Carry On Cruising (1962)

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Carry On Cruising finds Sid James as captain of a cruise ship and as he sees it a right good captain too. The secret of his success is that he works with the same people all the time. But during muster he notices several new faces. As he hopes to get command of a transatlantic ship James knows that his chances for promotion ride with the success of the current voyage.If you had such people as first officer Kenneth Williams, doctor Kenneth Connor and most of all a seasick cook in Lance Percival you'd be concerned too. As for the newbies there all in fear and nervous of their captain.Adding to the fun are romance hungry ladies Liz Fraser, Dilys Laye and senior citizen Esma Cannon all target other passengers and some crew members. Cannon is really quite good, that old lady like Thelma Ritter in Pillow Talk can drink anyone under. Laye herself gets completely frazzled herself.Not quite as good as some of the Carry On series, but the troupe does carry on valiantly.

The sixth Carry On caper, and the second to be filmed in colour, Carry On Cruising takes place aboard the S.S. Happy Wanderer, a British cruise-ship sailing the Mediterranean, experienced seafarer Captain Wellington Crowther (Sid James) at its helm. With several new crew-members, none of whom seem particularly capable, the captain is naturally concerned about the smooth running of his vessel, but despite a journey full of crazy mishaps, he eventually learns to trust and respect his eccentric shipmates.Much tamer than the later films, Cruising sails smoothly through the family friendly comedy with only a handful of relatively tame double entendres to gently rock the boat. The majority of the gags revolve around people getting drunk, the romantic endeavours of ship's doctor Arthur Binn (Kenneth Connor) and passenger Flo Castle (Dilys Laye), and the receiving of injections in the butt for seasick cook Wilfred Haines (Lance Percival); but even though this one lacks the ribald humour and general sauciness that the series is famed for—and is missing some key members of the Carry On team (Joan Sims, Hattie Jacques, Charles Hawtree)—it does possess a quaint, easygoing charm that should still make for fun viewing, especially for avid fans of the series.6.5 out of 10, rounded up to 7 for IMDb.

Captain Wellington Crowther is bemused to find that for his 10th anniversary cruise aboard the SS Happy Wanderer, his crew consists of some newbies. Who on a first meeting with the Captain appear to be inept and destined to make a hash of the job in hand.The Carry On movies are of course something of a British institution. Blending saucy postcard humour with slap-stick, it's a film franchise that has as many fans as it does detractors. One thing most British cinema fans can agree on is that when the series was good (Carry On Cleo) it was bona fide funny, and naturally the flip-side of that was when it was bad it was darn near desperate (Carry On England). Carry On Cruising falls somewhere in the middle.After securing a budget of almost £150,000, director Gerald Thomas and producer Peter Rogers decided to make this film the first Carry On picture in colour. Minus franchise stalwart Charles Hawtrey (who after having an attack of star-man ego was promptly replaced by Lance Perceval), Carry On Cruising lacks a certain character dynamic that was a mainstay in the series highlights. Perceval is actually very good (it was his only Carry On appearance), but with no Joan Sims, Jim Dale, Bernard Bresslaw, Hattie Jacques and Barbara Windsor, it's left to Kenneth Williams, Kenneth Connor and Sid James to carry the weight of the film. But with James in an unusually light and restrained role (Crowther), there's just not enough mirth to fully please the majority of viewers.I've personally been in lust with both Liz Fraser and Dilys Laye since forever, but they are poor comedy substitutes for the absent buxom comedienne's mentioned prior. Both ladies, in fact all in the film are outshone by Esma Cannon who is on excellently endearing Batty Biddie form. Williams and Connor do well enough with Norman Hudis' weak, and what was to be his last Carry On screenplay, and some well put together skits just about save the film from being a stinker (or should that be sinker?). So average at best, and not one to readily be revisited often, but with this franchise you sometimes have to take the rough with the smooth. 5.5/10

Over-reliant on crude physical falling about type comedy. Liz Fraser does it best when she "collapses in a dead faint" (she's a big lass). The clowning tends to hide the plot. There is one of sorts: the rookie crew are trying to impress, and the doctor (Ken Connor) is in love with Florence (Dilys Laye), who's hunting a husband in all the wrong places. Keep watching, though, as there are some very funny lines. When Laye throws herself at the captain he growls: "Flo! Ebb a bit!" Kenneth Williams is as brilliant as ever. When the captain calls for the barman, Tree, Williams ripostes something like "Where's Tree? I don't know, but there's a potted palm outside the first class dining room." And when the Captain reads him out a long list of tasks, he breaks into song "and a partriiiiidge in a pear tree - oh, sorry sir." Williams had a good voice and so did Connor (he gets Liz Fraser on his side by serenading the sleeping Laye). It's a shame Connor is so, so, so painfully unfunny. Oddly, Williams thought he was hilarious.