Practically unknown in the U.S., where few of the films were released, the series of British comedies beginning with 1958's Carry On Sergeant ran for 20 successful years and ultimately numbered 29 titles, not counting the anthology That's Carry On and the 1992 comeback Carry On Columbus. It's those 29 movies that are chronicled here in more than two and a half hours of music and dialogue. The series consistently employed the same producer, Peter Rogers, and director, Gerald Thomas, while
Eric Rogers composed the scores for 22 of the films (after Bruce Montgomery handled the first six) and Talbot Rothwell wrote the screenplays for 20 (after Norman Hudis wrote the first six). The settings changed from film to film, but the casts were fairly consistent:
Kenneth Williams, Joan Sims, and Charles Hawtrey each appeared in 20 or more of the films, and another five actors and actresses were in ten or more. (There were also occasional appearances by stars known beyond the series, among them
Phil Silvers and Elke Sommer.) The style also was consistent. The plots were just excuses for the performers to wear different costumes and recite puns and double entendres. This was low humor, the sort Americans may have become familiar with through syndicated episodes of The Benny Hill Show, and, indeed, many of the stars came from TV. The tone was not unlike that of
Mel Brooks' films, although the jokes were necessarily less explicitly expressed, if no less suggestive. This album confirms that composers Rogers and Thomas were providing serviceable music as necessary, from British marches to Indian ragas, without doing anything ambitious. The real draw will be to fans of the series, of which there can't be too many in the U.S., who will delight in hearing a compendium of the familiar comic lines recited by their old favorites. ~ William Ruhlmann