Carry On Camping

Carry On Camping
film poster by Renato Fratini
Directed by	Gerald Thomas
Produced by	Peter Rogers
Written by	Talbot Rothwell
Starring	Sid James Kenneth Williams Charles Hawtrey Joan Sims Terry Scott Hattie Jacques Barbara Windsor Bernard Bresslaw Peter Butterworth Dilys Laye
Music by	Eric Rogers
Cinematography	Ernest Steward
Edited by	Alfred Roome
Distributed by	The Rank Organisation
Release dates	29 May 1969
Running time	88 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	£208,354

Carry On Camping is a 1969 comedy film and the seventeenth in the series of Carry On films to be made. It features series regulars Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims, Terry Scott, Hattie Jacques, Barbara Windsor, Bernard Bresslaw and Peter Butterworth.

Plot

Sid Boggle (Sid James) and his friend Bernie Lugg (Bernard Bresslaw) are partners in a plumbing business. They take their girlfriends, the prudish Joan Fussey (Joan Sims) and meek Anthea Meeks (Dilys Laye), to the cinema to see the film Paradise about a nudist camp. Sid has the idea of the foursome holidaying there, reasoning that in the environment their heretofore chaste girlfriends will relax their strict moral standards. Sid easily gains Bernie's co-operation in the scheme, which they bravely attempt to keep secret from the girls. (This scene is usually cut back drastically in most modern showings, with the Cinema being shown and the part after the film (when Sid James and Bernard Bresslaw are both carrying ice-lollies) and the actual film itself removed completely.

They travel to the campsite named Paradise. After paying the fees to the owner, money-grabbing farmer Josh Fiddler (Peter Butterworth), Sid realises it is not the camp of the film but a standard family campsite. Furthermore, it's not a paradise but a damp field with the only facilities being a basic ablutions block. They reluctantly agree to stay after Fiddler refuses a refund and the girls approve of the place. There is further disappointment when the girls won't share a tent with the boys.

Sid and Bernie soon set their sights on a bunch of young ladies on holiday from the Chayste Place finishing school. The ringleader of the girls is blonde and bouncy Babs (Barbara Windsor). In charge of the girls is Dr Soaper (Kenneth Williams), who is fervently pursued by his lovelorn colleague, the school's matron, Miss Haggard (Hattie Jacques). During an outdoor aerobics session led by Dr Soaper, Babs' bikini top flies off and is caught by Soaper. (The effect was achieved with a fishing rod and line attached to the garment.)

Other campers are Peter Potter (Terry Scott), who hates camping but must endure a jolly yet domineering wife Harriet (Betty Marsden), who has a hideous braying cackle. Naive first-time camper Charlie Muggins (Charles Hawtrey), completes the mismatched trio.

Chaos ensues when a group of hippies arrive in the next field for a noisy all-night rave – a live concert by band "The Flowerbuds". The campers club together and successfully drive the ravers away, but all the girls leave with them. However, there is a happy ending for Bernie and Sid when their girlfriends finally agree to sleep with them. Their joy is short-lived when Joan's mother turns up but Anthea lets a goat loose which chases Mrs Fussey away.

Cast

Crew

• Screenplay – Talbot Rothwell
• Music – Eric Rogers
• Production Manager – Jack Swinburne
• Art Director – Lionel Couch
• Editor – Alfred Roome
• Director of Photography – Ernest Steward
• Assistant Editor – Jack Gardner
• Camera Operator – James Bawden
• Assistant Director – Jack Causey
• Continuity – Doreen Dernley
• Sound Recordists – Bill Daniels & Ken Barker
• Make-up – Geoffrey Rodway
• Hairdresser – Stella Rivers
• Costume Designer – Yvonne Caffin
• Dubbing Editor – Colin Miller
• Title Sketches – Larry
• Producer – Peter Rogers
• Director – Gerald Thomas

Filming and locations

• Filming dates – 7 October-22 November 1968

Interiors:

• Pinewood Studios, Buckinghamshire

Exteriors:

• Pinewood Studios, Buckinghamshire. The studios' orchard doubled for Paradise Camp. Chayste Place school is the management block at Pinewood Studios, better known as Heatherden Hall and featured in Carry On Nurse, Carry on up the Khyber, Carry on at your Convenience, Carry On Again Doctor and Carry On England.
• Pinewood Green, Iver Heath housing estate, Buckinghamshire.
• Odeon Cinema, Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire
• Maidenhead High Street
• Black Park, Buckinghamshire

Reception

The film was the most popular movie at the UK box office in 1969.^[1]

Bibliography

• Davidson, Andy (2012). Carry On Confidential. London: Miwk. ISBN 978-1-908630-01-8. 
• Sheridan, Simon (2011). Keeping the British End Up – Four Decades of Saucy Cinema. London: Titan Books. ISBN 978-0-85768-279-6. 
• Webber, Richard (2009). 50 Years of Carry On. London: Arrow. ISBN 978-0-09-949007-4. 
• Hudis, Norman (2008). No Laughing Matter. London: Apex. ISBN 978-1-906358-15-0. 
• Keeping the British End Up: Four Decades of Saucy Cinema by Simon Sheridan (third edition) (2007) (Reynolds & Hearn Books)
• Ross, Robert (2002). The Carry On Companion. London: Batsford. ISBN 978-0-7134-8771-8. 
• Bright, Morris; Ross, Robert (2000). Mr Carry On – The Life & Work of Peter Rogers. London: BBC Books. ISBN 978-0-563-55183-6. 
• Rigelsford, Adrian (1996). Carry On Laughing – a celebration. London: Virgin. ISBN 1-85227-554-5. 
• Hibbin, Sally & Nina (1988). What a Carry On. London: Hamlyn. ISBN 978-0-600-55819-4. 
• Eastaugh, Kenneth (1978). The Carry On Book. London: David & Charles. ISBN 978-0-7153-7403-0. 

References

External links

• Carry On Camping at the Internet Movie Database
• Carry On Camping at Rotten Tomatoes
• Carry On Camping Location Guide at The Whippit Inn
• Carry on Camping at BFI Screenonline