Carry On Regardless *** (1961, Sidney James, Kenneth Williams, Kenneth Connor, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims, Bill Owen, Liz Fraser, Hattie Jacques) – Classic Movie Review 1909

Director Gerald Thomas’s 1961 comedy of misunderstandings Carry On Regardless is the fifth Carry On movie. It is the one about the Helping Hands employment agency, whose boss, Bert Handy (Sidney James) assigns odd jobs to bungling odd-job men. Handy that his name is the same as the agency, by the way.

The staff are given jobs ranging from taking animals for walks to demonstrating new products at an important show, but of course manage to mess up even the simplest tasks. Charles Hawtrey, Kenneth Williams, Kenneth Connor, Joan Sims, Bill Owen, Liz Fraser (as Delia King) and Hattie Jacques also star.

Once again, it is the poorly paid cast that makes the movie an enduring pleasure. For it is mainly the endearing playing by the loveable performers that can make screenwriter Norman Hudis’s familiar old situations, routine plotting and ancient jokes seem fresh, appealing and funny.

Also in the cast are Terence Longdon (as Montgomery Infield-Hopping), Esma Cannon, Sydney Tafler, Terence Alexander, Julia Arnall, Stanley Unwin, Joan Hickson, Betty Marsden, Fenella Fielding (as Penny Panting), David Lodge, Jerry Desmonde, Ambrosine Phillpotts, Nicholas Parsons (as Wolf), Cyril Chamberlain, Eric Pohlmann, Freddie Mills, Norman Rossington, Patrick Cargill, Ed Devereaux, Michael Ward, Sally Geeson and Victor Maddern.

It is a neat (and unsmutty) title. Just think, Carry On Working wouldn’t exactly have had the same appeal.

Producer Peter Rogers, whose penny-pinching ways displeased many of his players, a few years ago blamed the actors’ agents for not negotiating better deals for their clients! He died on 14 April 2009, aged 95. His centenary was 20 February 2014.

Hattie Jacques had a sickie early on and quit her role, which was shared between Joan Sims and Liz Fraser. But Jacques was able to film a much smaller part as Sister, in the hospital scene.

It is Liz Fraser’s first Carry On movie, though Carry On Cruising and Carry On Cabby are more famous.

Fenella Fielding is 90 on 17 November 2017. She is also known, especially, for Carry On Screaming (1966).

Nicholas Parsons is 95 on 10 October 2018. Though primarily a radio star, he has a long filmography including Master of Bankdam (1947), To Dorothy a Son (1954), Simon and Laura (1955), An Alligator Named Daisy (1955), The Long Arm (1956), Eyewitness (1956), Brothers in Law (1957), Happy Is the Bride (1958), Carlton-Browne of the F O (1959), Too Many Crooks (1959), Upstairs and Downstairs (1959), Let’s Get Married (1960), Doctor in Love (1960), Carry On Regardless (1961), Murder Ahoy! (1964), Every Day’s a Holiday (1965), The Wrong Box (1966), The Ghost Goes Gear (1966), Don’t Raise the Bridge, Lower the River (1968) and Spy Story (1976).

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