Carry On Films

Filming's not as glamorous as it's cracked up to be.

Infamy! Infamy! They've All Got It In For Me! Beginning with the feel-good conscription caper Carry On Sergeant (1958) and finishing up with the much-maligned sex farce Carry On Emmannuelle (1978), producer Peter Rogers and director Gerald Thomas tossed off a record-breaking thirty films, all with that unique 'naughty but nice' seaside postcard-style humour. A team of spot-on comedy performers, headed by Kenneth Williams, Sid James, Charles Hawtrey, Hattie Jacques and Kenneth Connor, provided the great unwashed public with brain-achingly corny gags, ridiculous slapstick antics and seminal scenes of mayhem and speeded-up chicanery that would have brought a smile to the most jaded of palates. The Carry On comedy partnership of Rogers and Thomas (later combined with the wit of scriptwriter Talbot Rothwell) was responsible for many a classic production. From historicals such as Carry On Cleo (1964) and Carry On...Up The Khyber (1968) - the latter quite possibly the funniest film ever made in Wales - to such contemporary rib-ticklers as Carry On Doctor (1967) and - possibly the most famous entry of all, thanks to Barbara Windsor's elasticised brassiere - the seminal Carry On Camping (1968). The series may have ended in the gutter with Carry On Behind (1975) and Carry On England (1976), but such was the sheer talent on display throughout those twenty years, we can forgive them this small failing. Any genre was up for ridicule - bored with Lawrence Of Arabia (1962)? Try Carry On...Follow That Camel (1967). Fed up with Hammer horror? Turn off the light and shudder at the spine-chilling Carry On Screaming! (1966). Everyone has a personal favourite Carry On film - look up yours in this concise introduction to the whole, extraordinary phenomenon. What's in it? Every film examined in detail, with full cast and crew listing, key scenes and dialogue gems, and an informed critique; brief biographies of the major players, TV shows and theatre plays; appendices that include an exhaustive bibliography and an overview of the best Carry On websites around; all rounded off with a fiendish quiz on all things Carry On.

Saucy, rude and vulgar—the 31 Carry On films remain an important part of the history of British cinematic and low brow comedy. In this book, Gerrard discusses the Carry On roots in the music halls of the Victorians and the saucy seaside postcards of Donald McGill. Made in post-war Britain, these films reflect a remarkable period of social change as the British Empire faded and a nation learned to laugh at itself. Nothing was sacred to the Carry On team. James Bond and Cleopatra were mercilessly lampooned, Miss World competitions and toilet factories came in for a cinematic pasting, while Sid James’ laugh, Barbara Windsor’s wiggle, Kenneth Williams’ flared nostrils and Charles Hawtrey’s “Oh, hello!” became synonymous with laughter, merriment and fun. Gerrard’s work examines the Carry On films as part of a wider canvas linking both their heritage and tradition to the contextual world they mirrored. The Carry On Films is an essential read for Carry On fans the country through.“div>Ding dong! Carry On!/div

In August 1958, the opening scenes of a low-budget black and white film flickered onto cinema screens up and down the country. No one could have foreseen what impact Carry on Sergeant would have then and in the future. Not only did it become one of the top three grossing films for that year, it also kick started the longest running and most successful comedy series of all time. Here, for the very first time, is the essential biography of this most treasured institution in the world of British cinema. Complete with exclusive interviews with cast and crew, and the debut publication of Vince Powell's script of Carry On Down Under, Fifty Years of Carry On is a must for any fan of the unique and ever hilarious spectacle that is Carry On.

"2018 marks the 60th anniversary of the start of the Carry On series. The first book to examine each of the 31 films in detail. Also covers the Carry On TV series and the Christmas Specials. When Carry on Sergeant became a big hit in British cinemas in 1958, not even the most optimistic of its cast or crew believed that it would become the first of a 31-film franchise. The series went on to become one of the most successful and well-loved in British and indeed world cinema. Beginning as relatively gentle comedies, the humour broadened during the late 60s, taking on an end of the pier quality that at its best was as hilarious as it was risque. Lifelong fan Stephen Lambe discusses each of the films in depth, celebrating the team's greatest moments, while examining in equal detail some of the lesser known or less successful editions of the series, as well as some of the unsung performers that made the series such a success."--Provided by publisher.

The Carry On films were the brainchild of Peter Rogers, one of Britain's most admired and respected film producers. This biography charts his career and his marriage to Betty Box, the country's first female producer, as well as documenting his 40-year partnership with director Gerald Thomas.

New York Times Bestseller: This in-depth account of Charles Sobhraj, the serial killer portrayed in Netflix miniseries The Serpent, is “compulsive reading” (The Plain Dealer). There was no pattern to the murders, no common thread other than the fact that the victims were all vacationers, robbed of their possessions and slain in seemingly random crimes. Authorities across three continents and a dozen nations had no idea they were all looking for same man: Charles Sobhraj, aka “The Serpent.” A handsome Frenchman of Vietnamese and Indian origin, Sobhraj targeted backpackers on the “hippie trail” between Europe and South Asia. A master of deception, he used his powerful intellect and considerable sex appeal to lure naïve travelers into a life of crime. When they threatened to turn on him, Sobhraj murdered his acolytes in cold blood. Between late 1975 and early 1976, a dozen corpses were found everywhere from the boulevards of Paris to the slopes of the Himalayas to the back alleys of Bangkok and Hong Kong. Some police experts believe the true number of Sobhraj’s victims may be more than twice that amount. Serpentine is the “grotesque, baffling, and hypnotic” true story of one of the most bizarre killing sprees in modern history (San Francisco Chronicle). Edgar Award–winning author Thomas Thompson’s mesmerizing portrait of a notorious sociopath and his helpless prey “unravels like fiction, but afterwards haunts the reader like the document it is” (The Plain Dealer, Cleveland).

You probably think that everything that can be written about the Carry On films has been written. Morris Bright and Robert Ross certainly thought so and they are acknowledged experts on the films - consultants and advisors on official Carry On merchandising and Peter Rogers' biographers. But, to their own amazement, they were wrong.