Carry on Up the Jungle (1970) - film review

The world-renowned ornithologist Professor Inigo Tinkle has one ambition: to capture a live specimen of the rare Oozalum bird. To that end, he undertakes a hazardous expedition through the jungles of darkest Africa, accompanied by his associate Claude Chumley and big game hunter Bill Boosey.  The party includes Tinkle’s wealthy sponsor, Lady Bagley, and her maid, June.  Lady Bagley reveals that many years ago her husband and her baby son were lost in a previous expedition and she is hoping to find some trace of her son.  Unbeknown to Lady Bagley, her beloved offspring is alive and well, living in the jungle as a wild beast, as June soon discovers.  The explorers soon find themselves in hot water (well, nearly) when they are captured by a tribe of cannibals, the Noshas.  At the crucial moment, they are rescued by another tribe known as the Lubby Dubbies, consisting of beautiful jungle women from the lost world of Aphrodisia.  Their leader, Leda, explains that her tribe is comprised almost entirely of women.  Men are a rarity and have only one purpose, to mate.  For Tinkle and his male cohorts, things are definitely beginning to look up...

Arguably the daftest of the Carry Ons, Carry on Up the Jungle is an obvious send up of the Tarzan films and those exploration adventure epics (inspired by the works of writers such as Rider Haggard and C. S. Forester) that were so popular in the late ’60s.  The film was originally titled Carry on Tarzan, until the estate of Edgar Rice Burroughs gave producer Peter Rogers an unfavourable finger gesture. 

Clearly lacking the budget necessary for even a half-decent parody of the Tarzan films, Carry on Up the Jungle is perhaps the least successful of the Carry On spoofs, but that doesn’t prevent it from being a mad entertaining romp.  The sets may be more Kew Gardens than Dark Continent, the gags may be long past their sell-by date, the plot may be non-existent (presumably having gone the same way as the Oozalum bird), but none of this prevents Carry on Up the Jungle from being yet another generous dollop of Carry On-flavoured fun. 

The part of the jungle boy was originally conceived for Jim Dale.  The actor was so unimpressed with the role that he declined to appear in the film and the part went to Terry Scott, who is possibly the last person you would expect (or want) to see swinging from vines in a loin cloth.  Scott is so obviously wrong for the part and yet he does something with it that makes him irreplaceable; his scenes with Jacki Piper (in her first credited film role) are as poignant as they are hilarious.

Another comedy heavyweight, Frankie Howerd, was delighted to be invited back for his second Carry On (having made a favourable impression in Carry On Doctor a few years earlier).  Howerd absolutely relishes his part as the eccentric bird hunter and yet avoids the excesses that somewhat marred his other film appearances.  Howerd’s final association with the Carry Ons was in a TV special, Carry on Christmas (1969), in which he played Robert Browning and the Fairy Godmother.

Making a welcome return to the Carry Ons after a gap of five years is Kenneth Connor, who, effectively partnered with Howerd, somehow manages to make the most banal and ludicrous of gags highly amusing.  The other Carry On regulars – Sid James, Joan Sims, Charles Hawtrey and Bernard Bresslaw – need no introduction and needless-to-say give great value, especially Bresslaw, who (looking like Lenny Henry’s twin brother) appears in possibly the most politically incorrect role of any Carry On (and that’s some achievement).  Valerie Leon, famous at the time for her appearances in the Hai Karate TV ads in the UK, is stunning as the scantily clad jungle woman Leda, one of the most beautiful women to grace a Carry On film.

© filmsdefrance.com 2009

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