I like the Carry Ons, but I have to say that this doesn't hit the mark for me. I'd watched Follow That Camel a few days earlier and that really did make me laugh, but though this in theory should be funnier, and the jokes are all there, it just didn't tickle my funny bone.
For one thing, the pretext is a bit infantile. Yeah, I know this is Carry On, but the idea that the British regiment have underwear under their kilts that arouses Afghan scorn just seems too silly to me. I guess if you knew a bit about the conflict this probably has some spoof on reality, as does the final dinner in which cannon balls drop around the fancy residence, but do you know what, I couldn't raise a chuckle. Again, Sid James working his way through a harem of willing women ought to be funny enough, but nah. And there's nothing wrong with Peter Butterworth leering and letching over a woman's breasts - this is Carry On after all - but in this movie it just seems rather horrible. It doesn't help that Roy Castle is standing in for Jim Dale. Castle is one of those Carry On additions who for me just don't work for some undiscernable reason, whereas the likes of Terry Scott were more than welcome. Comparing Castle to Dale is like comparing George Lazenby's Bond to Sean Connery's.
The incidental music isn't as funny or jolly either. A lot of the time it mimics the chords of the James Bond theme, but not to much purpose.
Carry On Up The Kyber is popular and it seems it appeals to those of a highbrow persuasion, rather like Carry On Cleo which I found sort of dragged, despite its high production values. It's as if we're meant to be laughing at the Brits, in an ironic kind of way, rather than mucking in.
The theme might have been topical at the time, what with Sgt Pepper being released only the year before. Anyway, 'the British are used to cuts!' is one line that remains topical, under Cameron's coalition government.
For one thing, the pretext is a bit infantile. Yeah, I know this is Carry On, but the idea that the British regiment have underwear under their kilts that arouses Afghan scorn just seems too silly to me. I guess if you knew a bit about the conflict this probably has some spoof on reality, as does the final dinner in which cannon balls drop around the fancy residence, but do you know what, I couldn't raise a chuckle. Again, Sid James working his way through a harem of willing women ought to be funny enough, but nah. And there's nothing wrong with Peter Butterworth leering and letching over a woman's breasts - this is Carry On after all - but in this movie it just seems rather horrible. It doesn't help that Roy Castle is standing in for Jim Dale. Castle is one of those Carry On additions who for me just don't work for some undiscernable reason, whereas the likes of Terry Scott were more than welcome. Comparing Castle to Dale is like comparing George Lazenby's Bond to Sean Connery's.
The incidental music isn't as funny or jolly either. A lot of the time it mimics the chords of the James Bond theme, but not to much purpose.
Carry On Up The Kyber is popular and it seems it appeals to those of a highbrow persuasion, rather like Carry On Cleo which I found sort of dragged, despite its high production values. It's as if we're meant to be laughing at the Brits, in an ironic kind of way, rather than mucking in.
The theme might have been topical at the time, what with Sgt Pepper being released only the year before. Anyway, 'the British are used to cuts!' is one line that remains topical, under Cameron's coalition government.