Carry on in All Seriousness

British film producer Peter Rogers might be synonymous with the legendary Carry on... films, but on rare occasions he broke from the saucy postcard humour for more serious and edgier productions. From 1971 - 1972, Rogers was the executive producer on four films which ranged from thrillers, sci-fi romance and kitchen sink drama. Curiousities for anyone with a passing interest in British film from this particular era, but for the more observant, they're oddly appealing for incorporating various recognisable visual and audio elements featured in the Carry on... comedies.

Bless the rippers who uploaded these hard to find rarities to YouTube. These films are even more invaluable now since Network Releasing, the slept-on film distributor who originally released them, went under this year. 

Decided to rank them from best to worst:

Revenge (Sidney Hayers, 1971)

When a suspected child killer is released on the same day as pub landlord Jim Radford's (James Booth) daughter's funeral, the entitre family is outraged by it. The Radford's along with another victim's father decide to take justice into their own hands on the pathetically vile Seely (Kenneth Griffith) by abducting him and becoming his executioners.

What makes this a compelling watch is not only the understandable empathy the viewer would feel for Jim Radford and his family, but also the mental and emotional toll the revenge takes on them. Bizarrely, there's some repressed sexual attraction between Jim's wife, Carol (Joan Collins) and her stepson. Ultimately, this a film which charts the demise of what was already a dysfunctional family heading into ruin. 

The cast are exceptionally good, particularly Booth, Collins and Griffith, with some genuine moments of tension whenever Griffith's character might be discovered in the cellar. One stand out part in the film is the disturbingly creepy scene of Seely's mother's bedroom. There's also the recurring question whether their abductee is guilty or not. The seeds of doubt eventually route their way into Jim's conscious making revenge all the more difficult. 

Spartan says: Revenge features one of my dream pubs, the Whippet Inn from Carry on Abroad (1972), although it has the less comical name The Crown in this film. Sadly, it lacks the same cozy atmosphere created by Vic and Cora Flange taking over the boozer. In my head cannon, Revenge might serve as a possible prequel to Carry on Abroad, where after the violent escapades, it leads to a new name for the pub, similar to how Crystal Lake became Forest Green in Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986).

All Coppers Are... (Sidney Hayers, 1972)

What potentially kicks off as a British crime thriller about a young bobby on the beat winds up as a kitchen sink drama focusing on a lovers triangle. The players in this ménage à trois' include: Joe, a newly wed police officer (Martin Potter); Barry (Nicky Henson), a jack the lad with hopes to make it in the big league by pulling off an armed robbery and Sue, cynical working class girl, played by Ben Fogle's mum (Julia Foster).

All Coppers Are... dabbles in some social commentary concerning working class living and attitutes towards the police.

The characters are rather likeable despite some of their actions. It goes along away in not adhering to two dimensional profiles and puts them all under a morally grey spotlight. That goes a long way, particularly when Joe is an adulterous man abandoning his wife at a wedding reception to score with Sue. This focus on character complexities seems to come at the cost of the rest of the subplots in the film, however. As a result, Barry's big robbery and the violent riot between the Old Bill and hairy hippy protestors is crudely wedged into the very last leg of the film.

A flawed, but decent drama. It's way more Up the Junction (1968) than the hard boiled British crime thrillers from that era like Get Carter (1971).

Spartan says: Cult British actor, Ian Hendry has a small role as a gangster with a surreal Cockney accent in the film. The scene where he menacingly muches on a packet of Golden Wonder crisps in a bowling alley is hilarious and my favourite part in the film. All Coppers Are... also uses some of Carry on... composer, Eric Rogers' music. If you're familiar with Eric Rogers works, then listen out for Mike's theme from the film adapatation of Bless this House (1971) and Sid James' criminal gang theme from Carry on Matron (1972).

Quest for Love (Ralph Thomas, 1971)

Adapted from sci-fi writer John Wyndham's story Random Quest, Quest for Love (1971) is a tale of physicist Colin Trafford (Tom Bell) being transported to an alternate Earth after a freak lab accident. This other world is very much like our own, only major historical twentieth century events such as World War II and the assassination of John F. Kennedy never happened. Trafford discovers he's a highly successful and womanising author in this alternate reality. He also falls for his alternate self's wife, the unloved and neglected Ottilee Harsham Trafford (Joan Collins). 

It's a real shame the alternate reality premise isn't totally explored, and rather the film dedicates its focus on the romance plotline. The science fiction part is the most fascinating. Eventually, Ottilee begins to believe old Trafford isn't new Trafford and falls in love with him. The clincher in this loved up storyline is the romance is doomed as Ottillee suffers from an inoperable heart condition. What a stroke of luck for old Trafford when he ends up back in his world again, for if Ottillee exists in an alternate reality, then she might exist in his own. A reality that's far more progressed due to technological advancements discovered during WWII and the space race. She can be saved. Trafford goes on a rampage searching for Ottilee which has him running around Heathrow airport like a complete loon trying to find her. Comes across as obsessive stalking than romance, in my opinion.

The really tragedy is the audience's knowledge that new Trafford is going to break Ottillee's heart again and she won't survive. She's doomed to an off-screen death.

Bell and Collins have great chemistry together and make this love story with a sci-fi twist the kind of tolerable watch if you ever caught it airing on TV. It's all very effervescent, but it's at least watchable for what's essentially a tear jerker turned happy ending (ooh err, missus!).

 

Perhaps the biggest drawback is Eric Rogers on soundtrack duty again. His music compliments the bawdy humour of the Carry on movies with sheer perfection, but on Quest for Love, it's a wrong fit. It doesn't work at all.

Spartan says: Beggars can't be choosers. I would rather watch this version of Quest for Love than any eventual Hollywood remake where an annoying Owen Wilson falls head over heels with an insufferable Jennifer Lopez, and you're praying they both die, along with every other alternate incarnation of them that might exist in space and time to maintain cosmic dimensional karma.

 

Assault (Sidney Hayers, 1971)

A legit British giallo featuring Suzy Kendall, a bonafide queen of giallo cinema. How could it go wrong? Spectacularly! 

School girls are being targeted by a rapist killer that preys on them whenever they trek through the nearby woods going home. Art teacher, Julie West (Suzy Kendall) fleetingly witnesses the killer, and with the aid of the police and the press, uses herself as bait in catching the foul fiend. 

A supporting cast which includes Frank Finlay as the detective chief super intendant, an over the top Freddie Jones as the unscrupulous reporter, a very young Leslie Anne Down, and the actor who played the Shadmock from The Monster Club (1981) can't really save this highly problematic and shambolic thriller. 

 

The film spends way too much time on overly touchy doctors and nonce vibe blokes posing as suspects for the film's sick antagonist. Red herrings or not they ought to be serving time, regardless. Assault also commits the cardinal sin of introducing a major player very late into the game, the Doctor's nemesis, an unrecognisable Anthony Ainley, AKA the Master - sans the trademark evil goatee.

Eric Rogers is on soundtrack duty here again and any potential moments of dread and suspense (there really aren't many) are squandered by his bombastic and inappropriately comical music. It really does sound like a Carry on film rather than a giallo. Would have been better off being treated as an actual comedy spoofing the giallo - Carry on Solange!

 

Admitedly, there's plenty of unintentional comedy brought about by its misjudged tone to its dark subject matter. The film’s only real appeal is to view it as the train wreck that it is, or the for desperate fans craving another giallo fix,. Historially, Assault is another title charting the popularity of psychosexual killer themed films from this era, but there are far better films out there in this vein.

 

Spartan says: Assault features the same girls school that Barbara Windsor and her friends were students of in Carry on Camping (1969). This somewhat taints the classic comedy since Sid James and Bernard Bresslaw now look like a pair of predatory nonces now. Gutted.

 

 

Overall, Revenge was the best film produced by Peter Rogers during his 1971 - 1972 stint with serious cinema. It's also the one film in the bunch I wouldn't have minded coppin' on physical media. Credit should also go out to its director Sidney Hayers, and its composer Eric Rogers, for not repeating all of Assault's failures in the space of a just a few months.

All the films have working YouTube links (at the time of posting) in their respective titles.