Carry On Sergeant **** (1958, William Hartnell, Bob Monkhouse, Shirley Eaton, Eric Barker, Dora Bryan, Bill Owen, Kenneth Connor, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey) – Classic Movie Review 454

Director Gerald Thomas’s and producer Peter Rogers’s landmark 1958 comedy was such a hit that it turned out to be the first of 30 Carry On movies, Britain’s longest series.

The breezy romp that unexpectedly started all the laughter is a conventional British Army farce, based on a theatre comedy play about National Servicemen conscripts, The Bull Boys, by R F Delderfield. It is funny but it’s a slightly shaky start to the series, with a boringly realistic setting, an underlying dull seriousness of tone, a drab 50s set of post-war austerity attitudes, a cheap production and frankly not enough rib-tickling jokes in Norman Hudis’s screenplay.

But it’s still amusing, vintage-style fun, and it’s hugely lifted by the lovely performances by the eventual Carry On series regulars Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Kenneth Connor, Terry Scott and Hattie Jacques.

The centre is held by a tough, non-comedy turn from the film’s main star William Hartnell, later the first Doctor Who, the seen-it-all roaring Sergeant Major Grimshawe who has the seemingly impossible task of trying to turn a squad of rotten rookies into shining soldiers.

Grimshawe wants to retire after winning the Star Squad prize with his very last platoon of newly called-up National Servicemen. But how can he when they’re such a useless crew?

The other main star is Bob Monkhouse, who is also good value as the smarmy private Charlie Sage. Shirley Eaton, Eric Barker, Dora Bryan and Bill Owen are the other indispensable stars.

The relishable or ghastly (depending on taste) puns and innuendos are already present and correct, and out in force. Now that most of the cast have passed away, it’s valuable to have this sweet nostalgic snapshot from so long ago.

In 2008, the poster was used on a celebratory first-class UK stamp, with HM Queen’s head astonishingly right next to Bob Monkhouse’s. The other stamps in the collection were Dracula, Carry On Cleo, Carry On Screaming, The Curse of Frankenstein and The Mummy.

© Derek Winnert 2013 Classic Movie Review 454

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