Carry on Cleo

Carry on Cleo stands head and shoulders above the rest of this variable comic series, combining a genuinely witty script, excellent performances and good production values (thanks to the use of sets from the previous years Burton-Taylor production).

it seems that the scriptwriter and cast,let off the normal constraints of the series, were determined to excel.

In addition to the oft-quoted Kenneth Williams line ('Infamy, Infamy, they've all got it in for me!'), there are other gems; 'Ptolemy?' , 'I AM TELLING YOU!!!', and to Gloria, the British girl who falls ill aboard ship - 'Oh well, Sic Transit Gloria!'.

If you only see one Carry On film, make sure that this is it.

Looking back at the many ups and downs of the British Film Industry one clear period stands out as very firmly 'up'. This was during the reign of the 'Carry On' team at their peak. For a five year period (1963 - 1968) the team churned out a series of slickly produced genre parodies which, though often substituting authentic locations for a beach in Wales or a field in East Anglia, managed to upstage the Hollywood productions they were thumbing their noses at. 'Carry On Cleo' (1964) exemplifies this period and stands out as (some would argue) one of the greatest British films ever made. The usual cast is out in force, with only a couple of notable absences (i.e. Barbara Windsor), all delivering at the top of their form, and clearly revelling in the luxury of using the sets and props left over from Mankiewicz's megaproduction of 'Cleopatra' (1963). Sid James was never more ruggedly appealing than when suited in the white miniskirt and golden breast plate of Marc Anthony, he also gets to blast the immortal line "BLIMUS!!". Scriptwriting doesn't get any sharper, from start to finish Talbot Rothwell's script glitters. In the part of Cleopatra, Amanda Barrie gives us a good view of her ripples as she floats gracefully in asses milk. Whilst batting her extended eyelashes she asks "Do'st thou like what thou see'st?". Well I certainly do'st. The film is a pleasure to watch, there is never a dull moment as the plot flips furiously between the plight of the cowardly Hengist Pod and heroic Horsa escaping roman enslavement (Kenneth Connor & Jim Dale buckling a fine swash together), and the drama of Julius Caesar's last days of power (Kenneth Williams camping it up to the nines as usual). The story threads intertwine and build to a hilarious climactic chase scene involving a Shakespearian identity swap and a hulking Egyptian guard by the name of 'Sosages'. If contemporary British film-makers would return to taking the mickey instead of sitting passively in Hollywood's thrall, we might see a few more gems like this in the future.

As an American interested in British humor of all periods, I was fascinated to finally see some examples of the `Carry On' comedies, a beloved institution in England. The recent DVD releases are region 2 PAL format only, so they continue to be for the British market exclusively.

I believe these films were considered racy in their time, but are quaint indeed by today's standard. `Cheeky' is the best word I can think of to characterize them. I was familiar with Kenneth Williams and Sid James as voices on a couple of old `Round the Horn' radio shows I'd heard. They didn't look quite as I'd pictured them. The cast is colorful and likable, but the pace and form of the humor seem to me very English, or maybe more accurately, not very American. Sometimes the jokes make references that simply wouldn't register with Americans, and I can see why it was probably decided long ago that they wouldn't travel well. Still, if you are something of an Anglophile, and have seen and appreciated a great deal of British movies and television, as I have, you're likely to get the jokes.

One of the characters in `Carry On Cleo' is named `Hengist Pod,' and his wife's name is `Sena' – hence, `Sena Pod,' hardy-har! Now, I must have come across a hundred or more references to `senapod' in British comedies, and as an American, this was a great mystery to me. As far as I have been able to determine from countless sniggering references, a senapod was (is?) some sort of strong laxative. Ah, you saucy English and your beloved poo-poo humor!

Anyway, this is probably a good introduction to the `Carry On' films for the uninitiated, as it is colorfully filmed with lavish sets and costumes left over from the Burton/Taylor production of `Cleopatra.' In addition, as much of it is set in ancient Rome, it may not seem as provincially English to non-Britons as some of the others in the series. I was delighted to finally make the acquaintance of the `Carry On' films, and look forward to seeing more.

This is surely one of the most popular "Carry Ons", a spoof on the notoriously expensive CLEOPATRA (1963) and was in fact shot on abandoned sets built in London for that film! The cast is in top form here – Sidney James is Marc Antony, Kenneth Williams Julius Caesar, Joan Sims is Calpurnia (Caesar's wife), Charles Hatwrey Seneca (philosopher and Sims' father); Kenneth Connor (as Hengist Pod, the inventor of a square wheel and who eventually does a stint as Caesar's 'invincible' bodyguard) and Jim Dale are featured as early Britons; Amanda Barrie – who had previously appeared in CARRY ON CABBY (1963) – makes for a delightful Cleopatra.

Though emerging to be somewhat patchy considering its reputation, there are some undeniably uproarious moments throughout – the Roman soldier throwing a shield at Dale during a scuffle and hitting Connor squarely in the face; the famous carpet-rolling scene introducing Cleopatra in the 1963 Hollywood epic being directly lampooned here by having the Egyptian queen roll under a table replenished with food and spilling its contents onto herself and the floor; untrue to history, Antony connives with Cleopatra to murder Caesar and become Emperor himself – she suggests using a poisonous asp and hands him one from a basket, which he mistakes for a local delicacy and promptly bites off its head! Talbot Rothwell's script also includes a running gag involving the famous "Friends, Romans, Countrymen" Shakespearean speech, as well as an in-joke wherein a couple of traders merge their business – to be known from then on as "Marcus & Spencius"!

What was more deserving in its day of being given a glorious sendup than the monumental production of "Cleopatra" with Liz and Dick's on- and off-set romantic interludes, so fulsomely (and scandalously - Can you believe it?!?) documented in worldwide tabloids?

20th-Century Fox rather carelessly left behind some quite elaborate sets at Pinewood Studios when production on the first attempt to film this spectacular under the direction of Rouben Mamoulian had to be shut down and then abandoned in London, when Elizabeth Taylor experienced one of her many life-threatening illnesses. (Other IMDb-ers err in stating that the abandoned sets used were those from the Joseph L. Mankiewicz version filmed at Cinecitta in Rome and on various locations in Italy, Spain and Egypt.) When M-G-M finished production of "Ben-Hur" (1959) in Italy they prudently destroyed the massive sets to prevent those cleverly thrifty Italian producers of sword-and-sandal "epics" from taking advantage of the bounty left behind.

The "Carry On" series may not have translated all that well to American shores, but I recall standing in line in Westwood, California, to see "Carry On Nurse" and enjoyed several of the later productions in this lengthy British franchise of satirical and slapstick humor. They were great fun and the new DVD collection is no doubt worth the price for aficionados of the series.