1961 British comedy film by Gerald Thomas
Carry On Regardless is a 1961 British comedy film, the fifth in the series of 31 Carry On films (1958–1992). The film revolves loosely around the activities of a job agency, 'Helping Hands', run by Sid James's character, Bert Handy. By now a fairly regular team was established with Sid James, Kenneth Connor, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims and Kenneth Williams all having appeared in previous entries. Hattie Jacques – who was also a regular – makes a cameo appearance during a hospital scene. "Professor" Stanley Unwin appears in a guest role, playing his trademark "gobbledegook" speaking act. This would be the final appearance in the series for early regular Terence Longdon. Liz Fraser makes her debut in Carry On Regardless and would appear in a further three Carry On films. The film was followed by Carry On Cruising 1962.
Plot
Down at the local labour exchange, everyone moans about the lack of decent jobs, unaware that nearby, Bert Handy and his secretary Miss Cooling are attempting to fill vacancies at Helping Hands, a new enterprise. When word gets round, people rush to the agency, notably Sam Twist, Francis Courtenay, Delia King, Gabriel Dimple, Lily Duveen, Mike Weston and Montgomery Infield-Hopping. Bert decides to hire them all. At first, their only customer is a man who speaks gobbledygook, but since Francis (who can speak 16 languages) is not present, nobody can understand him. Days later, business picks up and Delia has an assignment to try on women's wardrobe for Mr. Delling, someone who is planning a surprise for his wife. However, things get complicated when the man's wife arrives home unexpectedly.
Meanwhile, Sam Twist is sent to a baby-sitting job, only to find that there is not a baby to be sat. Instead, there is Mrs. Panting, a woman who needs to make her husband jealous, succeeding in the process with Sam getting a black eye. The following day, Francis is assigned to take a pet for a walk. However, at the owner's house, Francis finds out it is a chimpanzee. He takes the chimp for a walk and soon discovers that people who work in the transport industry have an aversion to apes. They eventually end up at a chimps tea party, enjoying an afternoon tea. Next is Lily Duveen, who has been employed at a wine tasting evening, to collect invitation cards from the attendees. After having performed this task, she samples some wines and makes a spectacle of herself.
Helping Hands' next client is a man from Amalgamated Scrap-Iron. Being busy, he requests that someone take his place in the queue at the hospital outpatients department. Bert says he will send someone, but the chap insists that the top man does the job himself. Bert ends up queuing at the hospital, where he is mistaken for an eminent diagnostician and taken on a tour of the hospital.
The next job that Francis undertakes is as a model. Very chuffed that he has been chosen, he is crestfallen after discovering that the job is an advertisement for a bee-keeper's helmet.
His next job is between a bickering couple. The husband cannot understand his wife, who continually berates him in her native German. Thanks to Francis getting emotionally involved, the wife starts speaking English and the couple make up.
Vincent, a boxing friend of Bert's, pops into the office. He requires four helpers to act as seconds, for his fighter Dynamite Dan. When they get to the venue, Dan is terrified by his opponent, Mickey McGee, and pretends he has sprained his finger. The fight is off until Gabriel takes on McGee instead. Sam is excited over his next job. Due to a mix-up, he thinks he is on a secret spying mission to the Forth Bridge,[N 1] when all that is required of him is to make up a fourth in a game of bridge. Returning, Sam learns that the whole of Helping Hands has been engaged to demonstrate exhibits at the Ideal House Exhibition.[N 2] All of the demonstrations end in calamity. Sam's next job is at an exclusive men's club, where no matter how hard he tries he cannot keep silent, which is a strict rule of the establishment.
Miss Cooling decides on a new filing system, for a more streamlined operation ,and job cards are put in cubby holes for each of the workers. Disaster strikes when the cleaner knocks the box down and puts the cards back all mixed up. Everyone gets someone else's assignment, with disastrous results. The gobbledygook man returns, and this time Francis is there to translate. He is their landlord and has been trying to announce that he will have to vacate the premises, because he has had a better offer. Due to a show of unity by all the staff, the landlord agrees that they can stay, on the provision that they do something for him. His main interest is property development, and he needs a house cleared and cleaned. The team end up demolishing the house. However, the landlord turns out to have changed his mind and decided to demolish it and replace it with a luxury block of flats (or "flabberblob"), so all ends well.
Reception
The film was the 10th most popular movie at the UK box office in 1961.[citation needed]
Variety wrote, "Ingenuity of scriptwriter Norman Hudis is sometimes a bit strained, but he has come up with some sound comedy situations. Hudis' dialog is also lively, relying on a great deal of double meanings, saucy vulgarity and the various personalities of the lengthy cast. Even down to the smallest one, the roles are played by actors well experienced in jumping through the comedy hoops that director Gerald Thomas tosses deftly in the air."[1] Margaret Harford of the Los Angeles Times wrote that the film "is too scrambled to be consistently funny but regular addicts of the series will enjoy the obvious humor inherent in any outfit labeled the Helping Hand Employment Agency."[2] The Monthly Film Bulletin opined that "mostly the gags have long since grown old gracelessly in the hallowed tradition of British music-hall and farce. This comedy seems staler, less yeasty than, say, Carry On Nurse. But the series has worked up such popular appeal it can probably coast along on that momentum very nicely for some time, before the public finally calls its bluff."[3]
