Carry On Girls (1973)

Perfectly adorable

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Good start, but then it gets ruined

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

CARRY ON GIRLS is probably the one CARRY ON film that cements this film series's reputation as the 'smutty postcards' of the film world. It's certainly the sauciest of all the CARRY ON films to date, using the excuse of a beauty contest to reveal the flesh of as many girls as possible, and indeed the fresh beauty of the starlets (in particular Valerie Leon, Margaret Nolan, and Wendy Richard (!)) puts everybody else, the regular team included, into the shade.The story is some silly thing about scheming councillors (Sid James playing himself, and a delightfully stuffy Kenneth Connor) arranging a beauty contest only to have their efforts thwarted by the local women's lib, led by an enjoyable June Whitfield. In reality, though, what we get are endless innuendos, risqué sight gags, and plenty more besides. It's a film in which Peter Butterworth's groping old bloke is played for laughs, so what more can you say? Yes, the format feels a little tired and stale by now, with Bernard Bresslaw's cross-dressing antics bringing to mind those of Kenneth Cope in CARRY ON MATRON and a general seen-it-all-before sense to the proceedings. But, for better or worse, CARRY ON GIRLS provides one of the most unforgettable set-pieces of all the franchise, and I'm talking about THAT eye-popping cat-fight between Barbara Windsor and Margaret Nolan. People always remember the exercise scene from CARRY ON CAMPING but this goes considerably further and once watched is difficult to erase from the memory banks.

Setting a Carry On in a UK seaside town seems so obvious—after all, the series had been using the saucy style of humour found on British holiday postcards for years—yet it wasn't until 1973 that the team took a trip to the coast for their 25th film, Carry On Girls. Set in the rundown resort of Fircombe (actually Brighton), 'Girls' sees Sid James as councillor Sidney Fiddler, who decides to boost the town's failing tourism trade by organising a beauty contest. However, not everyone is as keen on the idea as Sidney, with the local women's libbers, led by prudish councillor Augusta Prodworthy (June Whitfield), planning to sabotage the event.Such a plot allows for plenty of innuendo and bare female flesh, with the sexy contestants stripping to their undies, indulging in cat-fights, and occasionally bursting out of their swimming costumes, much to the delight of the town's randy male populace. Carry On regular Babs Windsor plays Hope Springs, focus of Sid's attention, but being in her mid-30s and a touch wobbly, she is easily eclipsed by most of the other beauties in the show. Margaret Nolan as busty Dawn Brakes easily outdoes her in the chest department, and when voluptuous beauty Paula Perkins (Valerie Leon) enters the contest, the rest of the girls might as well give up and go home.As well as an endless tirade of fit dolly birds, this caper also provides the obligatory 'man in drag' moment (Bernard Bresslaw entering the competition in one of Sid's crazy publicity stunts), Jack Douglas doing his hilarious 'Tourette's Syndrome' routine (Waheyyy!), the Confessions series' Robin Askwith as a newspaper photographer, and James Logan as the impossibly camp TV presenter Cecil Gaybody. Subtle it may not be, but it ain't 'alf funny.

The Carry On series does have worse entries such as England, Emanuelle and Columbus, but with Screaming, Cleo and Up the Khyber the series has better too. Carry on Girls doesn't fit in either best or worst categories, instead it is content with a spot in the low-ish middle category. While the costumes and sets are good, the editing isn't particularly, some scenes look as though they have been edited on a bacon slicer. The story is also rather unfocused with an attempt to combine gentle social satire and smut and sauciness, and it keeps jumping to and fro with uneven results. Also I did miss Kenneth Williams and Charles Hawtrey. However, the direction isn't too bad, neither is the music, while Talbot Rothwell's script is fluid and has some good moments that make up for the uneven focus in story. And the cast do give it their all, Sid James and June Witfield are a lively pair of adversaries and Kenneth Connor, Joan Sims and Patsy Rowlands are splendid as well. Overall, a very uneven film but not one without its moments. 6/10 Bethany Cox

This latter-day "Carry On" entry doesn't feature such series stalwarts as Kenneth Williams, Hattie Jacques or Charles Hawtrey, but still manages to be great fun – if, in no way, a classic. Council member Sid James (tied up with hotel manageress Joan Sims) decides to drum up business for their modest town by organizing a beauty contest. Kenneth Connor (sporting a funny accent and fuzzy hair-do) is the long-suffering Mayor – who, apart from his office duties, has to contend on a daily basis with openly contemptuous wife Patsy Rowlands (theirs is inspired mismatch casting indeed). Another couple is James' best pal Bernard Bresslaw and his young wife Valerie Leon (initially made to appear frumpy-looking but who eventually undergoes a make-over when, unbeknownst to her spouse, she determines to enter the contest herself out of jealousy).Barbara Windsor is "Miss Easy Rider"(!) and she's involved in rivalry throughout – erupting soon enough into a catfight in Sims' hotel lobby – with ex-roommate Sally Geeson. June Whitfield is the feminist council member who opposes the contest; to this end, she engages photographer nephew Robin Askwith (later star of several naughty "Confessions" films – I've never watched any, but am on the point of acquiring a few) to cover the preparations in order to uncover some misdeed which would allow her to put a stop to the whole 'debasing' event. Jack Douglas as the hotel concierge incorporates his hilarious twitching routine (also seen in CARRY ON ABROAD [1972] and "Lamp-Posts Of The Empire", an episode from the CARRY ON LAUGHING [1975] TV series). The finale – in which the contest is systematically sabotaged by the puritanical female townfolk (including the Mayor's own wife!) is an undeniable highlight of the film but is, essentially, a direct lift from a much earlier entry in the series – the superior CARRY ON TEACHER (1959)!