I've been attempting to watch the CARRY ON films in some kind of chronological order and have now reached CLEO, one of the most affectionately-remembered of the entire series. It was enjoyable to watch once, but I for one didn't find it as funny as earlier entries as the humour is markedly more puerile here.
Only a few of the gags (like the asp scene) really reach the highs of earlier instalments and much of the humour seems over-obvious and laboured. Physically, it's one of the best-looking of the entire series, using left-over sets and costumes from CLEOPATRA, but the script comes up short and is too involved in attempting to get characters from one location to the next.
Take, for instance, the handling of the actors. Only Sid James and Kenneth Williams stand out as Antony and Caesar, the former settling into his famous lecherous character and the latter a complete nitwit. Kenneth Connor, so good in the likes of CARRY ON SERGEANT, plays an idiot character and the script never shows him to his best advantage. Charles Hawtrey and Joan Sims are similarly wasted. And don't get me started on the 'history' - this is a film where the Celtic inhabitants of England are depicted as cavemen, referring to dinosaurs and the like. Only a few hundred thousand years out!
Only a few of the gags (like the asp scene) really reach the highs of earlier instalments and much of the humour seems over-obvious and laboured. Physically, it's one of the best-looking of the entire series, using left-over sets and costumes from CLEOPATRA, but the script comes up short and is too involved in attempting to get characters from one location to the next.
Take, for instance, the handling of the actors. Only Sid James and Kenneth Williams stand out as Antony and Caesar, the former settling into his famous lecherous character and the latter a complete nitwit. Kenneth Connor, so good in the likes of CARRY ON SERGEANT, plays an idiot character and the script never shows him to his best advantage. Charles Hawtrey and Joan Sims are similarly wasted. And don't get me started on the 'history' - this is a film where the Celtic inhabitants of England are depicted as cavemen, referring to dinosaurs and the like. Only a few hundred thousand years out!