Gerald Thomas Movies
Gerald Thomas was the younger brother of another British director of note, Ralph Thomas. Gerald began his movie career in the editing room, working as an assistant editor on such films as Hamlet (1948) and The Third Man (1949) before graduating to full editor. Thomas' directorial career began modestly with such British programmers as Circus Friends (1956) and Time Lock (1957). In 1958, Thomas and his producer friend Peter Rogers tried to get the major studios and distributors interested in a slapstick farce centered around a hospital. There were no takers, so Thomas and Rogers raised the production money themselves. The result was Carry on Sergeant (1958), the first in a long, long series of lucrative Carry On comedies, most of which were directed by Thomas. The series put Thomas in the millionaire status: he pocketed 15,000 pounds up front for each film, and earned a third of the profits. The director insisted upon military-drill rehearsals so that the script (and the scripted adlibs) would be followed to the letter; then, he'd generally print the first take, to retain the aura of spontaneity. He wasn't interested in such "nonessentials" as clever camera angles or strict attention to detail (the Carry On pictures abound with anachronistic and technical gaffes), but this added to the overall slovenly charm of the films. Gerald Thomas remained with the series until 1978's Carry on Emmanuelle, then dropped from public view, to resurface for the 1986 Australian feature The Second Victory. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1992
- R
In this last gasp of the "Carry On" series, minus most of the "Carry On" players, Jim Dale plays Spanish map-maker Christopher Columbus, who has a plan to navigate a new route to India, bypassing the Sultan of Turkey (Rik Mayall) and his sky-high tributes. He convinces King Ferdinand of Spain (Leslie Phillips) and Queen Isabella (June Whitfield) to finance his trip, and he sets off for points east with a cabin boy in tow. But what Columbus doesn't realize is that his cabin boy is, in fact, a cabin girl. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jim Dale, Bernard Cribbins, (more)
- 1986
- PG
The first victory in The Second Victory is the Allied triumph in World War II. British major Anthony Andrews, in charge of the occupation troops in a remote Austrian village, must deal with the uncooperative attitude of the locals when one of his men is killed by a deranged Axis soldier. Andrews also pursues a romantic involvement with Birgit Doll, the niece of crooked lawyer Max Von Sydow. The lawyer kills himself when his crimes are revealed, whereupon Birgit, heretofore the only "sympathetic" villager in the film, turns on Andrews, holding the Major responsible for her uncle's death. We strongly suspect that the title The Second Victory was meant to be ironic: Nobody wins in this one. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anthony Andrews, Max von Sydow, (more)
- 1978
- R
The Carry On series is living on fumes in this late entry. An unofficial burlesque of the Emmanuelle series (albeit with a single modification: the spelling of the name was changed to 'Emmannuelle' to avoid legal complications), the film centers upon Emmannuelle Prevert (Suzanne Danielle) and her unsuccessful attempts to make love to her husband Emile (Kenneth Williams), a French ambassador. Emile grants Emmannuelle permission to bed down with anyone she likes and her prodigious intercourse rate turns her into a celebrity and a frequent talk show guest. Meanwhile, Theodore Valentine (Larry Dann) is hopelessly in love with her and wants to marry her. Emmannuelle, however, is obsessed with arousing her husband Emile's sexual desire at almost any cost. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Suzanne Danielle, Kenny Williams, (more)
- 1977
Barbara Windsor and Kenneth Williams co-host That's Carry On, a best-of tribute to the rollicking Carry On series of English comedies comprised largely of clips from 28 of the films in the series. It includes extracts from such farces as Carry on Jack, Carry on Cowboy, Carry on Cleo, and Carry on Cabby. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- 1976
- R
The long-running series of British "Carry On" comedies was nearing the end of the line when this 28th film in the cycle was released in 1976. Set in World War II, Carry On England explores what happens when the British military decides to set up an experimental mixed-gender anti-aircraft battery. While commanding officer Captain Melly (Kenneth Connor) is a stickler for military discipline, it soon becomes obvious that the interaction of male and female soldiers doesn't lend itself to a crack fighting unit, though it makes for plenty of broad physical comedy, especially with Major Bloomer (Windsor Davies), Melly's second-in-command, on deck. Judy Geeson, Patrick Mower, Jack Douglas, and Joan Sims lead the supporting cast. This feature was followed by That's Carry On (1977), a "greatest hits" collection of highlights from the series, and Carry On Emmanuelle (1978), which marked the end of the series until 1992's Carry On Columbus. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kenneth Connor, Windsor Davies, (more)
- 1975
- R
This threadbare "Carry On" comedy is set in the 18th century and concerns a fellow with a dual identity: by day, he's the Reverend Flasher; after dusk, he moonlights as the treacherous highwayman Dick Turpin. (Both are played by Sidney James). Dogooders Captain Desmond Fancey (Kenneth Williams) and Sgt. Jock Strapp (Jack Douglas) search for this elusive scoundrel who is robbing travelers every evening. Adding fool to the fire is Mme. Desiree (Joan Sims) and her entourage of doxies. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sidney James, Barbara Windsor, (more)
- 1975
- R
The British comedy group chalks up another few laughs as some folks attempt to camp out on the location of an archaeological dig. Unfortunately, the dig in question happens amid the busyness of the holiday season; matters grow more complicated when a sexy female Russian woman (Elke Sommer) joins in, and soon an oversized wolfhound and a mynah bird with a naughty turn of phrase become implicated, creating additional panic and chaos. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elke Sommer, Kenny Williams, (more)
- 1974
- R
This film brings more ribald nonsense from the British "Carry On" gang. This time the setting is the Spanish resort town of Elsbels. A group of stereotypical British tourists - led by courier Stuart Farquhar (Kenneth Williams) show up for a four-day weekend at a "luxury hotel." There are only two setbacks: the hotel doesn't seem to be finished yet...and it's raining through the roof. Oh, yes...all the staff members look suspiciously like the same person. Stalwart "Carry On" troupers Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims, Kenneth Connor and Hattie Jacques are in attendance, while the toothsome Barbara Windsor shows up as "Miss Sadie Tompkins". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sidney James, Kenny Williams, (more)
- 1973
- R
The "Carry On" gang returns with Sidney Fiddler (Sid James) conning the local council into running a beauty pageant to promote their community. He's thrilled with the prospect of entertaining all the lovely young contestants, but his girlfriend has a different plan in mind. Soon, a women's liberation group invades the premises and takes over -- promptly ruining everything. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sidney James, Joan Sims, (more)
The last of four "medical" entries in the Carry On series is also the lewdest; whether it's the funniest is a matter of taste (taste?) The action takes places at Finisham Maternity Hospital. If you liked that "Finisham" gag, you'll adore such characters as Susan Ball, Miss Willing, and Mrs. Putzova. Oh, yes, we must have a plot somewhere. It seems that a group of thieves hope to steal a huge shipment of contraceptives from the hospital. Alas and alack for them, Matron (Hattie Jacques) and head doctor Sir Bernard Cutting (Kenneth Williams) remain forever underfoot. Other stalwart Carry On-ers in the cast, many in surprisingly fleeting roles, include Kevin Connor, Joan Sims and Barbara Windsor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1972
Bless This House is a feature-length spinoff of the British TV sitcom of the same name. The episodic nature of the film suggests that it was cobbled together from various half hours of the original series. Sidney James and Diana Coupland play the nonplussed owners of a "money pit" new home. Their misadventures involve fire, water, homemade booze, and angry neighbors. Most American viewers got their first chance to savor Bless This House when the featurized version was made available to cable TV in the early 1980s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1971
- R
In this episode of the popular British comedy series, the characters must cope with the chaos caused when big business and the unions get together. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1970
- R
An extremely low budget -- shot on an obvious studio set and featuring cheap and grainy stock footage -- only adds to the hilarity in this 1970 entry in the "Carry On" series. Series stalwarts Sidney James and Joan Sims star, as the gang head deep into the Amazon in search of an endangered species of bird. There they must contend with a tribe of Amazons and a horny gorilla. As if that weren't enough, they find themselves pursued by ravenous headhunters who must have seen all the "Carry On" troupe's routines one too many times. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sidney James, Charles Hawtrey, (more)
- 1970
- R
This bawdy entry in the long-running series of British "Carry On" comedies is set in the court of King Henry the VIII and centers on the gang's attempt to freshen up the odiferous Queen Marie and thereby save her head. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
This is the 20th feature in the successful "Carry On" series of bawdy slapstick comedies. Sidney Bliss (Sidney James) and his faithful assistant Sophie (Hattie Jacques) run a bogus matrimonial agency designed to unite people looking for love and romance. One couple never speaks a word in the film but are seen kissing in strange and familiar places. Three love-starved ladies offer their services to anyone who asks, and an excellent pie fight harkens back to the days of the classic silent comedies, with continual running gags and sexual innuendo permeating the film. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sidney James, Kenny Williams, (more)
- 1969
- R
The British "Carry On" series was in its 12th year when Carry On Again, Doctor was unleashed upon a panting public in 1969. Veteran Carry On-ers Kenneth Williams, Sidney James, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims, Hattie Jacques, Jim Dale and Barbara Windsor fill the principal roles in this hospital farce. Dale has the central role as a manic medico who stumbles upon a formula for weight control. The film's South-Sea setting permits plenty of female pulchritude to insinuate its way across the screen in between the one-liners and slapstick setpieces. Gerald Thomas directs, as ever. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kenny Williams, Sidney James, (more)
- 1969
- R
The "Carry On" gravy train continues in this entry that registers high on the randiness and vulgarity levels. Sid Boggle (Sidney James) and his best pal Bernie Lugg (Bernard Bresslaw) take off for the holidays with their girlfriends Joan Fussey (Joan Sims) and Anthea meeks (Dilys Laye). The gals know that the boys are taking them camping -- what they don't know it that it is also a nudist camp. Once there they are attracted to other campers -- particularly a group of gals from the Chayste Place Finishing School. Sexual innuendoes and double entendres become the order of the day. . . and night. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sidney James, Kenny Williams, (more)
- 1968
The Carry On gang carries on with this 17th entry in the gang's never-ending series of lowbrow British comedy films. This time the Carry On crowd spoofs the stiff-upper-lip, "defending-the-Empire" epics of an earlier era. Comic opera British troops are sent to the Khyber Pass to prevent the local citizenry from discovering what's under the kilts of the Scottish Devil's Regiment. Series regulars Sidney James, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey and Joan Sims are put through their usual risque paces by their usual director Gerald Thomas. This stirring historical saga was followed by the equally inspiring 1970 epic Carry On, Up the Jungle. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sidney James, Kenny Williams, (more)
- 1968
The producers of the popular British "Carry On" series aren't going to fix something if it is not broken. This workable, slapstick comedy returns to a hospital setting and benefits from the same gags that made Carry On, Nurse a top draw in Britain. Instead of Dr. Kildare, this emergency unit has Dr. Kilmore (Jim Dale), the usual curmudgeon supervisor (Kenneth Williams) and a bedpan full of quirky quacks and petulant patients. The hospital staff is plagued by bathroom humor, romance, medical mistakes and beautiful nurses who distract the doctors and patients alike. Sight gags and comedy ensues, and this film is just what the doctor ordered for those in need of some laughs. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Frankie Howerd, Sidney James, (more)
- 1967
Part of the "Carry On Series", this is a satire on the French Revolution in which Sidney James portrays the Black Fingernail, a rip-off Scarlet Pimpernel using double entendres and jokes of questionable taste and a wide variety of disguises to hid his identity. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sidney James, Kenny Williams, (more)
- 1967
Though not advertised as such, Follow That Camel was an entry in Britain's long-running "Carry On" series. Phil Silvers stars as Sgt. Nocker, a self-styled hero of the Foreign Legion. Nocker's feet of clay are readily apparent to young recruit Bertram Oliphant West (Jim Dale), but "orders is orders." When the Arabs attack, however, Nocker saves the day with some clever conniving. The "Carry On" team seems to be working at half-throttle here, perhaps in deference to the indefatigable Phil Silvers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Phil Silvers, Jim Dale, (more)
- 1966
One of several satirical films in the British "Carry On" series, this is a broad spoof of horror films in general and of Universal monster movies in particular. The buffoonish heroes -- a pair of inept Scotland Yard inspectors named Bung and Slowbottom -- are investigating the disappearance of several women in the vicinity of Hocomb Woods when they cross paths with mad scientist Dr. Watt (Kenneth Williams) and his slinky, sexy vampire sister Valaria (Fenella Fielding), both of whom have been turning the abducted women into statues. Joining in the fun are the resident werewolf, the mummy, a pseudo-Frankenstein monster and a gaggle of ghouls resurrected by Watt's diabolical experiments. Goofy fun for those looking for a decidedly British take on Addams Family-style monster antics. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harry H. Corbett, Kenny Williams, (more)
Though long defunct in the United States, the tiny production firm of Pathe continued churning out British programmers into the 1960s. Pathe's The Big Job stars Sidney James, Dick Emery and Lance Percival as a trio of none-too-bright bank robbers. Released from jail after 15 years, the intrepid trio makes a beeline for the location where they hid their stolen money. Uh, oh: the cash is squirreled away in a tree, and the tree has now been replanted in front of a police station. Thus, the "big job" of the title consists of the crooks' efforts to retrieve their swag without the Bobbies catching on. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sidney James, Sylvia Syms, (more)
- 1965
The multi-million dollar film extravaganza Cleopatra was too convenient a target for Britain's "Carry On" funsters to ignore. The plot of Carry on Cleo, if one can discern a plot amidst the sight gags and outrageous puns, involves the attempts by a bungling slave (Kenneth Connor) to rescue Julius Caesar (Kenneth Williams) from assassination. Instigators of the plot are Cleopatra (Amanda Barrie) and Mark Anthony (Sidney James), who comport themselves like a couple of Liverpool pub owners. The best bit involves Mark Anthony's "beheading" of the legendary asp. Filmed on a tight 160,000 pound budget and utilizing leftover sets from the Taylor/Burton epic, Carry On Cleo's reputation rests chiefly on a legal brouhaha involving its advertising artwork, which was deliberately patterned after the ads for the "real" Cleopatra. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sidney James, Kenny Williams, (more)
- 1964
Britain's long-running (some would say interminable) series of "Carry On" comedies managed to satirize virtually every film genre ever conceived over three decades. Since espionage dramas were hot in 1964, it was inevitable that the unwary world would be treated to Carry on Spying. The "maguffin" in this yarn is the top-secret Formula X, which has been pilfered by that insidious organization S.T.E.N.C.H. (Society for Total Extinction of Non-Existent Humans). Enter the heroes, the men and women of British Operational Security--better known as B.O.S.H. The good guys are understaffed, thus novice agent Kenneth Williams is put in charge of smashing the evil machinations of Dr. Crow (Judith Furse) and The Fat Man (Eric Pohlmann). The level of wit in Carry on Spying is sustained by the character name of leading lady Barbara Windsor, who plays the delectable Daphne Honeybutt. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kenny Williams, Bernard Cribbins, (more)
