Carry On Abroad *** (1972, Sid James, Joan Sims, Charles Hawtrey, Kenneth Williams, Barbara Windsor, Hattie Jacques, Bernard Bresslaw) – Classic Movie Review 1,883

Sid James and Joan Sims play Vic and Cora Flange, who join a motley crew of British holidaymakers on a four-day package tour to the Spanish resort of the island of Elsbels on the Costa Packet (‘It’s one of them new package deals, 17 quid, all in’).

Director Gerald Thomas and producer Peter Rogers’s 1972 comedy film Carry On Abroad is the 23rd in the series and one of the last to feature virtually all of the regular team. Regular writer Talbot Rothwell’s capable enough screenplay aims its barbs at the then topical target of the troubles Brits faced when making Spanish package holidays.

Sidney James and Joan Sims play Vic and Cora Flange, who join a motley crew of British holidaymakers on a four-day package tour to the Spanish resort of the island of Elsbels on the Costa Packet (‘It’s one of them new package deals, 17 quid, all in,’ explains Vic). There, their hotel is still being built, its foundations are dodgy, the weather is awful, the staff look strange, and the tourists immediately complain ‘My drawers have got no bottom’.

The performances keep the predictable and smutty seaside-postcard-style jokes alive and kicking in this fairly good farce that is just below the best 1960s Carry On standard.

Stuart Farquhar (Kenneth Williams): ‘Afternoon, Miss Dobbs, a lovely day for it.’  Miss Dobbs: ‘That’s what they all say, Mr Farquhar, but it won’t get you anywhere.’

Bert Conway (Jimmy Logan): ‘Where’s all the crumpet?’ Eustace Tuttle (Charles Hawtrey): ‘I don’t think they give us any tea!’

At a total of 11 regulars, Carry On Abroad features the greatest number of Carry On actors, along with the previous film Carry On Matron (1972). Besides Sidney James, Joan Sims and Charles Hawtrey, they are Kenneth Williams, Barbara Windsor, Peter Butterworth, Kenneth Connor, Hattie Jacques, Bernard Bresslaw, Patsy Rowlands, and Jack Douglas. There are no signs of Jim Dale or Terry Scott though.

It’s Charles Hawtrey’s 23rd Carry On appearance and final film (as Eustace Tuttle) at the end of his 50-year career, before going into semi-retirement in Deal, Kent. June Whitfield, David Kernan, Sally Geeson, Carol Hawkins, Derek Francis, Gail Grainger, Olga Lowe, Brian Osborne, Ray Brooks and Jimmy Logan also appear.

June Whitfield thought it would be shot in Spain and not the Pinewood Studios car park. She said: ‘I wondered where in sunny Europe we would be filming. Alas, the location turned out to be a car park at Pinewood!’

The Elsbels hotel was constructed in the Pinewood Studios backlot, with a matte added to represent the upper floors. The Pinewood security block was used as the Elsbels Airport terminal building. The Whippit Inn was built at Pinewood Studios. The road to the airport was filmed at Bagshot, Surrey. The Wundatours travel agency shop was filmed at High Street, Slough.

David Kernan said: ‘It was a great reunion for me seeing Joan [Sims] again. We did a couple of things together in the early 1960s. We really did renew our friendship. Kenneth Williams ignored me completely during the entire six weeks of filming. Then to my complete surprise he wrote some very sweet things about me in his diaries.’

The film’s technical adviser is Sun Tan Lo Tion.

Bette Davis burst into the make-up room where the team were larking about and told them off for their unprofessional behaviour and for disturbing her while she was resting while making a film at Pinewood.

Unfortunately the Spanish resort of Elsbels on the Costa Packet is as fictional as the Costa Plonka holiday location in Spain in Are You Being Served? (1977) so no need to look for it on the map.

The BBFC cut the original cinema release to remove the word ‘pissed’ and the line ‘I’m going to tear off all your clothes and throw you on the bed.’

David Kernan died on 26 December 2023, aged 85. Boxing Day. His X account revealed: ‘It is with the heaviest of hearts to announce that dear David has passed away peacefully. In this time of such sadness, we shall think of the wonderful man he was, and the truly fantastic career that he had on stage, and on screen. God Bless.’

He appeared in a number of films, including Gaolbreak (1962), Mix Me a Person (1962), Farewell Performance (1963), Zulu (1964), Otley (1968), Up the Chastity Belt (1971), Carry On Abroad (1972) and The Day of the Jackal (1973). On TV he had notable guest roles in two episodes of The Avengers, and appeared in Up Pompeii.

© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1,882

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