Carry on Sergeant

Dir: Gerald Thomas

1958

****

Carry on Sergeant is the first Carry On film of the famous British series, although that was never an intention. Based on the play The Bull Boys, Carry on Sergeant was a goofy comedy based on National Service that sticks to the original story apart from the fact the main characters are changed from ballet dancers to a married couple. The term 'Carry on' is used by the British army, it is the alternative to the American 'As you were' but it was used to cash in on the popularity of Val Guest's Carry On Admiral that was released the previous year. The film was a success, so director Gerald Thomas and producer Peter Rogers looked to repeat the formula using a different setting but keeping the 'Carry On' prefix. After the success of their follow up Carry On Nurse, a series was born. Carry on Sergeant featured many rising stars of the time, many of them returning several times as regulars in the Carry On films. Bob Monkhouse is the film's biggest young star but he decided not to return to the franchise. William Hartnell was perfectly cast as the film's Sergeant and was said to have been congratulated by visiting servicemen on his accurate portrayal. He also never returned to the Carry On franchise, choosing to become the first Doctor Who instead. While Shirley Eaton (the golden girl in Goldfinger), Eric Barker (Culpepper Brown in The St Trinian's films), Terence Longdon and Norman Rossington (The Beatles' A Hard Day's Night) appeared in several of the earlier Carry On films, Carry on Sergeant saw the first appearances of some of the series' regulars including Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Hattie Jacques, Kenneth Connor and Terry Scott who would all appear on and off in the following 30 films until the last proper Carry On in 1978. It's very different to what is commonly thought of as a Carry On film, there was no over the top finale, it was a little sentimental and had very little of the double entendres the series would become famous for. However, it had that unique character led comedy and killer script the nation would fall in love with. It features probably one of my favourite script-driven scenes across the whole of the series, whereby Eric Barker's Captain Potts analysis each recruit by their individual answers when simply asked for their name and rank. It's good clean fun and it is easy to see why it was such a big hit in 1958, a much loved (and hugely missed) institution was born.