Carry On Screaming!

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Carry On Screaming!

Directed by Gerald Thomas
Produced by Peter Rogers
Written by Talbot Rothwell
Starring Harry H. Corbett
Kenneth Williams
Jim Dale
Charles Hawtrey
Fenella Fielding
Joan Sims
Angela Douglas
Music by Eric Rogers
Cinematography Alan Hume
Editing by Rod Keys
Studio Anglo-Amalgamated
Peter Rogers Productions
Distributed by Warner – Pathé Distribution (UK)
Release dates
  • 16 August 1966 (1966-08-16)
Running time 97 minutes[1][2]
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Budget £197,500

Carry On Screaming is the twelfth in the series of Carry On films to be made and was released in 1966. It was the last of the series to be made by Anglo-Amalgamated before the series moved to The Rank Organisation. Of the regular cast, it features Kenneth Williams, Jim Dale, Charles Hawtrey and Joan Sims. It also features Harry H. Corbett in his only Carry on and Fenella Fielding making her second and final appearance. Angela Douglas makes the second of her four Carry on appearances. Carry On Screaming is a parody of the Hammer horror films, which were also popular at the time, and follows a plot vaguely similar to that of the 1953 film House of Wax.

Plot

The film, set in Edwardian London, opens with a couple – Doris Mann (Angela Douglas) and Albert Potter (Jim Dale), courting in the woods. A hideous creature abducts Doris and Albert finds a hairy, clawed finger in her place. Terrified, he runs to the police.

The bungling Constable Slobotham (Peter Butterworth) takes the details of the case and phones his superior, the henpecked Sergeant Sidney Bung (Harry H. Corbett), who is constantly nagged by his wife, Emily (Joan Sims). Slobotham reports the disappearance of Doris Mann, and Bung notes that she is the sixth woman to have vanished in Hocombe Woods within a year.

Bung goes to the police station and searches the woods with Slobotham and Albert. The creature is searching for his finger but is disturbed by the arrival of Bung and Albert; they notice a horrible stench in the air, whilst Slobotham faints with horror at the monster's appearance. The three then drive to an eerie manor house named Bide-A-Wee Rest Home.

Inside a tall, Lurch-like butler, Sockett (Bernard Bresslaw) greets them. Although Sockett tells them the master has been dead for fifteen years, they are told that the master will still see them and, bemused, they enter the gothic manor, where they are being secretly watched by the voluptuous lady of the manor, Valeria (Fenella Fielding).

Valeria reluctantly goes to wake her brother, Dr Orlando Watt (Kenneth Williams), using electricity. Dr Watt stumbles to greet the three men, and explains to them his dreams of reanimating his mummified Egyptian pharaoh, King Rubatitti. Watt is not fully charged, and collapses, but Albert wires him up to an electric plug and restores him.

After they leave, Valeria is about to regenerate the monster who kidnapped Doris; the creature is named Oddbod, and it transpires that Dr Watt and Valeria and Oddbod are responsible for kidnapping innocent women and turning them into mannequins. Meanwhile Bung goes to the police laboratory as they have a report on Oddbod's finger. Suddenly Albert turns up with a note from someone saying they know what happened to Doris. They go to the public washing house and meet Dan Dann, (Charles Hawtrey), but Watt and Valeria have sent Oddbod to follow them, and Oddbod kills Dan by drowning him in a lavatory before he can tell Bung and the others what has happened.

Back at the lab, the scientist has accidentally managed to recreate another Oddbod, which kills him and goes to Bide-A-Wee, where he is adopted by the Watt family. Later that night, Bung arrives at the manor and becomes infatuated with Valeria. Bung's advances are reciprocated, but he has to leave after Albert is caught breaking into a shop, claiming one of the dummies is Doris. Bung returns to Valeria, and lets slip about the confusion with Doris and the dummy; she becomes worried and she and her brother scheme to get Doris back. Valeria poisons Bung, turning him into Mr Hyde, and sends him out to collect the dummy.

The next day Bung and Slobotham hatch a plan to set a trap for the monster and Slobotham is disguised in drag and made to sit in the woods. Emily Bung follows them, thinking her husband is having an affair with this "woman" and Albert also follows, wanting to catch the creature. Emily and Slobotham are captured by the Oddbods, and taken to the manor. Albert and Bung find Oddbod's ear and go to see if Valeria is safe.

Valeria and Orlando plot to rid themselves of Bung and his friends, so Valeria persuades Bung and Albert to spend the night at the manor, and slips a viper into their bed as they sleep. Emily Bung is turned into a dummy, and they prepare to start on Slobotham. Bung and Albert escape from the viper and find a secret passage, where they save Slobotham and discover the dummy of Doris, and Albert manages to reanimate her.

As they try to escape, they are cornered by the Oddbods and are trapped in the lounge. Albert downs the poisoned brandy Valeria gave Bung earlier and turns into Mr Hyde and defeats the Oddbods. Just as he returns to normal, Orlando and Valeria burst in and Orlando threatens to petrify them with a special formula. Before he can, lightning strikes a plug and brings the Egyptian mummy Rubatitti to life. Watt is delighted, yet the mummy turns on him and drags him into a boiling vat, with Watt screaming, "Frying Tonight!"

Albert and Doris are married and visit Bung in his home. They are surprised to find that Mrs Bung is still a dummy, and that Valeria is now living with Sergeant Bung. The film ends with the dummy of Mrs Bung winking slyly at the camera.

Production

Production of the film ran from 10 January 1966 to 25 February 1966; it was shot at Pinewood Studios and on location in Berkshire and Buckinghamshire.

The theme song "Carry On Screaming" (film version only) was credited as "Anon" and was thought to have been sung by Jim Dale who appears in the film. The singer is actually Ray Pilgrim, a session singer who sang for the Embassy label. A vinyl 45 rpm version of the song was also released in 1966 (Columbia DB 7972) by vocalist Boz Burrell, before his notoriety as bassist for bands King Crimson and Bad Company.

Charles Hawtrey was added at the eleventh hour, after American distributors specifically requested him, as he was such a hit and crowd-pleaser with audiences there.[citation needed]

Cast

Filming and locations

  • Filming dates – 10 January-25 February 1966

Interiors:

Exteriors:

  • Windsor, Berkshire
  • Fulmer, Buckinghamshire

References

  1. ↑ Rigelsford 1996, p. 61.
  2. ↑ Ross 1998, p. 152.

Sources

  • Rigelsford, Adrian (1996). Carry On Laughing: A Celebration. London: Virgin Books. ISBN 1-85227-554-5. 
  • Ross, Robert (1998) [1996]. The Carry On Companion. London: Batsford. ISBN 0-7134-8439-X. 

External links

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