Carry_On_series_on_screen_and_stage

<i>Carry On</i> series on screen and stage

Carry On series on screen and stage

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The Carry On series is a long-running British sequence of comedy films, stage shows and television programmes produced between 1958 and 1992. Distributed by Anglo-Amalgamated from 1958 to 1966, and the Rank Organisation from 1967 to 1978, the films were all made at Pinewood Studios.[1] The series' humour relied largely on innuendo and double entendre.[2] There were thirty-one films, four TV Christmas specials, one television series of thirteen episodes, and three West End and provincial stage plays,[3] all made on time and to a strict budget.[4]

The 2003 DVD logo depicting some of the actors from the series: from left to right; Bernard Bresslaw, Kenneth Williams, Joan Sims, Sid James, Hattie Jacques, Jim Dale, Barbara Windsor and Charles Hawtrey

Peter Rogers and Gerald Thomas were the series' sole producer and director respectively. They mostly employed the same crew and a regular group of actors. The main cast predominantly featured Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims, Kenneth Connor, Peter Butterworth, Hattie Jacques, Terry Scott, Bernard Bresslaw, Barbara Windsor, Jack Douglas and Jim Dale. The Carry Ons comprise the largest number of films of any British series and, next to the James Bond films, are the second-longest continually-running UK film series (with a fourteen-year hiatus between 1978 and 1992). Between 1958 and 1992, there were seven writers, principally Norman Hudis (1958–62)[5] and Talbot Rothwell (1963–74).[6] The films were scored by three different composers: Bruce Montgomery from 1958–62;[7] Eric Rogers (1963–75, 1977–78)[8] and Max Harris who scored the 1976 film Carry On England.[9]

In 1969, the UK television channel ITV televised a Christmas special recorded by Thames Television; entitled Carry On Christmas, it was watched by over eight million viewers.[10] Subsequent Christmas specials were recorded in 1970, 1972 and 1973. In 1975, a 13-episode television series was commissioned by ATV for ITV. Carry On Laughing ran for two seasons, with six half-hour episodes in season one and seven in season two. The writer Penelope Gilliatt wrote: "The usual charge to make against the Carry On films is to say that they could be so much better done. This is true enough. They look dreadful, they seem to be edited with a bacon slicer, the effects are perfunctory, and the comic rhythm jerks along like a cat on a cold morning. But if all these things were more elegant, I do not really think the films would be more enjoyable: the badness is part of the funniness."[11]

Filmography

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Television

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Stage shows

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References

  1. South Buckinghamshire District Council, "Planning Statement" Archived 2 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine , p. 12, SouthBucks.gov.uk, accessed 12 June 2013
  2. "Carry On going strong: Farces of nature", The Independent (online edition), 19 March 2008, accessed 22 July 2013
  3. "Barbara Windsor MBE Sixty Glorious Years", Its-behind-you.com, 2002, accessed 7 July 2013
  4. Nicolas Parsons speaking in Snelgrove, p. 46.
  5. "Norman Hudis", British Film Institute, accessed 10 June 2017.
  6. "Eric Rogers", British Film Institute, accessed 10 June 2017.
  7. "Max Harris", British Film Institute, accessed 10 June 2017.
  8. Snelgrove (2008), p. 3
  9. "In praise of Carrying on", The Observer, 9 August 1964, p. 23
  10. Carry On Sergeant (1958), British Film Institute, accessed 16 March 2012
  11. Snelgrove (2003), p. 46
  12. Ross (2005), p. 16
  13. Snelgrove (2008), pp. 10–13
  14. Snelgrove (2008), p. 6
  15. Carry On Nurse (1959), British Film Institute, accessed 16 March 2012
  16. Ross (2005), p. 22
  17. "Nurse Is Just The Medicine", The Sunday Times, 8 March 1959
  18. Carry On Teacher (1959), British Film Institute, accessed 16 March 2012
  19. Ross (2002), pp. 21–23
  20. Carry On Constable (1960), British Film Institute, accessed 16 March 2012
  21. Webber (2008), p. 58
  22. "Carry On Constable", Kinematograph Weekly, 25 February 1960, pp. 33–34
  23. "Two British Film Comedies: Simple and Sophisticated", The Times, 29 February 1960, p. 15
  24. Carry On Regardless (1961), British Film Institute, accessed 16 March 2012
  25. Ross (2005), pp. 40–41
  26. Snelgrove (2008), p. 15
  27. Carry On Cruising (1962), British Film Institute, accessed 16 March 2012
  28. Ross (2005), pp. 44–45
  29. Ross (2005), p. 44
  30. Ross (2005), p. 46
  31. Carry On Cabby (1963), British Film Institute, accessed 16 March 2012
  32. Goodwin, pp. 150–151
  33. "Carry On Cabby review", The New York Times (online edition), accessed 20 July 2013.
  34. Ross (2005), pp. 50–51
  35. Snelgrove (2003), p. 111
  36. Carry On Jack (1963), British Film Institute, accessed 16 March 2012
  37. Ross (2005), pp. 52–55
  38. Ross (2005), p. 53
  39. Carry On Spying (1963), British Film Institute, accessed 16 March 2012
  40. Snelgove (2003), p. 114
  41. Ross (2005), p. 56
  42. Ross (2005), p. 58
  43. Carry On Cleo (1964), British Film Institute, accessed 17 March 2012
  44. Cecil Wilson, Daily Mail, 8 December 1964, p. 16
  45. Snelgrove (2003), p. 115
  46. Carry On Cowboy (1965), British Film Institute, accessed 17 March 2012
  47. Snelgrove (2003), p. 116
  48. Carry On Screaming! (1966), British Film Institute, accessed 17 March 2012
  49. Columbia DB 7972
  50. Don't Lose You Head (1966), British Film Institute, accessed 17 March 2012
  51. Ross (2002), pp. 62–65
  52. Don't Lose Your Head (1967), British Film Institute, accessed 17 March 2012
  53. Ross (2005), p. 85
  54. Carry On Doctor (1967), British Film Institute, accessed 18 March 2012
  55. Ross (2005), p. 88
  56. Ross (2005), p. 89
  57. Ross (2005), p. 90
  58. Snelgrove (2003), p. 121
  59. Carry Up The Khyber (1968), British Film Institute, accessed 18 March 2012
  60. Snelgrove (2008), p. 41
  61. Snelgrove (2008), p. 113
  62. Carry On... Up the Khyber (1968), British Film Institute, accessed 24 March 2012
  63. Carry On Camping (1969), British Film Institute, accessed 18 March 2012
  64. Webber (2008), p. 112
  65. Ross (2005), pp. 102–103
  66. Carry On Again Doctor (1969), British Film Institute, accessed 18 March 2012
  67. Ross (1996), pp. 82–83
  68. Webber (2008), p. 113
  69. Snelgrove (2003), p. 125
  70. Carry On Up The Jungle (1970), British Film Institute, accessed 18 March 2012
  71. Ross (2005), p. 110
  72. Ross (1996), p. 86
  73. Snelgrove (2003), p. 126
  74. Carry On Loving (1970), British Film Institute, accessed 18 March 2012
  75. Ross (2005), p. 118
  76. Ross (2005), p. 121
  77. "Carry On Loving review" Daily Mirror, 4 November 1970, p. 28
  78. "Review", Daily Express, 4 November 1970, p. 20
  79. Snelgrove (2003), p. 127
  80. Carry On Henry (1971), British Film Institute, accessed 18 March 2012
  81. Ross (1996), p. 93
  82. Ross (2005), p. 123
  83. Snelgrove (2008), p. 13
  84. Carry On At Your Convenience (1971), British Film Institute, accessed 18 March 2012
  85. Ross (1996), pp. 98–99
  86. Carry On Matron (1972), British Film Institute, accessed 18 March 2012
  87. Ross (2005), p. 136
  88. Ross (2005), p. 137
  89. Snelgrove (2003), p. 130
  90. Carry On Abroad (1972), British Film Institute, accessed 18 March 2012
  91. Snelgrove (2003), p. 51
  92. Ross (2005), p. 142
  93. Carry On Girls (1973), British Film Institute, accessed 18 March 2012
  94. Ross (1996), pp. 108–109
  95. Snelgrove (2003), p. 133
  96. Carry On Dick (1974), British Film Institute, accessed 18 March 2012
  97. Ross (2005), pp. 162–163
  98. Snelgrove (2003), p. 135
  99. Carry On Behind (1975), British Film Institute, accessed 18 March 2012
  100. Ross (2005), pp. 168–169
  101. Snelgrove (2003), p. 136
  102. Carry On England (1976), British Film Institute, accessed 18 March 2012
  103. Ross (2005), p. 176
  104. Snelgrove (2003), p. 137
  105. That's Carry On (1977), British Film Institute, accessed 18 March 2012
  106. Ross (1996), pp. 122–123
  107. Carry On Emmannuelle (1978), British Film Institute, accessed 18 March 2012
  108. Ross (1996), pp. 125–128
  109. Snelgrove (2003), p. 138
  110. Hunter & Porter (2012), p. 112
  111. Carry On Columbus (1992), British Film Institute, accessed 18 March 2012
  112. Ross (2005), p. 197
  113. Webber (2008), p. 251
  114. Snelgrove (2008), p. 77
  115. Snelgrove (2008), p. 83
  116. Webber (2008), p. 252
  117. Webber (2008), p. 253
  118. Webber (2008), p. 254
  119. Webber (2008), p. 255
  120. Webber (2008), p. 256
  121. Webber (2008), p. 257
  122. Webber (2008), p. 258
  123. Webber (2008), p. 259
  124. Webber (2008), p. 260
  125. Webber (2008), pp. 258–259
  126. Webber (2008), p. 261
  127. Webber (2008), p. 262
  128. Webber (2008), p. 263
  129. Webber (2008), p. 249
  130. Webber (2008), pp. 249–250
  131. Webber (2008), pp. 250–251

Sources

  • Ross, Robert (1996). The Carry On Companion. London: Batsford. ISBN 978-0-7134-8771-8.
  • Ross, Robert (2005). The Carry On Story. London: Reynolds and Hearn Ltd. ISBN 978-1-903111-96-3.
  • Goodwin, Cliff (2011). Sid James: A Biography. London: Random House. ISBN 978-0-7535-4682-6.
  • Hunter, I. Q.; Porter, Laraine (2012). British Comedy Cinema. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-66667-1.
  • Snelgrove, Kevin (2003). The Carry On Book of Statistics. Somerset: KAS Publications. ISBN 978-0-9544200-0-0.
  • Snelgrove, Kevin (2008). The Official Carry On Facts, Figures and Statistics. Norfolk: Apex Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-1-906358-09-9.
  • Webber, Richard (2008). 50 Years of Carry On. London: Arrow. ISBN 978-0-09-949007-4.


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