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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Carry On Spying (1964)

Carry On Spying (1964)

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Released 16-Jul-2003

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Comedy None
Rating Rated G
Year Of Production 1964
Running Time 82:38
RSDL / Flipper No/No Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 4 Directed By Gerald Thomas
Studio
Distributor

Universal Pictures Home Video
Starring Kenneth Williams
Charles Hawtrey
Bernard Cribbins
Jim Dale
Barbara Windsor
Eric Barker
Dilys Laye
Case ?
RPI $17.50 Music Eric Rogers


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 1.66:1
16x9 Enhancement
Not 16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio Unknown Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles None Smoking Yes
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

    This movie was released the year I was born. It and several of its siblings were a highlight of my young film viewing years. My brother and sisters would eagerly await each new Carry On release and would invariably find them hilarious. Unfortunately, whilst I have matured gracefully, improving with every year to become a stunning reminder of the great things produced during the Swinging Sixties (cough), Carry On Spying has not. The passage of time has not been a friend to this brand of British humour.

    This was the ninth release in the seemingly endless stream of Carry On movies, which became a British institution. In reality, the series of thirty movies ran from 1958 to 1978, with a much later film, Carry On Columbus, featuring two or three of the old regulars (Bernard Cribbins, Jim Dale, and Jack Douglas) added in 1992. They were usually camp romps, slapstick-filled, innuendo-laden and seemingly hilarious ensemble pieces. Carry On Spying is probably most notable for marking the debut of the eternally ditzy, large-breasted miniature bombshell Barbara Windsor in the series. She was soon to become a regular (although she actually only appeared in nine of the films), and along with the hawkish Kenneth Williams and the wizened Charles Hawtrey was amongst my personal favourites.

    Carry On Spying was self-evidently inspired by the film-noir classic The Third Man and takes a swipe at James Bond's early escapades too. The story revolves around a group of newly-recruited spies, as they assist the more accomplished Desmond Simpkins (Williams) in tracking down a stolen secret formula. Windsor plays Daphne Honeybutt and is assisted by fellow recruits Harold Crump (Bernard Cribbins - the voice of The Wombles) and James Bind (the wonderfully camp Charles Hawtrey). The formula has been stolen by Milchmann and passed on to the Fat Man, both of whom are under direction from the evil Dr. Crow - head of STENCH (Society for the Total Extinction of Non-Conforming Humans).

    The retrieval of the formula takes our merry band from London, to Vienna, Algiers and aboard the Orient Express. Along the way slapstick chases, awful puns and light innuendo dog their every step. The scenes in Vienna are accompanied by a pseudo zither tune which is a kind-hearted tribute to the iconic The Third Man. The scenes in Algiers had some potential for situational fun, with Williams in a Fez and Cribbins as a belly-dancer, but alas, the gang resorted to cheap "chase me around the bed" sequences instead. The later scenes in the STENCH headquarters had all the makings of a Bond movie spoof, and Cribbins' attempted escape from the cell gave me the only laugh in the entire film. The lengthy chase and torture scenes are excruciating - not because of the realism, but because of the teeth-grindingly awful special effects. The use of fast-forward and fast-reverse filming to raise a laugh just doesn't cut it in this day and age.

    Carry on Spying is, sadly, dreadful. It fails to bring any real laughs and is just cringeworthy throughout. The sets are quite well designed, but the humour is twenty years past its use-by date. This is an ordeal to sit through and were it not for this review, I would have ejected the DVD before the first reel had finished. Alas, the day in the sun for this movie has long since passed. I will certainly avoid re-watching any movies in the series, hoping to leave my childhood fondness for the Carry On crew as intact as possible. Farewell Williams, Hawtrey, Windsor et alia - you will forever live in a small part of my memory. Though it genuinely pains me to type this, avoid Carry On Spying because it is truly, badly, deeply awful.

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Transfer Quality

Video

    The video quality of this transfer is surprisingly good, and was much better than I had anticipated.

    This video is slightly soft throughout, but is sharper than I had envisaged it would be. The black and white transfer does suffer from some film grain, but again this is not overly distracting. The worst examples of grain tend to occur during the use of stock footage (scene-setting for Vienna and Algiers in particular). It is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.66:1 but it has not been 16x9 enhanced.

    Black levels are deep but shadows do tend to turn fully black a little too quickly in some scenes. Gray scale is generally quite satisfying with a fairly full range of shades in evidence.

    The transfer has no significant MPEG artefacts, with only an occasional instance of pixelization. There is no significant aliasing or shimmer present. Mild edge enhancement is occasionally present as a halo around some of the actors but it does not detract from the image significantly. Telecine wobble is not evident.

    The transfer does suffer from an almost constant stream of scratches and minor flecks. These film artefacts are probably the weakest aspect of the transfer, but given the age of the film are understandable.

    There are no subtitle tracks on the DVD.

    The disc is single sided and single layered (DVD 5).

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The overall audio transfer is not too bad given its age.

    The sole audio option is an English Dolby Digital 2.0 track encoded at a paltry 192 kbps. The surround flag is not enabled.

    The soundtrack is in surprisingly good condition throughout, with no hissing, pops or drop-outs to be heard. Dialogue is always clear and audio sync was virtually perfect throughout (there are two extremely brief lapses when Dr. Crow speaks at 71:10 and 73:33).

    Original music is credited to Eric Rogers, a frequent contributor to the Carry On series, and it is intensely annoying. Whilst it may have been acceptable at the time to have a "talking" music track, it is just plain grating nowadays. What do I mean by this? Let me try to illustrate. If a scene hints at the size of Barbara Windsor's breasts, then the soundtrack will provide a suitable "tw-aaaaang" or "doink". If there is a chase sequence, then the soundtrack becomes a hammy Keystone Cops affair, and if someone makes an error, then it is inevitable the soundtrack will provide a suitable "waah-waah-waaaah" effect. The sole redeeming feature is the cheeky zither type track in the Vienna scenes.

    The soundstage is totally frontal and the surround speakers get the day off.

    The subwoofer remains comatose throughout.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

    There are absolutely no extras on this DVD.

Menu

    The menu consists of a silent colourised photograph of the characters from the film. It allows you to either play the movie or select one of twenty chapter stops.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    This movie appears to be available as part of a double-header (along with Carry On Cabby) in Region 1. The Region 4 version is very similar to the Region 1 offering. The Region 2 version appears to also be a similarly bare-bones effort. There appears to be little reason to prefer one over the other.

Summary

    Carry On Spying is a reminder of how much comedy has progressed since 1964. I believed myself to be a fan of the Carry On films, with fond memories of them from my childhood. However, in the cold light of 2003 there is no space in my DVD collection for this film. The humour has not aged well - and this film is simply not funny. Rent a copy if you must, but don't say I didn't warn you.

    The video quality is surprisingly good given the age of the film.

    The audio transfer is technically adequate but the score is annoying.

    There are no extras.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Daniel O'Donoghue (You think my bio is funny? Funny how?)
Tuesday, July 22, 2003
Review Equipment
DVDHarmony DVD Video/Audio PAL Progressive, using Component output
DisplayPanasonic TX-47P500H 47" Widescreen RPTV. Calibrated with Video Essentials/Ultimate DVD Platinum. This display device is 16x9 capable.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials/Ultimate DVD Platinum.
AmplificationOnkyo TX-SR600 with DD-EX and DTS-ES
SpeakersJensenSPX-9 fronts, Jensen SPX-13 Centre, Jensen SPX-5 surrounds, Jensen SPX-17 subwoofer

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