Carry On Camping (1969)

The Worst Film Ever

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Best movie of this year hands down!

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Good fun.Having seen a advert for a nudist camp, two men decide to go camping there. They then taking their unwitting girlfriends along, but end up going to the wrong camp. Meanwhile a busload of girls from nearby school are heading to the camp too, plus a varied assortment of characters...One of the better Carry On films. The humour can be quite naughty at times, but is more often clever than dirty. Generally not as low-brow as the Carry One films sometimes could be. Some good skits and one-liners.Plus, the movie has a great fun-driven momentum. Never a dull moment.

Sid Boggle (Sid James) and his friend Bernie Lugg (Bernard Bresslaw) hatch a plan to take their girlfriends, Joan Fussey (Joan Sims) and Anthea Meeks (Dilys Laye), to a nudist campsite called Paradise. However, when they get there it's not the paradise they envisaged, full of odd balls and bad British weather, things only perk up when a coach load of girls turn up. Trouble is, the guys must get shot of their girlfriends first.Oddly, Carry On Camping is a film that is revered by the series fans yet frowned upon by critics. Plot wise I'm inclined to agree with the critics, it's as basic as can be and is nothing other than a series of vignettes weaved together to create a lurid camping based holiday film. Tis true, but hell the comedy is good here, smutty and awash with innuendo and making the most of the double meaning of the word camping. It's also one of the series best roll calls as regards its cast, most of the big hitters are here, it's easier to just say Jim Dale and Kenneth Connor are the two notable absentees.From the sight of Barbara Windsor's bra shooting thru the air, to the hapless Terry Scott having buck shot removed from his posterior, Camping has no other intentions other than to titter the discerning Carry On fan. What often gets forgotten tho, is just what great comedy actors some of these series regulars were, witness here a sequence in a tent as Terry Scott, Charles Hawtrey and Betty Marsden attempt to get ready for bed, comedy gold. So one for fans only it seems, hooray for me then because I love Carry On Camping, always have, always will. 8/10

Fantastic Carry-on-Noir (an overlooked sub-genre that includes Carry on Screaming and Carry On at your Convenience). The strong main plot romps along nicely driven by excellent performances by Lotharios Sid James and Bernard Bresslaw. However the real interest lies in the characters of Charlie Muggins (Hawtrey's finest performance?), Joan Fussey (Joan Sims) and Peter Potter (bravo Terry Scott). Exploring issues from the unbearable constraints of monogamous relationships in post 60's Britain to the working class rejection of pastoral values the trio act their hearts out in a triumvirate unparalleled in modern cinema let alone Carry On movies(although Mutiny On the Buses' Reg/Olive/Jack comes close).Epic performances like these sometimes overshadow the strong ensemble cast. Kudos to Peter Butterworth's deft Josh Fiddler, Hattie Jacques understated Miss Haggard and Babs Windsor's excellent pair of perky norbs.First class satire.

If you ask people to name a carry on film, many name Carry on Camping, perhaps due to the famous scene of "flinging" Barbara Windsor. However, it deserves to be memorable for other reasons, namely: * Sid James is at his comedic best (particularly when he mistakes Joan Sims' stew for his foot bath) * Amelia Bayntun (Joan Sims' screen mum, Mrs Fussey) is a perfect representation of the overbearing mother in law/overprotective mother. (She reprises this role as Charles Hawtree's mother in Carry on Abroad a few years later).* The winning-formula familiar pairings of Sid James/Joan Sims and Kenneth Williams/Hattie Jacques.* The 60s references work well, and echo the times in places (Terry Scott looking at holiday brochures, at a time when foreign holidays were becoming viable for ordinary people, the hippy ending showing the class of generations).* The quaint references to pre-decimalisation money, notably when Sid James and Peter Butterworth are talking about the camping fees.For my money, Camping was the last great carry on. Convenience and Abroad were good, but Camping saw the regulars at the height of their powers, and it showed. Wonderful little film.