Carry on Follow That Camel (1967)

It is a performances centric movie

Better Late Then Never

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

A surprisingly funny instalment of the CARRY ON franchise, given this film's poor reputation amongst fans. A lot of that ill feeling stems from the presence of Phil Silvers (SGT. BILKO) in the cast, replacing Sid James; Silvers is hardly a perfect fit here, but I found that come the end he had acquitted himself well with the material.And the story is very enjoyable. This is a broad spoof of the Foreign Legion movie, with an upper class toff (Jim Dale, on fine form) and his manservant (Peter Butterworth, excelling in one of his larger roles) drafted into the Legion to do battle against Bernard Bresslaw (excellent) and his nefarious Arabs.The cast give some very good performances in this one, particularly Kenneth Williams playing a (bizarrely) German officer. Inevitably the gags come thick and fast, and there's a fair share of hits among them too, including some great sight gags. What I noticed in particular, and it may be the nature of the spoof, is that CARRY ON FOLLOW THAT CAMEL has much more in common with the 1950s-era CARRY ON flicks than the crude 1970s ones, and that's perhaps a reason I enjoyed it so much.

The traditions of the French Foreign Legion get the full treatment by the Carry On gang in Carry On in the Legion. You'll never watch Beau Geste again and look at it the same way after seeing this.Jim Dale and his butler Peter Butterworth following him loyally enlist in the Legion after one of those English honor affairs. They get the privilege of serving at a post commanded by German officer Kenneth Williams with Captain Charles Hawtrey as number two. After that Angela Douglas who Dale was seeing in the United Kingdom comes North Africa to get him back because his name has been cleared.The Carry On troupe took on an American in the cast. Phil Silvers playing a version of his Sergeant Bilko character is the sergeant who puts Dale and Butterworth through the ringer until they discover that his various missions and tales of derring do have all been lies. Silvers has been seeing lots of action, but it's with Joan Sims over at her café.All this while the Riffs are revolting. Beau Geste maybe the basis for the satire, but some of the gags come out Abbott&Costello in the Foreign Legion. Only Bud and Lou were never into sexual innuendo which the Carry On gang was noted for.You'll find a lot of laughs in Carry On In The Legion.

Sergeant Bilko makes for a disconcerting presence in a Carry On spoof of Beau Geste, but the experiment is more successful than not thanks to a solid Talbot Rothwell script, with Silvers playing well off the stiff upper lip types. Dale and Butterworth are in fine form as the naive aristo and his loyal valet, while Gilmore puts in a moustache twirling turn as the caddish rival, and as the object of their affections Douglas is absolutely luminous - and laugh out loud funny as she undergoes her rites of passage while retaining impeccable English manners.Less successful are the broader ethnic stereotypes from Williams, Hawtry, Simms and Bluthal, though Bresslaw enjoys himself as the villainous sheik, while Harris is more sultry than might be thought possible as a treacherous belly dancer.Not a classic, but by no means the dregs of the series (see Convenience, Loving, Behind, Henry, England, and - shudder - Emmanuelle and Columbus.)

This is not one of their best films but I liked it. The story is admittedly thin with a slight overbalance of the Bilko of the Dunes, the film feels rushed sometimes and Joan Sims the great actress she was has sadly little to do here. That said, I liked the set and costume design and the cinematography was good. The script is full of puns and innuendos, and there are some fun jokes particularly the Mustapha Leek one. The acting is decent generally, some of the regulars such as Sims are underused, but Phil Silvers is really quite excellent here, and Kenneth Williams, Jim Dale and Charles Hawtrey play their parts well. Overall, not exceptional but decent. 6/10 Bethany Cox