A Peter Rogers Production
Directed by Gerald Thomas

1961
Black & White

Screenplay: Norman Hudis
Music: Bruce Montgomery
Certificate U
90 minutes
Bert Handy - Sid James
Sam Twist -  Kenneth Connor
Gabriel Dimple - Charles Hawtrey
Lily Duveen - Joan Sims
Francis Courtney - Kenneth Williams
Mike Weston - Bill Owen
Delia King - Liz Fraser
Montgomery Infield-Hopping - Terence Longden
Penny Panting - Fenella Fielding
Miss Cooling - Esma Cannon
Sister - Hattie Jacques
Landlord - Stanley Unwin
Mrs Riley - Eleanor Summerfield
Mr Painting - Ed Devereaux
Park Keeper - Cyril Chamberlain
Matron - Joan Hickson
Trevor Trelawney - Terence Alexander
Referee - Norman Rossington
Manager - Sydney Taffler
Martin Paul - Jerry Desmonde
Wine Wolf - Nicholas Parsons
Customer - Patrick Cargill
Mata Hari - Betty Marsden
Bird Woman - Molly Weir
Sinister Man - Eric Pohlmann
Wine Organiser - Howard Marion Crawford
Bus Conductor - Tony Sagar
Conoisseur - David Lodge
Massive Mickey McGee - Tom Clegg
Lefty - Freddie Mills

 

 

"It's non-stop romps as the Carry On team deliver the goods in one of the rudest and funniest of the Carry On films.  The cast are all on top form as a bunch of no-hopers who join an agency in the search for a job.  The anarchy mounts as they do a series of odd jobs, including a chimps' tea party, trying to stay sober at a wine-tasting and demolishing a house.  The Carry On regulars, including Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey and Kenneth Connor are joined by the buxom Fenella Fielding, Patrick Cargill and Nicholas Parsons."
 

The Story

The Helping Hands agency will tackle any job, big or small. When owner, Bert Handy, hires 6 unemployed people and a clerk from the labour exchange, the jobs seem to become increasingly bizarre. Chimps have to be taken for walkies, wine must be tasted and the latest gadgets at the Ideal Home exhibition have to be demonstrated - all with predictably disastrous results

   

 

Comments

Not so much a film, as a series of sketches. Having said that, the sketches are all very funny, it's just that the whole film feels somewhat disjointed. The linking scenes at the Helping Hands agency work well, but don't quite manage to make sense of the whole. The eponymous Stanley Unwin makes a welcome appearance in what is surprisingly his only Carry On. Not a classic, then, but well worth watching.