| Carry on Abroad | |
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Carry On Abroad promotional poster |
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| Directed by | Gerald Thomas |
| Produced by | Peter Rogers |
| Written by | Talbot Rothwell |
| Starring | Sid James Kenneth Williams Charles Hawtrey Joan Sims Bernard Bresslaw Barbara Windsor Kenneth Connor Peter Butterworth Jimmy Logan June Whitfield Hattie Jacques |
| Music by | Eric Rogers |
| Cinematography | Alan Hume |
| Editing by | Alfred Roome |
| Distributed by | The Rank Organisation |
| Release date(s) | December 1972 |
| Running time | 88 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | £225,000 |
Carry On Abroad is the twenty-fourth Carry On film, released in 1972. The film features series regulars Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Joan Sims, Bernard Bresslaw, Barbara Windsor, Kenneth Connor, Peter Butterworth and Hattie Jacques. It was the 23rd and final appearance for Charles Hawtrey. June Whitfield returns after appearing in Carry On Nurse 13 years earlier. Jimmy Logan makes the first of two appearances in the series.
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The film opens with pub landlord and frequent holidaymaker Vic Flange (Sid James) openly flirting with the much-married saucepot, Sadie Tompkins (Barbara Windsor) as his battleaxe wife, Cora (Joan Sims), looks on with disdain. Their twitching friend, Harry (Jack Douglas) arrives and lets slip that the package holiday Vic has booked to the Mediterranean island Els Bels (a pun on the slang expression "Hell's Bells") also includes Sadie, much to Cora's outrage. Cora, who avoids holidays because she hates flying, suddenly decides to accompany her boorish husband on the trip, to ensure he keeps away from Sadie.
The next day, the nasally Stuart Farquhar (Kenneth Williams), the representative of Wundatours, and his seductive assistant, Moira Plunkett (Gail Grainger), welcome the motley passengers. Among them the henpecked and love-starved Stanley Blunt (Kenneth Connor) and his prudish, overbearing wife, Evelyn (June Whitfield); a drunken, bowler-hatted mummy's boy, Eustace Tuttle (Charles Hawtrey); brash Scotsman, Bert Conway (Jimmy Logan); the young and beautiful Marge (Sally Geeson) and Lily (Carol Hawkins); and Brother Bernard (Bernard Bresslaw), a timid young monk who has difficultly fitting into his new path of life.
Unfortunately, upon their arrival they discover their hotel is only half-finished; the builders have just quit suddenly for unspecified reasons. Distraught manager Pepe (Peter Butterworth) desperately tries to run the place in a myriad of different guises and his shrewish wife, Floella (Hattie Jacques), battles repeatedly with the temperamental stove while their Lothario son Georgio idles behind the bar.
The hotel also hides an assortment of tricks and Pepe is soon overrun with complaints: Vic discovers Sadie naked in his shower; Lily and Marge's wardrobe has no back to it, allowing them to be accidentally seen by Brother Bernard in the opposite room; sand pours out of Moira's taps; the lavatory drenches Bert. Although agreeing to play leapfrog with Tuttle, Lily and Marge have their eyes on other things. Marge takes a shine to Brother Bernard, while Lily lures the dashing Nicholas (David Kernan) away from his jealous (implied) gay friend, Robin (John Clive), and Marge and Brother Bernard develop an innocent romance. Meanwhile, Stanley Blunt attempts to seduce Cora whilst his nagging wife is not present, but Cora is more interested in keeping Vic away from Sadie, who grows fond of Bert Conway.
While most of the party go off to the village, Stanley ensures his wife is left behind so that he can spend the day attempting to woo Cora. However, the tourists are arrested for causing a riot at Madame Fifi's (Olga Lowe) local strip-tease establishment; left-behind Evelyn is seduced by Georgio, which leads to her abandoning her frigid manners. In the local prison, Miss Plunkett seduces the Chief of Police, and the tourists are realesed. Back at the hotel, Mrs Blunt resumes her sex life with Stanley. The last-night bash swings--thanks to a local mixture that blesses the drinker with X-ray vision--until the hotel collapses! But all's well that ends well, when the holidaymakers reunite at Vic and Cora's pub.
This was the last film featuring Charles Hawtrey.
The brothel keeper is played by Olga Lowe, one of the first actresses to work with Sid James when he arrived in the UK in 1946. Lowe was also the actress on stage with Sid the night he died in Sunderland.
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