vaggmk1938

I just found this on the BBC website. My apologies if someone has already posted it. It is really very interesting."

BBC NEWS | UK | Magazine | More than just a Carry On?

youngian

The film series could not replicated as was the much loved team that gave it its identity.

But the slapstick, innuendo and corny puns live on and for example are obvoiulsy a great influence on Mike Myers and his Austin Powers franchise.

Alec Harvey

Onky in the UK could a film series as witless, poorly filmed and directed and over- played by a lot of actors who should have known better become a long running series. The Carry Ons are a symbol of the sheer flatulence of mid 20th century British culture, vulgar drivel for filmgoers of lowered and corrupted tastes.

Shadwell

Whooa! That's a bit heavy isn't it? I rather like the Carry ons. There just a bit of harmless fun which always bring a smile to most peoples' faces and there's nothing wrong with that. Ohhh, Matron.....

Time to keep your appointment with the Wicker Man...

Alec Harvey

Harmless fun can be made with charm and skill. The Carry Ons have neither.

Steve Crook

Don't you like them then?

Steve

Wee Sonny MacGregor

Hmm - I wonder where that puts early 21st century TV?

billy bentley

I always thought that the "Carry On'ss belonged to the same tradition as the naughty seaside postcard. Personally not my cuppa, but loved by many.

Dave Cigs

I feel I must defend the 'Carry On' films here as I disagree with the negative comments made. I am a big fan of the 'purple patch' Carry On's (in my opinion that is from 'Don't Lose Your Head' to 'Behind'), but more of that later. I felt that the original BBC article made a very valid, if lazy, point which could easily have been made about any long running series. All of them have to change to reflect the times (Doctor Who and Feminism etc etc) otherwise they fail. I felt like I was reading an undergraduate's Media Studies essay, still, easy money if you can get it!

Now for the films! I think that the Carry On's are so firmly embedded in the nation's psyche because, for a lot of us (due to excessive repeats), they are synonymous with times, and people, past. Unlike the times though the films never change, the people in them never grow old and so we feel, unlike the real world, that they are reliable. They remind us of the pre 'Health and Safety' and 'PC' days and they glow with the unbridled joy's that boozing and shagging brought us in a more innocent age. No computers, no 'cholesterol', no mobile phones, no terrorists, no Global Warming and certainly no 'anti-smoking' laws exist in the Carry On world to bother Sid and Co.

Obviously not everyone likes them, as Ken Russell said, 'Surely we can do better than this' but remember he also said that 'The Carry On's are the 'cinematic equivalent of comfort food'. I never took that remark to be an insult to the 'Carry On' films, far from it. I think he is pretty bang on and he pretty much sums up their appeal for me. They are like comfort food and, if you like them, they are always pretty much guaranteed to take you to the same old place every time.

vetchbook

The Carry Ons are rubbish when you think of it as film.
But what makes them so lovely to watch are the actors involved. Sid James, Kenneth Williams etc and lesser-highlighted turnsd from the likes of Terry Scott, Hattie Jacques & my own favourite, Charles Hawtrey.

My love for them changes the more times I watch the films; Bernie Bresslaw used to annoy the hell outta me but now I like him. Especially when he and Sid James are together.