The time of the French revolution, and Citizen Robespierre is beheading the French aristocracy. When word gets to England, two noblemen, Sir Rodney Ffing and Lord Darcy Pue take it upon themselves to aid their French counterparts. Sir Rodney is a master of disguise, and becomes "The Black Fingernail", scourge of Camembert and Bidet, leaders of the French secret police.
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Must See Movie...
There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.
Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.
It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.
Having been replaced by Harry H. Corbett for Carry On Screaming following a heart attack, Sid James rejoins the Carry On line-up for Don't Lose Your Head and puts in one of his funniest performances ever as British dandy Sir Rodney Ffing, who, along with his good friend Lord Darcy Pue (Jim Dale), travels to France to rescue French aristocrats from the guillotine. Whether camping it up in powdered wig and make up while affecting a lisp as the effete Ffing, or cutting a dash as his daring alter ego The Black Fingernail, James can do no wrong, milking every gag for all its worth, wringing laughs from even the corniest double entendre. Sid's most definitely back and he's loving every minute!The rest of the regulars are also on fine form: Dale is delightful as Ffing's foppish pal Darcy, Williams plays the part of French Chief of Secret Police Camembert with gusto, Hawtrey is hilarious as wimpish aristocrat Duc de Pommfrit, Peter Butterworth does bumbling brilliantly as Citizen Bidet, and the lovely Joan Sims (my favourite Carry On performer) is utterly charming as ample-bosomed Désirée Dubarry. Of course, it doesn't hurt that they're working with such a wonderful script, which is sharper than the blade on Madame la Guillotine: the gags flow thick and fast, with fantastic puns, impeccable innuendo, cheesy one-liners, and even a couple of wonderful moments where the characters break the fourth wall to address the audience.After much hilarity, viewers are treated to a rousing finale featuring a surprisingly well choreographed sword-fight scene involving James, Hawtree and Dale (Sid seems remarkably sprightly for a man whose recently had a heart attack!) and lots of knockabout stunts, including copious chandelier swinging. It's a great way to conclude what proves to be one of the most enjoyable entries in the series.
Carry on don't lose your head is based on great scarlet pimpernel story from 19th century France. It is performed by the carry on team and is one of the carry on historical setting films of the 1960s like carry on cleo and up the Khyber. It is regarded as one of the strong carry ons of series. One half of the carry on team is on one side, the other half is on other. Sid james stars as scarlet pimpernel pitted against kenneth williams as french authorities pursuing citizen bidet. There are big sets used for film such as mansion where fancy dress ball held with dancing, posh costumes and jokes between sid james, kenneth williams and joan sims as sid james pretends to be an aristocrat. Other memorable sets are sunrise big gardens duel between sid james and authority enemy charles hawtrey and the public guillotining of criminals in France which the scarlet pimpernel hoping to avoid
I've only watched 8 of the long-running and hugely popular "Carry On" films; their overall quality is quite patchy, but the most consistently entertaining so far have been CARRY ON...UP THE KHYBER (1968) and CARRY ON HENRY (1971). This one was actually in the same vein as the latter i.e. a period romp and, in fact, I find their brand of bawdy humor works best in this environment - not only because it allows for a contrast between modern times and the era being lampooned (including, in this case, parlor entertainment that features a minstrel tune whose chorus is lifted from The Beatles' "She Loves You"!) but also because it gives the low-budget films a semblance of grandeur not possible with their outings having contemporary settings.I decided to check this film before others in the series (happily, my local DVD rental outlet carries a handful of them) because I'm currently going through a bit of a swashbuckling phase as part of my Christmas marathon. Anyway, it's an extremely typical offering (despite dropping the "Carry On" from the title, though it did get renamed CARRY ON PIMPERNEL for the U.S.) that obviously deals with the French Revolution, which is being thwarted by a Scarlet Pimpernel-type figure who calls himself "The Black Fingernail" and leaves as his calling card a drawing with the "Up Yours!" gesture: the overall effect is hit-or-miss and the pace rather sluggish for what should essentially be a zippy adventure - but the host of practiced regulars from the series are in good form, thus ensuring the occasional hilarious moment or quip (usually for this gang, these would be double entendres and even include asides to the audience!).
Spoofing the French Revolution is the great British Carry On team, and 21 years later Blackadder did the same. Anyway, this mock of the great Scarlett Pimpernell has Sir Rodney Ffing a.k.a. The Black Fingernail (Sid James, with a great constant laugh), is the anti-hero saving people from execution, but mainly his own life as a master-of-disguise. Citizen Camembert (Kenneth Williams) and Citizen Bidet (Peter Butterworth) are the only two that can possibly stop him. This is a really good comedy film with great depiction of the period, and the other Carry On members do their great parts as well. These include Jim Dale as Lord Darcy Pue, Charles Hawtrey as Duc De Pommfrit and Joan Sims as Désirée Dubarry, but where's Barbara Windsor when you want her? Carry On films were number 39 on The 100 Greatest Pop Culture Icons. Very good!