Carry On Screaming (1966)

 

Carry On Screaming (1966)

 

Unless you are English, and probably even if you are, you’ve likely forgotten this wonderful Horror Parody. It was a collision of two thematic forms, one on life-support for well-more than a decade, the other that had nearly died in the early 1940s, but had revived in the late-1950s -- I mean the British Musical-Hall Comedy (akin the Vaudeville in the USA) and the Gothic Horrors we mostly relate to the era of the Classic Monsters of USA’s Universal Studios.

 

Producer Peter Rogers and Director Gerald Thomas, wanted to keep the style of Musical Hall Comedy alive, and were the driving force behind the series, which included 31 films running from 1958 to 1995, and during that long run there was a 13-episode-long TV series and a few Christmas Specials also for TV. They relied of a regular cadre of talent both in front and behind the camera, but I’m fairly sure Rogers and Thomas were the only persons involved in every single one. It is known as the longest running film series in British history except for James Bond (first film was 1954, but the first actually English one was 1962). They were all stand-alone comedies connected mostly by style, stressing fast and pun-laden dialogue, mockery of the British civil service and customs, and copious sexual innuendo. Interestingly, there were only few were Parodies of other films, though the Parodies are the ones that are considered to hold up best today (note: this is the only one I’ve actually seen, but “Carry on Spying” (1964) the Bond Parody, is considered by many the best of the lot).

 

As for the Universal Monsters, they emerged in 1923, but started to decline badly after 1941. With the English easing their censorship rules in 1951, a British Production company, Hammer, revived the classic Universal Monsters with a long string of Gothically-themed films in 1957 that were spiced up with newly tolerated sex and violence. Interestingly, “Carry On …” didn’t mimic the still popular Hammers, but applied its very British comedy to the earlier Universals, though perhaps not so much to those of the Classic era (1923 - 1941) but those while it was in decline, especially those between 1948 and 1955, when Universal reduced their Monsters playing foil to the popular comic duo Abbott and Costello (they started preforming together in 1935, and their first film was 1940). There’s an undeniable kinship between this “Carry on …” and the Abbott and Costello Monster Movies, and I gotta say, “Carry On …” was a funnier than any of the decadent-era Universals.

 

So, the plot (such as it is):

 

A very attractive, but also caste, young girl (Angela Douglas) is kidnapped by something that appears to be a cross between the Frankenstein Monster and the Wolfman (Tom Clegg). Her fiancé, Albert Potter (Jim Dale), is very worried.  The incompetent Police led by Detective Sergeant Sidney Bung (Harry H. Corbert) and the even more hopeless Detective Constable Slowbottom (Peter Butterworth) follow the trail to the home of a Mad Scientist Dr Orlando Watt (Kenneth Williams), already dead for 15 years, but periodically revived by his seductive Valeria (Fenella Fielding) so he can conduct fiendish experiments. There’s also a sinister, super- and sub-human butler (Bernard Bresslaw), mummies, and lots of other stuff.

 

Except for Corbet as Bung, pretty much everyone else had multiple “Carry On …” credits, and the over-all sense of comradery among the cast is more than half the fun. Corbet was a last-minute replacement because regular Sid James fell ill; he proves excellent in his silly role, as does “Carry On …” regular Fielding, once known as "England's first lady of the double entendre."

 

Some examples of the dialogue, starting with the most explicit Abbot and Costello reference:

Slowbottom to the Mad Scientist: Your name sir.
Mad Scientist: Doctor Watt
Slowbottom: Who?
Mad Scientist: No, that’s my cousin
Slowbottom: What?
Mad Scientist: Correct.

Slowbottom: Happen to know what Doris was wearing?

Albert: Yes, a sort of white frilly blouse with a dark green jacket and a long green skirt.

Bung: Did you get that down?

Albert: Oh no, as I said, I've only known her for a year.

Bung: I was talking to my assistant!

 

Slowbottom: I'm a Police Officer and I must warn you that I'll take down anything you say.

Dan Dann (Charles Hawtrey): Alright then, trousers.

 

Slowbottom: I’ve been examining files on missing persons and I’ve discovered remarkable similarities.

Bung: Well, that’s not so surprising Slowbottom, we buy all our files at the same shop.

 

Slowbottom: And what precise time would you say this happened?
Storekeeper: How would I know? I was only called out of bed a half an hour ago.
Slowbottom: Your bed sir?
Storekeeper: What difference does it make whose bed it was.
Slowbottom: It might make a difference to somebody sir.

 

Valeria is using her female charms to try and to distract Bung from the investigation. This proves quite easy.
Bung: I came here to perform a duty!
Valeria: Well, get on with it! I haven't got all night, you know.

And there’s a bit where Bung is turned into a Werewolf and he savagely bursts into his own bedroom, where his wife (Joan Sims) mistakes his transformation for him being drunk, and she drives him away, tail between his legs, overwhelmed but her epic nagging.

 

Anthony Horan, who isn’t a fan, wrote in his review, “If the above exchanges sound even vaguely funny to you, then you should seek psychiatric help.”

 

Well, uh, I kinda liked it. I’m sorry.

 

The theme song, maybe the silliest in the history of cinema, was by Boz Burell, who later achieved fame with art-rock band King Crimson:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WrtaD6uES8&feature=related

Trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jPn4g-eR48