Lets go back to the beginning of the Carry On films era. It was never conceived as a film series by its instigators producer
Peter Rogers , director
Gerald Thomas and screenwriter
Norman Hudis . But that is precisely what happened after the success of the first film
Carry On Sergeant in 1958 which depicted a group of National Service recruits. It was based on the play
The Bull Boys and had
William Hartnell, Bob Monkhouse and Eric Barker in the three lead roles. Playing smaller roles were actors that were to form the nucleus of the Carry On ensemble for the next two decades
, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey and Hattie Jacques. Additionally there were two young actors that would play an important part in the success of the Carry Ons
.. Terry Scott and
Kenneth Connor.
Carry On Teacher was next with the addition of the dashing West End comic actor Leslie Phillips. This then inspired a similar venture, again focusing on an established and respected profession in
Carry On Nurse. This introduced the world to a RADA trained beauty by the name of Joan Sims who played the role of the accident prone trainee nurse. That too was a hit that led to
Carry On Constable which established the series and introduced audiences to a South African born craggy faced actor called Sid James. Then came
Carry On Regardless about a small group of out of work people who unable to find anything set up their employment agency. The first color Carry On..
Cruising followed about the misfit crew of a passenger liner that drive their captain up the wall. There were several important supporting roles, one being the dizzy passenger played by Australian actress
Esma Cannon..
The stock-in-trade of
Carry On humor was innuendo and the sending-up of British institutions and customs, such as the national health service (
Nurse,
Doctor, Matron and the
proposed Again Nurse), the monarchy (
Henry), the Empire (
Up the Khyber), the armed forces (
Sergeant,
England,
Jack and the
proposed Flying and
Escaping), the police (
Constable) and the trade unions (
At Your Convenience) as well as recreation (
Camping), foreign holidays (
Cruising,
Abroad), beauty contests (
Girls), caravan holidays (
Behind), and the education system (
Teacher).
Although the films were very often panned by critics, they mostly proved very popular with audiences.
The remainder of the Carry On series developed with increased use of the English comic traditions of music hall and bawdy seaside postcards such as
Carry On , Camping, Girls, Loving, Henry, Matron and Abroad. Many titles parodied more serious films, such as their tongue-in-cheek homages to James Bond (
Spying), westerns (
Cowboy), and
Hammer horror films (
Screaming!). The most impressive of these was
Carry On Cleo (1964), in which the budget-conscious production team made full use of some impressive sets that had been intended for the
Burton-and-
Taylor epic
Cleopatra (1963).
Carry On Emmanuelle, inspired by the soft erotic
Emmanuelle, brought to an end the original
Carry On run. There was an attempt to revive the series in 1992 with Carry On Columbus but it was box office flop.
