Review of Carry On Girls (1973) by Dougal S — 10 May 2012

A bit of a final hurrah before the Carry On films started to decline into the 1970s. The films had long been associated with seaside comic postcard humour so it's something of a surprise that it took until this point in the series for them to actually set one at a seaside resort.

Fircombe is a struggling South Coast resort where it's always raining and there's little for the holiday makers to do. To try and boost the local economy councillor Sid James suggests they hold a beauty contest which he would be only too happy to organise. The mayor agrees but the news is less well received by Sid's girlfriend, hotel owner Joan Sims, and fellow councillor June Whitfield. As a bevy of young girls descend on the resort Whitfield organises a women's-lib style action group determined to sabotage the event - and various comedy japes ensue.

As with any Carry On film this is light on plot and heavy on innuendo and slapstick. What raises these films above others of the type are the cast of genuine comic genii character actors that they pull together. Unfortunately it's around this time that some of the original group of cast members began to drop out of the series so we have no Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey or Hattie Jaques which is what really stops it being worth a five star rating as despite these omissions the jokes are genuinely funny and the comedy light and entertaining. Yes, it can hardly be said to be striking many blows for women's lib, despite the fact that it's the female characters that are generally the more intelligent and get one over their more doltish male compatriots, but these films were a product of their time and owe more to music hall than high brow theatre!

The usual Carry On comic elements are all on display, knockabout chases, men dressed as women, mistaken identity, and lots of innuendo all leading up to a climactic slapstick set piece but it's none the worse for that. It never did Shakespeare's comedies any harm now did it?