Carry On - The Ultimate Collection [DVD]
Category: DVD, films
Product description
![Carry On - The Ultimate Collection [DVD]](/img/carry-on-dvd-box-set.jpg)
Each of the films has been remastered to improve sound and picture quality, and as a bonus there is a director's cut of the heavily censored Carry On England. The collection spans 30 Region 2 disks, which are tidily arranged in three one-inch thick DVD holders. The latter are contained in a fairly flimsy box which provides protection from dust but is easily torn. The films run to 43 hours in total and is an absolute treat for any fan of British film comedy.
Product review
After the James Bond movies, the Carry Ons were the most successful and
most widely seen series of films to have come out of a British film studio.
The series got off to a flying start in 1958 with Carry On Sergeant
and by the mid-1960s it was at its peak with a run of enduring classics that
include Carry On Screaming,
Carry On Cleo and
Carry On Up the Khyber.
Endlessly repeated on television ever since, you'd wonder why anyone would
ever want to bother owning them on DVD. Well, here's the answer: a
complete box set of the remastered films, each with an incisive audio commentary
featuring one or more members of the cast or production team - together with
a host of additional bonus features.
Carry On - The Ultimate Collection is a fitting tribute to one of the all-time greats of British cinema and all those amazing comic performers who gave their all for it. How sad that Kenneth Williams, Sid James, Charles Hawtrey and Joan Sims are no longer around to regale us with their stories of the films' production, but surviving members of the team - Jim Dale, Liz Frazer, Patsy Rowlands, Shirley Eaton, Leslie Phillips, Jack Douglas, among others - were available at the time the collection was put together to share their memories of these great performers on the films' priceless audio commentaries. The series' producer Peter Rogers gets the audio treatment on two of the films and reveals how much he was creatively involved in the series - not just a money man, but a hands-on producer who worked on the scripts and made the series the success it came to be.
One obvious omission is the last film in the series - Carry On Columbus, made in 1992 when most of the original cast had died or had no inclination to return to the fold. Widely regarded as the film that should never have been made, the absence of Columbus is no great loss. In its place we have the enjoyable compilation That's Carry On, with links provided by Kenneth Williams and Barbara Windsor, both behaving outrageously.
The inclusion of the television series Carry On Laughing is a mixed blessing. Made in a hurry on a low budget and badly scripted, these episodes are low on laughs and are a chore to sit through, although the ones with Sid James (made not long before his untimely death) just about past muster as entertainment. Far more valuable are the trailers and picture galleries, which pack a nostalgia punch for any fan of the series.
There are also a few archive interviews from some of the stars, which are well worth watching. An unexpected bonus is the official 40th anniversary documentary What's a Carry On?, which sheds some light on the series' production and conveys a real sense of the camaraderie among the cast and crew. Carry On - The Ultimate Collection is a DVD box set that is worth every penny - just like the films it warmly celebrates.
Carry On - The Ultimate Collection is a fitting tribute to one of the all-time greats of British cinema and all those amazing comic performers who gave their all for it. How sad that Kenneth Williams, Sid James, Charles Hawtrey and Joan Sims are no longer around to regale us with their stories of the films' production, but surviving members of the team - Jim Dale, Liz Frazer, Patsy Rowlands, Shirley Eaton, Leslie Phillips, Jack Douglas, among others - were available at the time the collection was put together to share their memories of these great performers on the films' priceless audio commentaries. The series' producer Peter Rogers gets the audio treatment on two of the films and reveals how much he was creatively involved in the series - not just a money man, but a hands-on producer who worked on the scripts and made the series the success it came to be.
One obvious omission is the last film in the series - Carry On Columbus, made in 1992 when most of the original cast had died or had no inclination to return to the fold. Widely regarded as the film that should never have been made, the absence of Columbus is no great loss. In its place we have the enjoyable compilation That's Carry On, with links provided by Kenneth Williams and Barbara Windsor, both behaving outrageously.
The inclusion of the television series Carry On Laughing is a mixed blessing. Made in a hurry on a low budget and badly scripted, these episodes are low on laughs and are a chore to sit through, although the ones with Sid James (made not long before his untimely death) just about past muster as entertainment. Far more valuable are the trailers and picture galleries, which pack a nostalgia punch for any fan of the series.
There are also a few archive interviews from some of the stars, which are well worth watching. An unexpected bonus is the official 40th anniversary documentary What's a Carry On?, which sheds some light on the series' production and conveys a real sense of the camaraderie among the cast and crew. Carry On - The Ultimate Collection is a DVD box set that is worth every penny - just like the films it warmly celebrates.
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