Carry On Regardless
Encyclopedia
Carry on Regardless was the fifth in the series of Carry On films
to be made. It was released in 1961. By now a fairly regular team was established with Sid James
, Kenneth Connor
, Charles Hawtrey
, Joan Sims
and Kenneth Williams
all having appeared in previous entries. Hattie Jacques
- who was also a regular - makes a cameo appearance during a hospital scene. "Professor" Stanley Unwin
appears in a guest role, playing his trademark "gobbledegook" speaking act. This would be the final appearance in the series for early regular Terence Longdon
. Liz Fraser
makes her debut in Carry On Regardless and would appear in a further three Carry On films
.
Bert decides to hire them all and at first business is slow. The only customer is a man who speaks gobbledygook, but since Francis (who can speak 16 languages) isn't present nobody can understand him and he goes on his way.
Within a few days business picks up and Delia has an assignment to try on a complete women's wardrobe for Mr Delling, a gentleman who is planning a surprise for his wife. However things get complicated when the mans wife arrives home unexpectedly.
Meanwhile Sam Twist is sent to a baby-sitting job, only to find that there isn't a baby to be sitted - instead there is Mrs Panting, a woman who needs to make her husband jealous.
The following day, Francis is assigned to take a pet for a walk, but when he gets to the owner's house he finds out it's a chimpanzee. He takes the chimp for a walk and soon discovers that people who work in the transport industry have an aversion to apes. They eventually end up at a chimps tea party enjoying a nice afternoon tea.
Next up is Lily Duveen, who has been employed at a wine tasting evening to collect invitation cards from the attendees. After she has performed this task, she samples some of the wines and makes a bit of a spectacle of herself.
Later a man from Amalgamated Scrap-Iron arrives in the Helping Hands office. He's obviously busy as he requests that someone take his place in the queue at the hospital outpatients department. Bert says he will get someone on the case, but the chap insists that the top man does the job himself, so Bert ends up queuing at the hospital where he is mistaken for an eminent diagnostician.
The next job that Francis undertakes is in the field of photography as a model. Obviously very chuffed that he has been chosen, he is crestfallen when he discovers that the job is an advertisement for a bee-keepers helmet.
His next job is between a bickering couple. The husband can't understand his wife, who continually berates him in her native German. Thanks to Francis getting a bit emotionally involved, the wife starts speaking English and the couple make up.
Lefty Vincent, a boxing friend of Berts, pops into the office. He requires four helpers to act as seconds for his fighter Dynamite Dan. When they get to the venue, Dan is terrified by his opponent, Mickey McGee, so pretends that he has sprained his finger. The fight is off until Gabriel takes on McGee instead.
Sam is excited over his next job. He thinks he's on a top secret spying mission, but due to a mix up all that is required of him is to make up a game of bridge.
When Sam gets back, he learns that the whole of Helping Hands have been engaged to demonstrate exhibits at the Ideal House exhibition. Needless to say all of the demonstrations end in calamity.
Sam's next job is at an exclusive men's club, where no matter how hard he tries he can't keep silent, which is a strict rule of the establishment.
Miss Cooling decides on a new filing system for a more streamlined operation and job cards are put in cubby holes for each of the workers. Disaster strikes when the cleaner knocks the box down and puts the cards back all mixed up. Everyone gets someone else's assignment, with misunderstandings all round.
Finally, the gobbledygook man turns up again and this time Francis is there to translate. He is their landlord and has been trying to inform Bert that he will have to vacate the premises, because he's had a better offer. Due to a show of unity by all the staff, the landlord agrees that they can stay on the provision that they do something for him. His main interest is property development and he needs a house cleared and cleaned. Unfortunately the team end up demolishing the house but thankfully it turns out that it needed demolishing for a block of flats anyway, so all ends well.
Interiors:
Exteriors:
Carry On films
The Carry On films are a series of low-budget British comedy films, directed by Gerald Thomas and produced by Peter Rogers. They are an energetic mix of parody, farce, slapstick and double entendres....
to be made. It was released in 1961. By now a fairly regular team was established with Sid James
Sid James
Sid James was an English-based South African actor and comedian. He made his name as Tony Hancock's co-star in Hancock's Half Hour and also starred in the popular Carry On films. He was known for his trademark "dirty laugh" and lascivious persona...
, Kenneth Connor
Kenneth Connor
Kenneth Connor MBE was an English comedy stage, radio, film and TV actor, best known for his appearances in the Carry On films.-Career:...
, Charles Hawtrey
Charles Hawtrey (film actor)
George Frederick Joffre Hartree , known as Charles Hawtrey, was an English comedy actor and musician.Beginning at a young age as a boy soprano, he made several records before moving on to the radio...
, Joan Sims
Joan Sims
Joan Sims was an English actress best remembered for her roles in the Carry On films, and latterly for playing Madge Hardcastle in As Time Goes By.-Early life:...
and Kenneth Williams
Kenneth Williams
Kenneth Charles Williams was an English comic actor and comedian. He was one of the main ensemble in 26 of the Carry On films, and appeared in numerous British television shows, and radio comedies with Tony Hancock and Kenneth Horne.-Life and career:Kenneth Charles Williams was born on 22 February...
all having appeared in previous entries. Hattie Jacques
Hattie Jacques
Josephine Edwina Jaques was an English comedy actress, known as Hattie Jacques.Starting her career in the 1940s, Jacques first gained attention through her radio appearances with Tommy Handley on ITMA and later with Tony Hancock on Hancock's Half Hour...
- who was also a regular - makes a cameo appearance during a hospital scene. "Professor" Stanley Unwin
Stanley Unwin (comedian)
Stanley Unwin , sometimes billed as Professor Stanley Unwin, was a British comedian and comic writer, and the inventor of his own language, "Unwinese", referred to in the film Carry On Regardless as "gobbledegook".Unwinese was a mangled form of English in which many of the...
appears in a guest role, playing his trademark "gobbledegook" speaking act. This would be the final appearance in the series for early regular Terence Longdon
Terence Longdon
Terence Longdon was an English actor. Longdon, born in Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire was best known for his lead role in the 1950s-1960s British TV series Garry Halliday where he played a Biggles-like pilot who flew into various adventure situations. In film he was Drusus, Messala's personal...
. Liz Fraser
Liz Fraser
Liz Fraser is an English actress, mainly in comedy roles.- Life and career :Her birthdate is usually attributed as 1933, the year she gave when auditioning for her role in I'm All Right Jack, as the Boulting Brothers wanted someone younger for the part...
makes her debut in Carry On Regardless and would appear in a further three Carry On films
Carry On films
The Carry On films are a series of low-budget British comedy films, directed by Gerald Thomas and produced by Peter Rogers. They are an energetic mix of parody, farce, slapstick and double entendres....
.
Plot
Down at the local labour exchange, everyone is moaning about the lack of decent jobs, unaware that nearby Bert Handy and his secretary Miss Cooling are attempting to fill vacancies at a new enterprise called Helping Hands. When word gets round, people are quick to visit the agency notably Sam Twist, Francis Courtenay, Delia King, Gabriel Dimple, Lily Duveen, Mike Weston and Montgomery Infield-Hopping.Bert decides to hire them all and at first business is slow. The only customer is a man who speaks gobbledygook, but since Francis (who can speak 16 languages) isn't present nobody can understand him and he goes on his way.
Within a few days business picks up and Delia has an assignment to try on a complete women's wardrobe for Mr Delling, a gentleman who is planning a surprise for his wife. However things get complicated when the mans wife arrives home unexpectedly.
Meanwhile Sam Twist is sent to a baby-sitting job, only to find that there isn't a baby to be sitted - instead there is Mrs Panting, a woman who needs to make her husband jealous.
The following day, Francis is assigned to take a pet for a walk, but when he gets to the owner's house he finds out it's a chimpanzee. He takes the chimp for a walk and soon discovers that people who work in the transport industry have an aversion to apes. They eventually end up at a chimps tea party enjoying a nice afternoon tea.
Next up is Lily Duveen, who has been employed at a wine tasting evening to collect invitation cards from the attendees. After she has performed this task, she samples some of the wines and makes a bit of a spectacle of herself.
Later a man from Amalgamated Scrap-Iron arrives in the Helping Hands office. He's obviously busy as he requests that someone take his place in the queue at the hospital outpatients department. Bert says he will get someone on the case, but the chap insists that the top man does the job himself, so Bert ends up queuing at the hospital where he is mistaken for an eminent diagnostician.
The next job that Francis undertakes is in the field of photography as a model. Obviously very chuffed that he has been chosen, he is crestfallen when he discovers that the job is an advertisement for a bee-keepers helmet.
His next job is between a bickering couple. The husband can't understand his wife, who continually berates him in her native German. Thanks to Francis getting a bit emotionally involved, the wife starts speaking English and the couple make up.
Lefty Vincent, a boxing friend of Berts, pops into the office. He requires four helpers to act as seconds for his fighter Dynamite Dan. When they get to the venue, Dan is terrified by his opponent, Mickey McGee, so pretends that he has sprained his finger. The fight is off until Gabriel takes on McGee instead.
Sam is excited over his next job. He thinks he's on a top secret spying mission, but due to a mix up all that is required of him is to make up a game of bridge.
When Sam gets back, he learns that the whole of Helping Hands have been engaged to demonstrate exhibits at the Ideal House exhibition. Needless to say all of the demonstrations end in calamity.
Sam's next job is at an exclusive men's club, where no matter how hard he tries he can't keep silent, which is a strict rule of the establishment.
Miss Cooling decides on a new filing system for a more streamlined operation and job cards are put in cubby holes for each of the workers. Disaster strikes when the cleaner knocks the box down and puts the cards back all mixed up. Everyone gets someone else's assignment, with misunderstandings all round.
Finally, the gobbledygook man turns up again and this time Francis is there to translate. He is their landlord and has been trying to inform Bert that he will have to vacate the premises, because he's had a better offer. Due to a show of unity by all the staff, the landlord agrees that they can stay on the provision that they do something for him. His main interest is property development and he needs a house cleared and cleaned. Unfortunately the team end up demolishing the house but thankfully it turns out that it needed demolishing for a block of flats anyway, so all ends well.
Cast and Crew
- Sid JamesSid JamesSid James was an English-based South African actor and comedian. He made his name as Tony Hancock's co-star in Hancock's Half Hour and also starred in the popular Carry On films. He was known for his trademark "dirty laugh" and lascivious persona...
as Bert Handy - Kenneth ConnorKenneth ConnorKenneth Connor MBE was an English comedy stage, radio, film and TV actor, best known for his appearances in the Carry On films.-Career:...
as Sam Twist - Charles HawtreyCharles Hawtrey (film actor)George Frederick Joffre Hartree , known as Charles Hawtrey, was an English comedy actor and musician.Beginning at a young age as a boy soprano, he made several records before moving on to the radio...
as Gabriel Dimple - Kenneth WilliamsKenneth WilliamsKenneth Charles Williams was an English comic actor and comedian. He was one of the main ensemble in 26 of the Carry On films, and appeared in numerous British television shows, and radio comedies with Tony Hancock and Kenneth Horne.-Life and career:Kenneth Charles Williams was born on 22 February...
as Francis Courtenay - "Professor" Stanley UnwinStanley Unwin (comedian)Stanley Unwin , sometimes billed as Professor Stanley Unwin, was a British comedian and comic writer, and the inventor of his own language, "Unwinese", referred to in the film Carry On Regardless as "gobbledegook".Unwinese was a mangled form of English in which many of the...
as Landlord - Joan SimsJoan SimsJoan Sims was an English actress best remembered for her roles in the Carry On films, and latterly for playing Madge Hardcastle in As Time Goes By.-Early life:...
as Lily Duveen - Liz FraserLiz FraserLiz Fraser is an English actress, mainly in comedy roles.- Life and career :Her birthdate is usually attributed as 1933, the year she gave when auditioning for her role in I'm All Right Jack, as the Boulting Brothers wanted someone younger for the part...
as Delia King - Terence LongdonTerence LongdonTerence Longdon was an English actor. Longdon, born in Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire was best known for his lead role in the 1950s-1960s British TV series Garry Halliday where he played a Biggles-like pilot who flew into various adventure situations. In film he was Drusus, Messala's personal...
as Montgomery Infield-Hopping - Bill Owen as Mike Weston
- Esma CannonEsma CannonEsma Ellen Charlotte Cannon was a diminutive Australian-born character actress, who moved to England in the early 1930s.-Career:...
as Miss Cooling - Fenella FieldingFenella FieldingFenella Fielding — "England's first lady of the double entendre" — is an English actress, popular in the 1950s and 1960s. She is known for her seductive image and distinctively husky voice.-Family:...
as Penny Panting - Hattie JacquesHattie JacquesJosephine Edwina Jaques was an English comedy actress, known as Hattie Jacques.Starting her career in the 1940s, Jacques first gained attention through her radio appearances with Tommy Handley on ITMA and later with Tony Hancock on Hancock's Half Hour...
as Sister - Joan HicksonJoan HicksonJoan Hickson OBE was an English actress of theatre, film and television, famed for playing Agatha Christie's Miss Marple in the television series Miss Marple.- Wivenhoe :...
as Matron - David LodgeDavid Lodge (actor)David William Frederick Lodge was a British character actor.Before turning to acting he worked as a circus clown...
as Connoisseur - Jerry DesmondeJerry DesmondeJerry Desmonde was an English stage musical, film, and television actor principally in comedies and drama. He is probably best known as a straight man to Norman Wisdom.Jerry is sometimes credited as Jerry Desmond....
as Martin Paul - Ambrosine PhillpottsAmbrosine Phillpotts-Selected filmography:* This Man Is Mine * The Chiltern Hundreds * The Franchise Affair * Happy Go Lovely * Mr...
as Yoki's Owner - Nicholas ParsonsNicholas ParsonsNicholas Parsons OBE is a British actor and radio and television presenter.-Early life:...
as Wolf - Cyril ChamberlainCyril ChamberlainCyril Chamberlain was an English film and television actor. He appeared in a number of the early Carry On, Doctor in the House and St. Trinian's films....
as Policeman - Cyril RaymondCyril RaymondCyril William North Raymond MBE was a British character actor....
as Army Officer - Eric PohlmannEric PohlmannEric Pohlmann was an Austrian theatre, film and television character actor.Born Erich Pollak in Vienna, Austria-Hungary, he was a classically trained actor who studied under the renowned director Max Reinhardt...
as Sinister Man - Screenplay - Norman HudisNorman HudisNorman Hudis, born in Stepney, England is a writer for film, theatre and TV and is most closely associated with the first six of the Carry On... film series, for which he wrote the screenplays....
- Music - Bruce Montgomery
- Art Director - Lionel CouchLionel CouchLionel Couch was a British art director. He was nominated for two Academy Awards in the category Best Art Direction.-Selected filmography:Couch was nominated for two Academy Awards for Best Art Direction:...
- Director of Photography - Alan HumeAlan HumeAlan Hume, B.S.C. was a British cinematographer.Hume started work at Denham Film Studios in 1942, and in the late 1940s he worked for Cineguild production company....
- Editor - John ShirleyJohn ShirleyJohn Shirley is an American fantasist, author of noir fiction, and science-fiction writer. Shirley is a prolific writer of novels and short stories, TV scripts and screenplays who has published over 30 books and 10 collections...
- Associate Producer - Basil Keys
- Assistant Director - Jack Causey
- Camera Operator - Dudley Lovell
- Sound Editor - Arthur Ridout
- Sound Recordists - Robert T MacPhee & Gordon McCallum
- Unit Manager - Claude Watson
- Hairdressing - Biddy Crystal
- Continuity - Gladys Goldsmith
- Make-up - George Blackler
- Costume Designer - Joan Ellacott
- Casting Director - Betty White
- Producer - Peter RogersPeter RogersPeter Rogers was a British film producer.Rogers began his career as a journalist for his local paper before graduating to scriptwriting religious informational films...
- Director - Gerald ThomasGerald ThomasGerald Thomas was an English film director, born in Hull.-Early life:Thomas was training in medicine when the Second World War began. He then served in the British army during the war, in Europe and the Middle East...
Filming and locations
- Filming dates – 28 November 1960-17 January 1961
Interiors:
- Pinewood StudiosPinewood StudiosPinewood Studios is a major British film studio situated in Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, approximately west of central London. The studios have played host to many productions over the years from huge blockbuster films to television shows to commercials to pop promos.The purchase of Shepperton...
, Buckinghamshire
Exteriors:
- The corner of Park Street and Sheet Street in Windsor, BerkshireWindsor, BerkshireWindsor is an affluent suburban town and unparished area in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England. It is widely known as the site of Windsor Castle, one of the official residences of the British Royal Family....
, doubled for the Helping Hands Agency. The location was used again a decade later for the Wedded Bliss agency in Carry On LovingCarry On LovingCarry On Loving is the twentieth Carry On film, and was released in 1970. It features series regulars Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims, Hattie Jacques, Terry Scott and Bernard Bresslaw alongside newcomers Richard O'Callaghan and Jacki Piper . Carry On Loving featured...
.