Carry On Screaming! (1966)

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	Comedy	None
Rating
Year Of Production	1966
Running Time	92:24
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Gerald Thomas
Studio Distributor	Universal Pictures Home Video	Starring	Harry H. Corbett Kenneth Williams Jim Dale Charles Hawtrey Fenella Fielding Joan Sims Angela Douglas Bernard Bresslaw Peter Butterworth Jon Pertwee
Case	?
RPI	$17.50	Music	Ted Dicks Eric Rogers Myles Rudge

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.66:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.66:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Starting in 1958 with Carry On Sergeant, the 'Carry On' franchise continued for the next twenty years (I won't count Carry On Columbus as it really shouldn't have been made) and defined humour for a particular section of an entire generation. Of course humour of this sort is very much a product of its environment. Contained within that environment are the surrounding culture, the mores and customs and in particular its taboos.

    Britain in the sixties and seventies was a very fertile ground for comedy. Some of the comedy that was produced in this period still holds today, and probably will for many years to come. Unfortunately for the Carry On series, almost all of its humour was of the taboo-breaking variety. When you remove the taboos, well, things just are not quite as funny. This is not to say that I did not enjoy this film (it is actually a Carry On film that I had not seen before), just that the humour is dated and on occasions actually causes you to cringe. I had a discussion the other day about science fiction films made in the eighties - it was put to me that these films have aged because the special effects are not nearly as realistic as they are today. I disagree. For me, monsters in the eighties simply looked that way and in the correct context I still enjoy them very much. The humour in this film sits in much the same way - in the right frame of mind it can be an enjoyable evening's viewing. Comedic geniuses like Kenneth Williams can take even the most dated material and give you a good giggle.

    This film came as a surprise to me, as the actors that I have come to regard as the 'standard set' in a Carry On film are not all present. We do have Kenneth Williams, Joan Sims and Charles Hawtrey and a few of the others, but Sid James, Hattie Jacques and Barbara Windsor are missing. The biggest surprise for me was seeing Harry H. Corbett, the son in Steptoe and Son, as the lead character.

    Our story revolves around a castle wherein resides a dead but very animated Dr. Watt and his sister Valeria. Valeria is played by Fenella Fielding who camps up her part as the femme fatale extremely well. Dr. Watt and his sister are in the mannequin business, but with a twist. They use a reanimated caveman to go out and collect young ladies. These young ladies are then turned into mannequins ready for delivery. When a string of disappearances in identical circumstances finally penetrates the dim minds of the local constabulary, led with style by Detective Sergeant Bung, the search is on for the perpetrators of these crimes. The usual antics ensue. They have mixed in quite a few elements from other films, including a take off of Sherlock Holmes, a classic mad scientist, a monster, and so on. A highlight for me was Jon Pertwee playing the police forensic expert and having a lot of fun with the role.

Video

    While the transfer is presented at its original 1.66:1 aspect ratio it is unfortunately NOT 16x9 enhanced. The image is letterboxed into a standard 1.33:1 frame. Why present the correct aspect ratio and not add the 16x9 enhancement?

    Sharpness is actually pretty good all things considered. Foreground objects in particular have a reasonable amount of detail. Shadow detail is also not too bad but could have been better in a few spots. There is no low level noise. There is some brightness variation throughout the film. It is subtle and cycles over a couple of seconds but can get annoying.

    Colours are also not too bad with good saturation and accurate skin tones.

    There are no MPEG artefacts present beside a few problems with a particular tweed jacket, such as at 16:06. At the same point is a good example of the image jumping around a bit. This may be telecine wobble or some other source of movement. There is a small amount of grain, which surprised me as I expected more, but there are a number of flecks and scratches, such as at 38:30 and some funny streaks that look like something spilled on the emulsion in a few places, most clearly seen at 6:15.

    There are no subtitles and this is a single layered disc.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    There are no problems with the dialogue quality nor with the audio sync.

    The music is lots of fun with a good theme that carries a nice thread through the score. It, of course, is comedic at the right moments. The addition of the whistles and other little sound effects to accompany the naughty bits is a signature of these films. Keep an ear out for a guest appearance of a particular theme when the Detective Sergeant is seen on a horse-drawn carriage.

    The surrounds and the subwoofer were not used by this soundtrack.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

    This film is available in R1 either as part of a boxed set (which is a set of double packs) or a double pack with Carry On Cowboy and Carry On Screaming.

    The Region 1 version of this disc misses out on;

• nothing

    The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on;

• 16x9 enhanced transfer
• Theatrical trailer

    This gives us a clear R1 winner due to the anamorphic enhancement.

    After I wrote the above about the humour in this film, I went and saw the musical Mamma Mia (a very good show by the way), and at times the humour in this show was very similar to that contained in the Carry On films. The audience loved every minute of it, so maybe this type of humour is not as dated as I thought.

    The video is not too bad.

    The audio is perfectly functional.

    The extras are completely missing.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall