In 1960s Britain, a wave of saucy comedy films hit our cinema screens. They were outrageously funny, starred a team of regular actors and many of the silly catch phrases embedded in every one have stood the test of time, becoming part of British culture.
The cast comprised many misfits, none of them particularly good looking, (with some notable exceptions including Barbara Windsor, Anita Harris and Amanda Barrie), but all talented. Kenneth Williams with his drawling voice peppered the scripts with innuendo, as did the unlikely, often leading man, Sid James, memorable for his sleazy jokes and filthy laugh. Another regular was Charles Hawtrey: puny, bespectacled and prone to fainting.
Hattie Jacques cut a fine figure as Matron in Carry On Doctor, swooning over Kenneth Williams as he swanned around the wards. The Carry On franchise helped to launch the careers of many aspiring stars including Richard O'Sullivan who became a TV star in Man about the House and Jim Dale.
My Dad's favourite was Carry On Up The Khyber. He spent time on the North-West frontier during WW2 and I remember him watching the film, almost crying with laughing at the antics of Bernard Bresslaw as leader of the Burper tribe, Kenneth Williams as 'The Carsy' and the kilted regiment, 'The Third Foot and Mouth'. It was all really, really clever and full of sauce.
Carry On
4 comments:
Peter Rodgers had a vision of seaside postcard humour on the big screen and his posse of regulars certainly played to their strengths creating a 'box set' franchise before there were box sets. Carry Ons and Norman Wisdom films were the hallmark of '60s English comedy before it outgrew its end-of-the-pier everyman innocence and the wittier Cambridge brigade (Peter Cook, Monty Python etc) took us to another level.
Nostalgia! For most schoolboys a glimpse of Barbara Windsor's boobs was our introduction to an exciting world :)
Sadly topical :(
I never watched Eastenders, which I believe was her acting bread and butter for years, but I'll always remember Babs as the Carry On girl who giggled while she jiggled. Alzheimers is such a cruel way to bow out.
Post a Comment