GRAEME

Raising the Wind (1961) was on again this week - I nearly always watch it. A funny and warm film and very much in the same vien as the early Carry On films.

Directed by Gerald Thomas and produced by Peter Rogers; starring Williams, Phillips, Sid James et al. It is Carry On in all but name - all that's missing is a script by Norman Hudis. (With James Robertson Justice in full Lancelot Sprat mode it also is a nod towards the Doctor movies - set in a music college rather than a medical school)

What are other people's favourite nearly Carry Ons?

My other fave is The Big Job (1965).

julian_craster

Follow That Camel was not released as a Carry On in 1966.......

TimR

I saw "Carry On Admiral", which was apparently not on the official list despite the title - as I was informed here. It did seem different from the real ones - much more sedate and mild in its humor. A bit under-powered. I enjoyed it, though.

One very funny scene: David Tomlinson as a masquerading admiral cheerfully sets off a real torpedo while showing off the ship to an admiring group of visiting children and parents.

DB7

Nurse on Wheels and Twice aroound the Daffodils, both with Juliet Mills, could be described as Carry On District Nurse.

batman

Please Turn Over could be 'Carry On You Naughty Girl'.

Bats.

"Boom boom a baby .... Banham Zoo .... Banana pants! Hahahaha"

GRAEME

Twice Round the Daffodils is based on the same play co-written by Patrick Cargill that was the basis for Carry On Nurse. Weirdly, it has the same director, producer, and several cast members in common as well. A different tone altogether though.

Chris OD

I thought Raising the Wind was "sweet". Much more subtle than the Carry On films and thankfully without the nut-cracking-sledgehammer inuendo of the later ones. Also it had a nice gentle story line and a happy ending. Ahh! A treat to watch.

GRAEME

I don't think you're being quite fair to the early Carry Ons, Chris. Sergeant/Nurse/Constable/Teacher are very gentle and, yes, "sweet" in much the same way as Raising the Wind. There is a nice feeling of warmth in the ensemble playing which I think does get lost a little when Talbot Rothwell took over writing the series - he brought in more conflict along with the genre parodies. And of course the crudity level shot up, missus!

Mr Cosmo

I think one of the best "nearly" Carry Ons is THE BIG JOB which has Sid James, Lance Percival, Joan Sims, Jim Dale and others.
Filmed in glorious black and white and full of lots of good visual gags and the bonus of Sylvia Sims and Dick Emery.
Of course CARRY ON CABBY didn't start life as a CARRY ON.

GRAEME

Ageed! Brilliant film - and the premise was stolen by some Hollywood movie recently. Anybody know what it was?

dremble wedge

Blue Streak. Haven't seen it and don't wish to, but I remember seeing it advertised at the time.

I wonder when there will be a Hollywood remake of The Iron Maiden then?

Chris OD

Point taken Graeme, although you're right about the "smut" level increasing in the later films. Having grown up with the Carry Ons, Ealing Comedies, Python films et al, I've remained a dyed-in-the-wool British film fan. There's always been an honesty about them, with brilliant actors saying lines, however absurd, with conviction. Somehow the Amercian films I've seen, though slick, just don't have it.

Mr Cosmo

You're right - look what they did to THE LADYKILLERS.

Example - an American remake of TITFIELD THUNDERBOLT (see new title above) - the treatment would probably be something like...

Railway is closed due to corrupt politicians settling an old score to get even with the Squire's grandfather.
The vicar - the role would be rewritten to suit Halle Berry - character is now a single parent struggling to bring up her drug addicted son - and the squire - an ex cop who likes to solve old murder cases when he's not on the railway and still carries his magnum 44 - enlist the help of local benefactor Mr Valentine, a man who carries a secret which we never quite discover but it keeps him drinking at the local roadhouse where he occasionally breaks up fights. The team start attracting passengers with gimmicks and tickets sold by nubile young ladies. (Well remember the name of the village.)

The bad guys (Samuel L Jackson and John Traviolta) who run the bus company arrange for "accidents" - the guard gets his hands crushed in a torture scene, the vicar is shot at as he drives the final test run but gallantly carries on to the station despite blood pouring from a wound, but the good guys win through and the test train carries not only the transport inspector, but there is also a bomb on board, an elderly lady with a weak heart, a woman who is just about to go into labour, a man who once ran away from trouble but finds redemption in assisting the crew carry water to the train despite gunfire - and there's a bomb on board and someone has also planted a cargo of deadly snakes.

In the final scene the big finish is the train smashes through the buffers and demolishes the station where the bad guys have been waiting. The lady has her baby, the old lady with her dying breath tells where treasure is buried and gives a map to teh squire, and everyone jumps off and avoids a nasty end.

The final fadeout shows the vicar and the squire going off hand in hand into the sunset saying that this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship - cut to 15 minutes worth of credits.

It should play well among 18 year olds in Kansas which is what the average film is now aimed at!

Piccadilly

What A Carve-up, of course. Starring Sid James and Kenneth Connor

Windthrop

Watch Your Stern

Thats the joke that killed the Music Hall !