| Carry On? No Thanks |
[Jul. 8th, 2009|09:09 am]
Tony Grist
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I seem to have spent the night dreaming I was remaking the Carry On films- which was an odd thing for me to be doing seeing how much I hate them.
Actually that's not quite true. I don't hate them; I just wouldn't want to have to sit through a whole one. As socio-cultural artefacts that document the mid-20th century British obsession with bodily functions I find them fascinating. And the odd clip or two never did anybody any harm. "Infamy, infamy- they've all got it in for me!"- that's still the most outrageous joke ever committed to celluloid. But were we really all so gormless about sex on the cusp of the swinging sixties- so ineptly lubricious, so trouser-poppingly repressed? I'm sure I was. And that's probably why I can't bear to view them except at arms length- with tongs. Jim Dale, c'est moi. |
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Better than being Sid James.
ooh Matron!
I was watching an interview with his daughter the other day. Apparently he was very different from his on screen persona. For one think he didn't go "phwoooar", he giggled.
Have to agree with your observations, though I must admit I love them, much as a person loves an eccentric uncle. :-) My favourites of them are the black and white ones, which weren't so reliant on sexual innuendo. Carry on Teacher is my favourite, with Carry on Regardless a very close second, and Carry on Cabby third. I am actually in the process of collecting them all on DVD and have 15 of the 30 so far. I already have them all on video, but haven't had a video player for several years, sadly, so time for an upgrade.
Another reason I have a soft spot for them is that my dad once told me that one of their bit-part actors, Julian Orchard, was the son of my childhood doctor, so I used to love playing 'Spot Julian' in the films. :-)
I'm very fond of Kenneth Williams. Mainly, I suppose, because I grew up listening to his radio work. He too had a love/hate relationship with the Carry Ons.
I used to watch these films as a child and really couldn't even stand them then! I expect Americans probably like them more than we Brits do! | |
