Carry On At Your Convenience

Carry On at Your Convenience (1971)

Runtime: 86 minutes

Directed by: Gerald Thomas

Starring: The typical Carry On crew

From: Anglo-Amalagated Film Distributors

A Carry On film getting political... is that really a good idea? Recently I realized it's been half a year since I've seen anything from this franchise, and there's a mistake that needs rectifying. I'd say that this was a typical entry you'd expect from this crew, and it did have the bawdy humor & randy one-liners... except that it has what some may say “an anti-union” message. You see, the setting is a “factory that makes toilets”, which results in many obvious puns. The main gag is that the leader of the union keeps on calling for strikes due to minor slights & otherwise acts like a buffoon in his position; while it could be satire on what was happening in England at the time, many Carry On fans are the working class and it actually did not do well at the box office.

Thing is, only part of the movie was actually set at the factory. The strikes allow the gang to be shown at home or in other locations... much to my surprise, the resort town of Brighton was a setting for at least 15 minutes. There are relationship issues among multiple people... some want new lovers, one has a harpy wife, another has a horrible mother-to be honest some of the women characters seem even more shrill than usual. That said, there are still enough laughs & silliness where I can say this is fine overall. After all, even with the jabs at unions, it is still a motion picture where Sid James plays someone named Sid Plummer & there's a bizarre subplot revolving around someone's pet bird.

One last thing: Margaret Nolan is in a small role. That is brought up as not only was she the masseuse in Miami in Goldfinger (and subsequently was the girl painted in gold in all the advertising), she passed away not that long ago and was in Last Night in Soho; I know the movie pays tribute both to her and Diana Rigg.