Foul Feet Smell Something Horrible

Carry on Screaming! (Gerald Thomas, 1966)

Two era defining institutions in British cinema that happen to be favourites for your host are Hammer Film Productions and the Carry on... franchise. Peter Rogers, producer of the latter, would often release films which would parody popular trends at the time, and in the mid-sixties, Hammer's sumptuously colourful gothic horror films were ripe for some lampooning. The result would be Gerald Thomas helming Carry on Screaming (1966), arguably the best film from the beloved film franchise.

With the absence of the legendary comedic actor, Sid James, a leading and highly charismatic fixture in the majority of the Carry On... films, the role of the lead, Detective. Sgt. Sidney Bung, was offered to Harry H. Corbett, better known as playing one half of the rag 'n' bone collective in the classic British sitcom Steptoe and Son (1962 - 1974). Corbett wasn't the only actor making their one and only appearance in the franchise as the role of Valeria Watt, the vampish femme was played by the smokey voiced Fenella Fielding. Both of their debuts was such perfect casting, you would probably be shocked to learn they weren't first choices originally. Of course, the supporting cast, comprised of regular Carry on.. luminaries such as Kenneth Williams, Jim Dale, Joan Sims, Bernard Breslau and Peter Butterworth. Along with those actors, there are also scene stealing cameos from Charles Hawtrey and Jon Pertwee.

Visually, the film captures Hammer's gothic eye candy with acute perfection. The set locations like the Watt's Bide-a-Wee Rest Home and its surrounding woodland area, look they could have come from Terence Fisher's Dracula Prince of Darkness (1966) which was also released in the same year. Along with the costume and prop department also following through with replicating Hammer's distinguishable aesthetics and you have a film that perfectly executes in its design brief. Outside of the comedy, the only real distinguishable difference is the absence of any Kensignton Gore.

Considering it throws various features such as Frankenstein's monster type missing links, an Egyptian mummy, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde potions, a House of Wax style theme and various other elements into the mix, you would be forgiven for thinking that Talbot Rothwell's screenplay might have been a complete mess on paper, but it all gels together superbly well on-screen. It also helps that the humourous dialogue is penned better than any of today's overrated film comedies. One example is this exchange between four of the film's characters which is pure poetry to your host and why Talbot Rothwell’s scripts ought to be taught in English Literature classes to the masses:

Det. Sgt. Bung: A young lady has disappeared and we're anxious to trace her whereabouts.

Dr. Watt: Oh? Whereabouts?

Det. Sgt. Bung: Hereabouts.

Albert Potter: At ten o' clock.

Det. Sgt. Bung: Or thereabouts.

Constable Slobotham: In this vicinity.

Det. Sgt. Bung: Or roundabouts.

Constable Slobotham: We're police officers.

Albert Potter: Or layabouts. 

 

Absolutely love the scene where Harry H. Corbett and Peter Butterworth as the bungling police officers attempt to put the various clues together and produce one of my favourite lines in the film.

The Carry on... films might be seen as dated and problematic today, and as such, they’re often treated as guilty pleasures or mistakenly overlooked for lacking any intellectual or artistic merit. Carry on Screaming proves its naysayers wrong for the reasons already stated. The only guilt I've ever felt over the film was the error in forgetting to include it in my Desert Island Blu-Ray Discs post. Carry on Screaming! is a certified classic in British film and ought to be given the credit it truly deserves.