Not everybody enjoys the Carry On films, but even those that do are generally in agreement that Carry On England is a complete misfire.
It's easy to suggest that it fails because many of the series' regular lead performers are absent this time around but it's difficult to see how their presence would have improved things very much, it's not as if the familiar faces were able to save the equally bad Carry On Emmannuelle, for instance. The few established regulars who do grace Carry On England, such as Kenneth Connor, Joan Sims and Peter Butterworth, are severely restricted by the lacklustre material they are given to work with.
The biggest losses are not those in front of the camera but the likes of regular writer Talbot Rothwell and also Eric Rogers, whose musical compositions gave a consistent feeling to the Carry Ons regardless of their setting.
Rothwell built his best Carry Ons around a strong storyline, often with clearly defined goodies and baddies and with something at stake. This entry is more of a throwback to those by Rothwell's predecessor, Norman Hudis, who based the earliest Carry Ons around mockery of the establishment. Indeed, the plot of Carry On England, which concerns a commanding officer in the army trying in vain to convert his troops into a crack squad mostly resembles the very first entry in the series, Carry On Sergeant, but on that occasion Norman Hudis made the story work through well-defined characters and subplots.
Here, the superficial plot has nothing to underpin it other than... Well, I was going to write sexual innuendo, but a lot of the content in England isn't even suggestive, it's spelt out. The 1940s air defence base that serves as the setting for this film is populated by both male and female recruits, and the 'comic situation' is that the troops are more interested in making love rather than war.
Even that might be something to build a comedy on, but too much of the attempts at humour are weak, involving Connor's authoritarian character losing his dignity by losing his trousers, falling in mud, even getting stuck in a waste paper bin or having his face stained blue. It's all rather weak and lacking in imagination. Other than Connor and his bawling Sergeant Major (Windsor Davies, in a virtual carbon copy of the role that made him famous in TV's It Ain't Half Hot Mum), the characters are paper-thin and bland, with rather too little to do unless you happen to be a fan of Jack Douglas' twitching routines, which I personally found to be an ill-fitting addition to the later Carry On films. It's difficult to know where to start to repair the script, but making the characters more individual would help, and I think the plot would have been enhanced if it had been the female recruits joining the camp for the first time rather than the Commanding Officer. Given that the men are already having their wicked way with the women on a nightly basis, there's not much direction left to go in.
Although the attempts to get the big laughs fall flat, some of the throwaway lines do hit the mark, if you're able to catch them. Connor's Captain Melly, for example, has called his dog Hitler, and at one point says "Heel, Hitler."
Production values are quite high, the period setting accomplished very well and everything is well shot. Even the stock footage of fighter aircraft is surprisingly well integrated. But there were plenty of signs before this film got made that the Carry On series was past its best, and by this point Producer Peter Rogers and Director Gerald Thomas had clearly taken their eye off the ball. This entry was well below par and nearly killed the series. Looking at what came next, it's unfortunate that it didn't.
Still, even a dire Carry On is a step up from some other British comedy films of the same era and Carry On England remains watchable. It's just that watching it will only remind you how much better Carry On films usually are.
It's easy to suggest that it fails because many of the series' regular lead performers are absent this time around but it's difficult to see how their presence would have improved things very much, it's not as if the familiar faces were able to save the equally bad Carry On Emmannuelle, for instance. The few established regulars who do grace Carry On England, such as Kenneth Connor, Joan Sims and Peter Butterworth, are severely restricted by the lacklustre material they are given to work with.
The biggest losses are not those in front of the camera but the likes of regular writer Talbot Rothwell and also Eric Rogers, whose musical compositions gave a consistent feeling to the Carry Ons regardless of their setting.
Rothwell built his best Carry Ons around a strong storyline, often with clearly defined goodies and baddies and with something at stake. This entry is more of a throwback to those by Rothwell's predecessor, Norman Hudis, who based the earliest Carry Ons around mockery of the establishment. Indeed, the plot of Carry On England, which concerns a commanding officer in the army trying in vain to convert his troops into a crack squad mostly resembles the very first entry in the series, Carry On Sergeant, but on that occasion Norman Hudis made the story work through well-defined characters and subplots.
Here, the superficial plot has nothing to underpin it other than... Well, I was going to write sexual innuendo, but a lot of the content in England isn't even suggestive, it's spelt out. The 1940s air defence base that serves as the setting for this film is populated by both male and female recruits, and the 'comic situation' is that the troops are more interested in making love rather than war.
Even that might be something to build a comedy on, but too much of the attempts at humour are weak, involving Connor's authoritarian character losing his dignity by losing his trousers, falling in mud, even getting stuck in a waste paper bin or having his face stained blue. It's all rather weak and lacking in imagination. Other than Connor and his bawling Sergeant Major (Windsor Davies, in a virtual carbon copy of the role that made him famous in TV's It Ain't Half Hot Mum), the characters are paper-thin and bland, with rather too little to do unless you happen to be a fan of Jack Douglas' twitching routines, which I personally found to be an ill-fitting addition to the later Carry On films. It's difficult to know where to start to repair the script, but making the characters more individual would help, and I think the plot would have been enhanced if it had been the female recruits joining the camp for the first time rather than the Commanding Officer. Given that the men are already having their wicked way with the women on a nightly basis, there's not much direction left to go in.
Although the attempts to get the big laughs fall flat, some of the throwaway lines do hit the mark, if you're able to catch them. Connor's Captain Melly, for example, has called his dog Hitler, and at one point says "Heel, Hitler."
Production values are quite high, the period setting accomplished very well and everything is well shot. Even the stock footage of fighter aircraft is surprisingly well integrated. But there were plenty of signs before this film got made that the Carry On series was past its best, and by this point Producer Peter Rogers and Director Gerald Thomas had clearly taken their eye off the ball. This entry was well below par and nearly killed the series. Looking at what came next, it's unfortunate that it didn't.
Still, even a dire Carry On is a step up from some other British comedy films of the same era and Carry On England remains watchable. It's just that watching it will only remind you how much better Carry On films usually are.