular team at this stage, only Kenneth Williams and Charles Hawtrey appear. Jim Dale, back for his second brief cameo role after Cabby earlier the same year, was yet to become a main presence however his appearance is a funny one and most welcome. Grabbing most of the action are Juliet Mills and Bernard Cribbins and very good they are too. Both new to the films, this was Juliet's only Carry On, despite appearing in two other films for Peter Rogers, Nurse On Wheels and Twice Round The Daffodils. Jack does feature some stunning actors in supporting roles, namely Donald Houston, Percy Herbert, Cecil Parker and Patrick Cargill.

Further reading: Carry On Blogging: A Change of Tack about Carry On Jack


28 December, 10am - Carry On Regardless (1961)

Although writer Norman Hudis is on record as saying this was his least favourite of all the Carry Ons he wrote, I love Regardless. It's the most episodic film of the entire series, basically made up of a series of sketches held together by the central comic force of Sid James as the owner of the Helping Hands Agency. Helping Hands employs a rag bag of diverse workers willing to undertake (almost) anything. This premise gives Hudis a huge amount of scope and the results, in the hands of a cosy bunch of lovable Carry On eccentrics, is just brilliant. It also features the biggest supporting cast of superb British comedy actors even seen. Everyone from Fenella Fielding and Stanley Unwin to Molly Weir, Jerry Desmonde and Joan Hickson appear, mostly fleetingly. Sid is assisted by the likes of Esma Cannon, Kenneth Connor, Joan Sims, Bill Owen and a debuting Liz Fraser.

Further reading: Carry On Blogging: Why I love Carry On Regardless
Carry On Blogging: My Favourite scene - Carry On Regardless


You can follow me on Twitter @CarryOnJoan on Facebook and on Instagram