Carry on Regardless (1961)

Director: Gerald Thomas

Cast: Kenneth Connor, Sidney James, Charles Hawtrey

Synopsis: The Helping Hands agency employs some very strange people to perform some very strange jobs!

There’s no real plot to speak of in Carry on Regardless, one of the earlier entries in the Carry On franchise. The smut is nowhere near as prominent in these early films as it was to be in the later entries, but it’s still there. Sid James plays the owner of the Helping Hands Agency, which provides labour for any job, no matter how unusual. His employees include Kenneths Williams and Connor, Charles Hawtrey and Joan Sims, among others, and their antics are pretty funny. Connor probably gets more screen time than the others, which is a bit of a shame as his brand of comedy isn’t my favourite, while Charles Hawtrey seems to be strangely under-used. His one big scene – a boxing match against an over-sized opponent – looks as if it’s copied from a couple of Stan Laurel’s fight scenes. Funniest moments are probably supplied by someone who isn’t a regular member of the team: dear old Stanley Unwin, whose brand of gobbledygook makes little sense but is curiously almost understandable. Goodly-bye-load.

(Reviewed 24th February 2012)