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Carry On Girls

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Carry On Girls
Original UK quad poster
Directed byGerald Thomas
Written byTalbot Rothwell
Produced byPeter Rogers
StarringSid James
Barbara Windsor
Joan Sims
Kenneth Connor
Bernard Bresslaw
June Whitfield
Peter Butterworth
Jack Douglas
Patsy Rowlands
Jimmy Logan
Margaret Nolan
Valerie Leon
CinematographyAlan Hume
Edited byAlfred Roome
Music byEric Rogers
Distributed byRank Organisation
Release date
  • 9 November 1973 (1973-11-09)
Running time
84 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget£205,962[1]

Carry On Girls is a 1973 British comedy film, the 25th release in the series of 31 Carry On films (1958–1992).[2] The film features regulars Sid James, Barbara Windsor, Joan Sims, Kenneth Connor, Bernard Bresslaw and Peter Butterworth.[3] This Carry On featured neither Kenneth Williams nor Charles Hawtrey; Williams was unavailable because of stage commitments and Hawtrey had been dropped from the series.

Patsy Rowlands makes her seventh appearance in the series. Robin Askwith makes his only appearance in the series. Jack Douglas makes his third appearance, this time upgraded to a main role. This is the final of six Carry On films for Valerie Leon and Jimmy Logan makes the second of his two Carry On appearances.[4][5] The film was followed by Carry On Dick in 1974.

Plot

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The seaside town of Fircombe is facing a crisis – it is always raining and there is nothing for the tourists to do. Councillor Sidney Fiddler hits on the notion of holding a beauty contest. The mayor, Frederick Bumble, is taken with the idea but feminist councillor Augusta Prodworthy is outraged and storms out of the meeting. The motion is carried in Augusta's absence, and Sidney contacts publicist Peter Potter to help with the organisation.

Sidney's girlfriend, Connie Philpotts, runs a local hotel and soon her residents—including the eccentric Mrs Dukes and the randy old Admiral – are outnumbered by putative models, including diminutive biker Hope Springs and tall, buxom Dawn Brakes. A catfight orchestrated by Hope after thinking Dawn has stolen her bikini provides better newspaper copy than bringing a donkey off the beach which, despite the bucket and spade of hotel porter, William, ruins the plush carpets. Augusta's son, press photographer Larry, is hired to document the donkey stunt and snaps the catfight that has the Mayor losing his trousers, then gulps his way through a nude photo shoot with Dawn. The Mayor's wife, Mildred, joins Prodworthy's bra-burning movement and plots the downfall of the Miss Fircombe contest on the pier. Peter Potter reluctantly becomes a man in a frock for another publicity gimmick for the television show Women's Things, presented by Cecil Gaybody and produced by Debra. Prodworthy and butch feminist Rosemary call in the police to investigate the male pageant contestant but Peter's previously prim girlfriend, Paula, has a makeover and turns out to be very buxom and glamorous and steps into the breach as the mysterious girl.

Prodworthy's gang put "Operation Spoilsport" into action, sabotaging the final contest with water, mud and itching powder. With an angry mob after his blood, Sidney makes his escape on a go-kart, finds Connie has taken all the money and then speeds away with Hope on her motorcycle.

Certification

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The film marked a slightly more risqué treatment of the topic with more nudity and openly sexual jokes than previous films. Discreet cuts by the BBFC (mainly to saucy dialogue and the hotel fight sequence between bikini-clad contestants played by Barbara Windsor and Margaret Nolan) enabled the film to gain the more commercially acceptable A certificate (open to families) than the more restrictive AA certificate, barring entry to the under-fourteens.

Cast

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Crew

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  • Screenplay – Talbot Rothwell
  • Music – Eric Rogers
  • Production Manager – Roy Goddard
  • Art Director – Robert Jones
  • Director of Photography – Alan Hume
  • Editor – Alfred Roome
  • Camera Operator – Jimmy Devis
  • Assistant Director – Jack Causey
  • Sound Recordists – Paul Lemare & Ken Barker
  • Continuity – Marjorie Lavelly
  • Make-up – Geoffrey Rodway
  • Hairdresser – Stella Rivers
  • Costume Design – Courtenay Elliott
  • Set Dresser – Kenneth MacCallum Tait
  • Dubbing Editor – Patrick Foster
  • Assistant Editor – Jack Gardner
  • Title Sketches – Larry
  • Titles – GSE Ltd
  • Processor – Rank Film Laboratories
  • Producer – Peter Rogers
  • Director – Gerald Thomas

Production

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Pre-production

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An early version of the script featured Kenneth Williams in the role of Mayor Bumble which would ultimately be played by Kenneth Connor in the finished film. Williams was appearing in a West End play, My Fat Friend.[6] The role of Cecil Gaybody was written for Charles Hawtrey, however he had been dropped due to his unreliability. It was then offered to Kenneth Williams, who turned it down because of stage commitments.

Filming

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The movie was shot from 16th April to 25th May, 1973. All the interiors were shot in Pinewood Studios, in Buckinghamshire.

The Clarges Hotel in Brighton (the exterior of which was used in the film) was then-owned by actress Dora Bryan who had appeared in the first Carry On, Carry On Sergeant. The hotel was previously used (also exterior only) in the 1971 film Carry On at Your Convenience.[7] Another filming location these two movies have in common is Brighton's West Pier (the Palace Pier had been used a couple of years earlier in Carry On at Your Convenience). Brighton Beach was another Brighton location for this movie.

Other filming locations include the Slough Town Hall, in Slough, Berkshire; and the Marylebone Railway Station in London.

Post-production

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Valerie Leon's voice for the film was dubbed by co-star June Whitfield.[8]

Reception

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In a 2018 retrospective on the series, the British Film Institute named Carry On Girls as one of the series' five worst films, alongside Carry On England (1976), That's Carry On! (1977), Carry On Emmannuelle (1978), and Carry On Columbus (1992).[9]

References

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  1. ^ Chapman, J. (2022). The Money Behind the Screen: A History of British Film Finance, 1945-1985. Edinburgh University Press p 246.
  2. ^ "Carry On Girls (1973) - Gerald Thomas | Cast and Crew | AllMovie" – via www.allmovie.com.
  3. ^ "Carry On Girls (1974)". BFI. Archived from the original on 18 October 2017.
  4. ^ "Valerie Leon". BFI. Archived from the original on 13 February 2016.
  5. ^ "Jimmy Logan". BFI. Archived from the original on 27 October 2020.
  6. ^ "Production of My Fat Friend | Theatricalia". theatricalia.com.
  7. ^ "Dora Bryan OBE: Blue Plaque unveiled". www.mybrightonandhove.org.uk. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  8. ^ "Carry on Girls 1973". The Whippit Inn. Archived from the original on 15 October 2018. Retrieved 25 October 2018.
  9. ^ Mitchell, Neil (23 November 2018). "The 5 best Carry Ons… and the 5 worst". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 15 April 2023. Retrieved 12 April 2024.

Bibliography

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  • Davidson, Andy (2012). Carry On Confidential. London: Miwk. ISBN 978-1908630018.
  • Sheridan, Simon (2011). Keeping the British End Up – Four Decades of Saucy Cinema. London: Titan Books. ISBN 978-0857682796.
  • Webber, Richard (2009). 50 Years of Carry On. London: Arrow. ISBN 978-0099490074.
  • Hudis, Norman (2008). No Laughing Matter. London: Apex. ISBN 978-1906358150.
  • Keeping the British End Up: Four Decades of Saucy Cinema by Simon Sheridan (third edition) (2007) (Reynolds & Hearn Books)
  • Ross, Robert (2002). The Carry On Companion. London: Batsford. ISBN 978-0713487718.
  • Bright, Morris; Ross, Robert (2000). Mr Carry On – The Life & Work of Peter Rogers. London: BBC Books. ISBN 978-0563551836.
  • Rigelsford, Adrian (1996). Carry On Laughing – a celebration. London: Virgin. ISBN 1-85227-554-5.
  • Hibbin, Sally & Nina (1988). What a Carry On. London: Hamlyn. ISBN 978-0600558194.
  • Eastaugh, Kenneth (1978). The Carry On Book. London: David & Charles. ISBN 978-0715374030.
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