Undescribable Perfection

Such a frustrating disappointment

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

It's agents for BOSH vs. agents for STENCH, which will give you some idea of the sophisticated wit on display in Carry-on Spying. The movie is a not particularly funny (or clever) parody of early 60's spy movies, with the best parts being Kenneth William's nasal delivery and Charles Hawtrey's brief disguise as a French bicycle racer. Less sniggering and fewer double-entendres than in later entries in the series (perhaps due to the absence of Sid James) although Barbara Windsor (Daphne Honeybutt, admittedly a great Bond-girl name) does get stripped down to her undies at one point. Lots of in-jokes for cinephiles, but generally only worth watching for fans of the Carry-on series or die-hard fans of parody.

Everyone has a secret vice and mine, I suppose, is a predilection for the "cheap as chips" and often as saucy "Carry On" films of the 60's and early 70's which are on constant rotation on UK TV channels even today.This is one of the earlier black and white ones and stars some but not all of the commonly accepted ensemble cast (no Sid James or Joan Sims for example). The innuendo is not as heavy as in later films as the "Swinging 60's" and liberated 70's advanced, but it's there of course, pushing the envelope as much as they dare.The plot is a spoof of the early James Bond films, but also nods in the direction of classics like "Casablanca" and "The Third Man", only don't expect any exotic location shots here, in fact the drop-in library footage of these locations gets a laugh in itself, it's so obvious.There are plenty of amusing quips and situations, with the usual hit-or-miss success rate. Kenneth Williams minces about as only he can, implausibly playing up to the ladies in the cast while a young Barbara Windsor gets disrobed as usual but otherwise spares us her trademark cackle and for once is quite palatable. There are a couple of obvious mis-casts - Charles Hawtrey's arch campness is too close to Williams' to be effective and it's obvious that Jim Dale would have been better suited to the gormless young male lead part than the irritating Bernard Cribbins (something the casting director would put right before too long - Cribbins never got another part in the series while Dale got the nod in at least two of the funnier entries soon afterwards, in "Carry On Cowboy" and "Carry On Doctor").The humour is, as has been said before akin to that in British sea-side postcards of the time and is the film equivalent to the likes of Benny Hill on TV. Both were hugely successful in the UK although I doubt the "Carry On..." films travel much outside the UK, unlike Hill. Even so, the best of them are really quite funny and it's fun to see the writers toying with the censor of the time in attempting to slip in as risqué a joke as they can.

I remembered enjoying this when I saw it as a child in the 1970s but feared that it wouldn't be as good watching it as an adult; thankfully I was wrong! Many Carry On regulars such as Sid James and Hattie Jakes are missing from this spy spoof, it does however include Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Bernard Cribbins and Barbara Windsor in her first Carry On film. Williams plays a bumbling British agent Desmond Simpkins who is sent to retrieve a stolen formula from the evil STENCH. On this mission three trainees who are almost as incompetent as he is accompany him. Their mission will take them to Vienna, Algiers and finally to STENCH's underground lair where they finally confront the evil Dr. Crow.This outing for the Carry On team nicely spoofed the spy genre made popular by James Bond; the core story could have come from a real spy thriller only this time it was played for laughs rather than thrills. The agents incompetence led to several laughs; often when they accidentally preventing a competent agent retrieving the formula. Barbara Windsor put in a fine debut performance and looked rather appealing disguised as a harem girl; unfortunately the same can't be said of Bernard Cribbins! The final scenes in the underground lair were pretty silly but when I was a child they were the ones that amused me most. If you are a fan of the Carry Ons this is a must see and if you like spy films it should give you a few laughs as it gently sends up the genre.

When the evil forces of STENCH strike at a British research laboratory they get away with a top secret chemical formula. With the British agents spread thin across the world, The Chief has very few options open to him to follow up the lead into the mysterious Milchmann who led the attack. The Chief scraps the bottom of the barrel and comes up with Simkins – probably one of his worst agents. Assigning Simkins with a handful of trainee agents – Crump, Honeybutt and Bind – the ragtag band set off to meet up with Agent Carstairs in Vienna.Despite being made in the mid-sixties this Carry On film has more in common with those made early in the series (Teacher and Sergeant) more than it does with those made around the same time as it (Jack, Cruising, Cowboy). It is not just the black and white that made me think this but also the fact that the humour seems fresher and slicker than the heavy innuendo and crudity of the later films. Others have said this has more in common with Ealing than Carry On – they are wrong, but I can see what they mean because the light spy spoof is very much an early Carry On. The material isn't great though but it does produce easy and obvious comedy and those looking to just to fill a wet Sunday afternoon.The cast make a big difference even though not all the regulars are present. Williams and Hawtrey are the most fun as both play up their camp characters to good effect – they both get the best lines as well. Windsor is pretty good as she isn't just used as an object. Cribbins was pretty dull I thought but Dale was good value in a small role. Additional support from Barker, Laye and a few others all helps. Overall a Carry On like they first made them; not brilliant but light fun.