Carry on Sergeant

Humor doesn't need to be slapstick, sexual, or degrading to be funny. It's the juxtaposition of elements that creates tension and laughs in this gentle comedy about a newly-wed husband who finds out on his wedding day that he's been drafted. Add to this an Army instructor who's about to retire, and who makes an extravagant bet that in his last platoon he will finally have a Champion Platoon, only to find that he's been saddled with a bunch of misfits. Sgt. Grimshawe is played in low-key style by William Hartnell in a gentle send-up of his many 'tough sergeant' roles. Bob Monkhouse, Hattie Jacques, Charles Hawtrey, Kenneth Connor, et. al. turn in equally understated performances that actually enhance the humor.

This film is the obvious inspiration for Bill Murray's 'Stripes', which, while funny, doesn't have anywhere *near* the charm of 'Carry On, Sergeant'. It holds up very well, indeed.

And subtle this is, making Sergeant an extremely strange Carry On experience.

As the first of the original five films these form, along with Cabby, (not counting the intentional noir of Spying), the only examples of the series in black and white. Far away from the whistles and bells, boobs and bums of the accepted format, the largely all-male cast plays out a light character comedy. The few female roles are better developed than in the 70s; something you might suspect would be the other way around.

There's the odd sight of players who never made a repeat appearance, such as stars William Hartnell and smug Bob Monkhouse, here quite good in his dashing leading man role. Of what were to become the regulars, Charles Hawtrey is his usual self in one of his funniest performances, though it's weird to see Kenneth Williams actually acting. Here he plays it straight as Jim, the spoilt rich kid with a degree. His bolshie character – "don't you think this is a trifle out of date in a world bristling with H-bombs, Sergeant?" – is quite refreshing, and Williams plays him with admirable conviction. Later he would opt for camping up his roles in more and more over the top performances, which were nevertheless much funnier. This is what marks the fundamental difference between Sergeant and the majority of the franchise; it has a greater mark of quality, but it isn't that amusing.

Occasional lines show what was to come ("Your rank?" "Well that's a matter of opinion") and there's also the "raise your back sight" line and the scene with the fire extinguishers. Some of the jokes are a little obvious, such as Kenneth Connor's vaguely irritating hypochondriac being called Strong. Though the relative cleanness of his ultimate medical check up shows how much broader and coarser the series was to become. This is more in the traditional mould, where the comedy arises out of the situation, rather than the situation being contrived around non-stop jokes and innuendo. While the next year's follow-up, Nurse would see quite racy shaving and daffodil scenes, it was still tied in to the same sort of (relative) naturalistic performances. It wasn't until around 1962's Cruising that the Carry Ons as they're most remembered started to emerge. This is strange, because while the first seven films with their sub-Ealing sensibilities now seem out of place in the franchise, they ARE the Carry On franchise. The Talbot Rothwell scripts which are so well remembered are actually subversions of the series into broader comedy. Certainly dated, Sergeant's humour is unusually underdefined, particularly in a modern context. This is the film all over, then: commendable, if not actually all that funny.

I really like the Carry On movies in general. Later on, the humour did get smutty and then when regulars left or died the series went downhill faster than you could say "bob's your uncle". Carry on Sergeant holds the honour of being the first of the series, and in my mind it is one of the better ones, even with the too-short length and occasionally lacking story. I do think though it looks good, the film is very efficiently directed, the film goes at a fine pace and the music is nice and quirky. The script and cast are what make this entry work. The script is great, it is still very funny but its tone is gentler and I liked that. A lot of the early Carry Ons had this gentle humour, and it is a tone I kind of prefer actually. The cast once again give it their all, not just William Hartnell and Bob Monkhouse who are splendid, but also sterling support from regulars Kenneth Connor, Kenneth Williams(a smarmy know-it-all here), Hattie Jacques and Charles Hawtrey. Overall, a very entertaining and re-watchable entry and a solid debut. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Great film and a good start to the most successful and longest lived film comedy series in history. Unlike the later films this film and all Carry On's till about 1965/66 relied less on the trademark bawdy humour but on comedy scenario, which in someways makes the early Carry on's more endearing than their successors. Kenneth Connor as Hypocondriac Horace Strong is gut-wrenchingly funny. Other regulars also make their Carry On debuts in this first movie such as Kenneth Williams, Hattie Jacques, Charles Hawtrey and Terry Scott, (Although 10 years would elapse before Scott would make his next Carry On appearance). The early films had their own set of regulars, and Eric Barker, Bill Owen, (Yes THE Bill Owen), and Terence Longden, would make regular appearences thoughout these formative years. The Romantic Leads were played by The late, great Bob Monkhouse, (Yes! THE Bob Monkhouse), and Shirley Eaton, (Yes! Goldfinger's Shirley Eaton), and it's a shame that Bob Monkhouse never made another Carry on movie, but he decided to become a household name on British TV as Mr Gameshow himself. The Title role is wonderfully played by William Hartnell (Yes! Dr Who William Hartnell). Watch this movie it's funny as hell.

The first "Carry On" is not among the best: it's an all-too-typical army comedy, albeit an agreeable one. William Hartnell stars as a Sergeant about to retire but who has yet to win a contest for leading his barracks' finest platoon, so he determines to achieve just this with his last batch of recruits – unfortunately for him, these include Kenneth Connor, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Bob Monkhouse, Terence Longdon and Norman Rossington (actually, such a dumb subject that he's been rejected by several previous outfits and has been stranded in the camp ever since)! As can be seen, this same plot would eventually be worked into two later series outings – CARRY ON TEACHER (1959), down to the sentimental ending, and CARRY ON, CONSTABLE (1960), with Eric Barker once again as the disciplinarian but flustered Captain.

Shirley Eaton provides the eye-candy as Monkhouse's fresh bride, who contrives to get a job in the barracks' kitchen in order to be near him; her companion, ugly-duckling Dora Bryan, has set her eyes on hypochondriac Connor (who is forever appearing before medical officer Hattie Jacques with some mysterious ailment or other, until she decides to have him undertake a thorough test by several specialists so as to declare him physically fit once and for all!). Hawtrey is typically bumbling; Williams scores best as a smug, know-it-all recruit (he plays it quite straight and, again, variations of this were seen in CARRY ON NURSE [1959] and CARRY ON, CONSTABLE). Needless to say, once the boys realize what the outcome of their training would mean for the long-suffering Hartnell, they put their best foot forward to send him home with his well-deserved prize in tow.