Carry on Behind [DVD] [1975]

I've often heard people refer to "Behind" as "Camping 2" but the only similarity to me is the location and general camping theme.

Both films make for wonderful, "escapist" viewing, and are so wonderfully silly at points that you can't not laugh.

Even without Sid - for whom Windsor Davies' role as Fred the butcher had been originally custom-written - the film captures that wonderful low-budget, cheerful era of home-grown British comedy the likes of which we'll not see again.

Behind stands up against all the other Carry Ons as an equal classic. It brightens up any miserable, rainy Sunday.

Carry On Camping is on of my favourite films, but not even that piece of genius comes close to Carry On Behind. I'm sure some people would disagree with me but, to me, this is such a good film that ...Camping doesn't even come close. The best scene, in my view, comes when Kenneth Connor tries to seduce Joan Simms. Kenny, in his desperation to get Joan 'in the mood', plays a brass band lp and dances around like a major on heat. You have to see it to enjoy it fully, but you won't be disappointed! Pure genius and should be bought by everyone who likes good, honest comedy.

A group of imminent archaelogists led by the stuffy Professor Roland Crump (Kenneth Williams) and the more liberated and fun Professor Anna Vooshka (Elke Sommer) are in serach of an old Roman town that is thought to be lying underneath a holiday caravan park.

It's the height of the summer season and a group of holiday makers arrive on the dingey-looking caravan park for their annual holidays. The dedicated archaelogists begin their frantic search for the Roman town and start digging enthusiastically away which subsequently leads to the the entire caravan park nearly sinking into the ground after a torrential thunderstorm on the last night of the holiday.

This 1975 entry in this much-loved British comedy film series marked the beginning of the end of the series. Screenplay writer Talbot Rothwell (who had taken over as writer from Norman Hudis in 1963 with Carry On Cabby) essentially retired from the Carry On films after 1974's Carry On Dick due to nervous exhaustion. Carry On Dick marked the end of an era in more ways than one as it also saw the swift departure of three of its most popular stars: Sid James, Hattie Jaques and Barbara Windsor.

Scriptwriter Dave Freeman was drafted into the fold having already worked with Producer Peter Rogers and Director Gerald Thomas on the 1972 film version of the hit I.T.V sitcom, Bless This House.

Dave Freemans windy and sparky (and far bluer) dialogue was slightly more risque, a trend that had started to emerge in the vast majority of the 1970's Carry On's. The jokes and endless gags all overflow on smutty innuendo and hilarious double entendres even though Freeman was infact attempting to vaguely recapture the spirit and flavour of 1969's classic, Carry On Camping.

Times had certainly changed since then and all sorts of ludicrous sex comedies were scoring high at the Box Office such as the dreadful Confessions Of A... films and the even worse Adventures Of A... series which all seemed pretty lame stuff when compared to the sparkling, feel-good factor of the Carry On's. However by 1975 the Carry On's were suddenly seeming a little out of place and seemed dated in comparison to the likes of the more explicit sex comedies that were roaming around.

However 1975's Carry On Behind still comes out a winner even though it fared disappointingly at the Box Office. Though it's missing several of the regular Carry On stars an injection of new faces were introduced with the likes of Carol Hawkins (who also starred in 1972's Carry On Abroad) and Sherrie Hewson providing the eye candy for the men whilst Adrienne Posta and Ian Lavender (star of the B.B.C sitcom, Dads Army) star as a married couple on their holidays. These performers all breeze into the Carry On phenemonon perfectly and with the likes of Carol Hawkins and Adrienne Posta on board these younger performers could quite well have been the next generation of Carry On players.

Also returning to the Carry On's after a long absence from the series were Liz Frazer last seen in 1963's Carry On Cabby and Larry Dann as one of the team of archaeologists, last seen back in 1959's Carry On Teacher.

Surprisingly its acclaimed International film star Elke Sommer who receives top billing in Carry On Behind, pipping Carry On lifer Kenneth Williams to the post. Her wonderful performance is always impeccably timed, displaying a natural flair for comedy and tossing in such fractured English comments that becomes the foil of each delightful scene she shares with Kenneth Williams who both seemingly spark off one another.

Kenneth Williams is the typically snide, arrogant and outrageously camp Professor Roland Crump. If you were to delve into Kenneth Williams famous Diaries that were published shortly after he allegedly commit suicide in 1988, you could perharps be a little startled to learn that Williams had grown very unhappy with the Carry On series over the years and had felt they had hindered his acting career in finding more serious, challenging roles. You really can't detect that animosity when you view Williams performance in Carry On Behind (even though he declared this to be the worst in the series at the point of filming) as he goes through the motions with seemingly effortless energy, delivering on the whole, a fine comic turn.

Bernard Bresslaw stars as Arthur Upmore who is on his annual holidays with his slightly dowdy wife, Linda (Patsy Rolands) who has the burden of having to bring his intefering, dragon-like mother-in-law (Joan Sims) along for the holiday. Bresslaws performance seems to be running through the motions, lacking the spark of his role in Carry On Camping whilst Patsy Rolands bubbles along nicely in the background in a fairly minor supporting turn though as always injecting her usual inimitable characterisation into the role.

Joan Sims seems to be on auto-pilot for the duration of the first half of the film though has a few witty lines to deliver and as the film draws on is revealed to have a far softer side when she is re-united unexpectedly with her long-lost husband, Henry (Peter Butterworth) who had been working at the caravan park as an "odd job" man for the past twenty years. The scenes in which Sims and Butterworth are re-aquainting themselves in the caravan are actually quite touching, delivered beautifully by these two stalwarts of the series and having a real poignant edge.

Peter Butterworth as Henry Barnes practically turns in a virtual re-creation of his stingey, scavanging character Mr. Fiddler in the more famous Carry On Camping for Carry On Behind, though his performance is top notch as always whilst another stalwart of the series, Kenneth Connor gets the occasional chance to shine as the sexually repressed and seemingly ever-randy caravan site owner, Major Leep.

The pairing of Windsor Davies as Fred and Jack Douglas as Ernie is a slightly pale reflection of the dynamic teaming of Sid James and Bernard Bresslaw in Carry On Camping with just a few variations. Again they are the almost stereotypical middle-aged married men looking for extra marital activity whilst their wives (Liz Frazer and Patrica Franklin) are blissfully ignorant of their husbands intent, believing they are going on a "fishing" trip.

The pace and energy of the Carry On films was slowing down considerably now though Carry On Behind stays afloat with some fine performances and hilarious (even if predictable) situations that makes this one of the classics in the series and indeed the last watchable of the series (subsequent entries Carry On England (1976) and Carry On Emanuelle (1978) are probably best forgotten).

There does seem a lack of real interaction with the cast until the ending where Jenny Cox turns up (typically through a comic misunderstanding) at the caravans club/bar on the final night of the holiday performing a raunchy strip tease. It is the climax of Carry On Behind that really scores best as the whole holiday ends in disaster as various caravans begin falling down the muddy holes the archeaologists had been digging around the site. But the film ends firmly retaining that feel-good factor that the Carry On's were always renowned for and this was a last hurrah for the series.

(Incidentally Carry On Behind was shot on exactly the same field as Carry On Camping which was not more than a stones throw from Pinewood Studios where all Carry On's were filmed. Again the cast as in Carry On Camping had a hard time keeping their spirits "up" having been filmed during the winter season in time for its summer release.)

Ian Phillips