Runtime: 87 minutes
Directed by: Gerald Thomas
Starring: The usual crew you’d expect in an early Carry On movie
From: Anglo-Amalagated Film Distributors
Reviews of this franchise from a Letterboxd mutual reminded me that I needed to see more of these.
There's a list of what I’ve viewed so far; unlike him, I haven’t gone through those films in chronological order. Teacher is an early effort that only wasn’t seen by me, but is part of my physical media collection. A few years ago, The Carry On Collection (the first 12 pictures in the series) was purchased from Grindhouse Video, back when it was still in Tampa and hasn’t closed & moved to Knoxville, Tennessee.
A Ministry of Education Inspector and a child psychologist both visit a boarding school. The students like their headmaster Mr. Wakefield; Wakefield would like to move on to a new school but the students sabotage his plans by making him to be a bad headmaster via engaging in hijinks that make the school look bad. Sawing the leg off the music teacher’s piano (Charles Hawtrey played MR. BEAN. Yes, that’s the character’s name), putting glue on chairs, spiking the coffee in the break room w/ gin, itching powder, etc. This plus some romance is as complicated as the plot becomes.
This statement is not meant as a slight. Early in the franchise, the films weren’t as bawdy as they’d become; seemingly, they were more randy the later in the 20th century the series would progress. The teen actors were fine although naturally the series regulars-like Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims, Hattie Jacques, Kenneth Williams, & Kenneth Connor were the highlights to me, already playing the similar characters they would throughout the franchise. Sims was more the sexpot than usual—then again, you’d expect it to someone they gave the name MS. ALLCOCK to.
There was more slapstick than usual-of course not a bad thing for me. It’s a silly, fun movie which did a decent job of mining the academic setting for a number of laughs.
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