Carry On Screaming!

Carry On Screaming!

Original UK quad poster
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
Bernard Bresslaw
Peter Butterworth
Music by Eric Rogers
Cinematography Alan Hume
Edited by Rod Keys
Production
company
Anglo-Amalgamated
Peter Rogers Productions
Distributed by Warner – Pathé Distribution (UK)
Release date
  • 16 August 1966 (1966-08-16)
Running time
 97 minutes[1][2]
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Budget £197,500

Carry On Screaming is a British Comedy and the twelfth film in the series of Carry On films to be made and was released in 1966.[3] It was the last of the series to be made by Anglo-Amalgamated before the series moved to The Rank Organisation.[4] Of the regular cast, it features Kenneth Williams, Jim Dale, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims, Bernard Bresslaw and Peter Butterworth. 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.[5]

Plot

The film opens in Edwardian times in Hocombe Woods, where Doris Mann (Angela Douglas) and Albert Potter (Jim Dale) are courting. When Albert searches the woods for a Peeping Tom, Doris is abducted by a monster named Oddbod (Tom Clegg), which leaves a finger behind. Albert, finding the finger, rushes to the police station and reports the matter to Detective Constable Slobotham (Peter Butterworth), who in turn tells his superior, the henpecked Detective Sergeant Sidney Bung (Harry H. Corbett), who has been investigating similar disappearances in the same woods.

After searching the woods for further clues, the group stumble across the eerie Bide-A-Wee Rest Home, and are shown to the sitting-room by the butler, Sockett (Bernard Bresslaw). Sockett informs the mistress of the house, Valeria (Fenella Fielding), of their presence, and she awakens her electrically-charged brother, Dr. Orlando Watt (Kenneth Williams). Dr Watt speaks to the three men, who are frightened from the house when Dr. Watt vanishes and re-appears when his electrical charge runs down.

The next day, Bung, Slobotham and Potter interview Dan Dann, a lavatory man (Charles Hawtrey), who once worked at Bide-A-Wee as a gardener but is silenced by Oddbod before he can reveal anything. Meanwhile, the police scientist (Jon Pertwee) accidentally creates a second creature—Oddbod Junior (Billy Cornelius)—when subjecting Oddbod's finger to an electrical charge. After killing the scientist, Oddbod Junior makes his way to the mansion, where Valeria and Watt are turning people into mannequins in the manner of House of Wax to sell. Bung arrives at the house, investigating Dann's death but becomes infatuated with Valeria instead.

The next day, Potter discovers Doris—in mannequin form—in a milliner's shop but no proof can be found that it really is Doris. Bung returns to the house and discovers evidence that links Valeria and Watt to the mannequin but remains oblivious. Believing him to be on their scent, Valeria and Watt use a potion to turn Bung into Mr. Hyde and order him to steal the mannequin for them. After recovering the next day, Bung and Slobotham decide to set a trap in Hocombe Woods, with Slobotham disguised as a woman for bait. Bung's sharp-tongued wife, Emily (Joan Sims), follows, thinking Bung to be having an affair and is captured by Oddbod Junior, whilst Slobotham is captured by Oddbod. Bung, now teamed up with Potter, makes his way to the house whilst following their footprints.

After failing to dispose of Bung and Potter with a snake, the Oddbods are dispatched to deal with them. Bung and Potter are re-united with Slobotham and manage to return Doris to human form but discover that Emily has been turned into a mannequin. A battle follows, in which Albert (in Mr. Hyde form) defeats the Oddbods. Dr. Watt menaces them with petrifying liquid but is threatened by the re-animated mummy of Rubbatiti, which has come alive following a lightning strike. Rubbatiti and Watt fall into a boiling vat in the cellar, killing them both. Albert and Doris marry some time later, only to discover that Bung, whose home lacks electricity, is unable to return his wife to human form, and is now living with Valeria.

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.

Carry on Screaming was the second film in the series to have a sung main title theme - and the last until Carry on Emmanuelle in 1978. 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 he became bassist for the bands King Crimson and Bad Company.

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

Cast

Filming and locations

Interiors:

Exteriors:

References

  1. ↑ Rigelsford 1996, p. 61.
  2. ↑ Ross 1998, p. 152.
  3. ↑ "Carry On Screaming! (1966)". BFI.
  4. ↑ ":: the whippit inn - carry on screaming! 1966 ::". thewhippitinn.com.
  5. ↑ "BFI Screenonline: Carry On Screaming! (1966)". screenonline.org.uk.

Sources

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