Film Review
With three successes behind them, the
Carry
On team were well into their stride when the fourth,
Carry On Constable, went into
production, and it is at this point that one of the most familiar
members of the team made his entrance, Sid James. James was a
last minute replacement for Ted Ray, who had featured in the previous
film,
Carry on Teacher (1959), but
was unable to appear in
Carry On
Constable owing to contractual obligations with rival company
ABC. Sid James would appear in 19 of the 29
Carry On films, having already
built a successful career for himself on film and radio.
In common with the three previous
Carry
On films,
Constable
pokes fun at authority figures (this time police officers) whilst
championing the little man (the bobby on the beat). Whilst the
humour is less risqué, far less reliant on innuendo and double
entendre than subsequent entries in the series, there is more than a
smattering of the saucy seaside postcard humour which would become the
trademark of the
Carry On
films. This is the first of the
Carry
Ons to feature a nude scene, unusually one that involves
unsightly males (the four constables running naked out of a shower room)
rather than well-proportioned dolly birds.
With Sid James playing the straight man (and brilliantly so), it falls
to his co-stars to deliver the gags, which they do with great
élan. Kenneth Williams and Charles Hawtrey have an amusing
drag number (which both actors are clearly enjoying far too much)
whilst Hattie Jacques plays cupid to Kenneth Connor and Joan
Sims. Leslie Philips makes the last of his three appearances in
the original
Carry Ons (he
would return for the misfired
Carry on Columbus (1992)).
Less reliant on the kind of low
humour that quickly became stale and repetitive in the later Carry Ons,
Constable is an enjoyable
family-friendly romp that has aged far better than many of the other
films in the series.
© James Travers 2009
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Next Gerald Thomas film:
Carry on Regardless (1961)
Film Synopsis
In the midst of a national flu epidemic, Sergeant Frank Wilkins wonders
how his police station will cope with so many of his staff off on sick
leave. He is grateful when he learns that he has been assigned
three recent graduates from police school - at least he is grateful
until he sees them. What an unpromising bunch they are. Tom
Potter, a society playboy who has had to forego his champagne
lifestyle. Stanley Benson, a know-all who thinks that forensic
physiognomy is the key to fighting crime. And Charlie Constable
(that's right: Constable Constable), who is obsessively superstitious
and believes that every aspect of human existence is governed by the
planetary bodies. Sergeant Wilkins has been warned by his
inspector that if his recruits fail in their duties, he will be
transferred to another station. Going by his first impressions of
Potter, Benson and Constable, Wilkins wonders whether he will see the
week out. Sure enough, it isn't long before his new recruits
begin to live down to his expectations...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.