Carry On Cabby (1963) |
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Carry On Cabby (1963) |
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| General | Extras | ||
| Category | Comedy | None | |
| Rating |
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| Year Of Production | 1963 | ||
| Running Time | 88:01 (Case: 87) | ||
| RSDL / Flipper | No/No | Cast & Crew | |
| Start Up | Menu | ||
| Region Coding | 4 | Directed By | Gerald Thomas |
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Studio
Distributor |
 Universal Pictures Home Video |
Starring |
Sidney James Hattie Jacques Kenneth Connor Charles Hawtrey Esma Cannon Liz Fraser Bill Owen Milo O'Shea Judith Furse Ambrosine Phillpotts Renee Houston Jim Dale Amanda Barrie |
| 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 |
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| 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 | ||
As I have said numerous times before, the Carry On series is either a love it or hate it affair. For the uninitiated, this successful series started back in 1958 with the release of Carry On Sergeant and continued through a whopping 31 more titles with the last one being released in 1992. This particular episode was the seventh and was released in 1963.
In this particular episode, Charlie Hawkins (Sidney James) and his wife Peggy (Hattie Jacques) own a cab company called Speedy Taxis. Like most males, Charlie is extremely devoted to his private business and is willing to do anything he can to make it a profitable and successful company. The problem is that Peggy is starting to get very jealous and upset that she is receiving little to no attention from her hubby. In a bold and desperate move, she sets up a rival cabbie company operated by an all-female workforce called Glamcabs, but keeps her involvement a secret from most, especially her husband.
When Glamcabs is an instant success, everyone including Peggy is taken by surprise. Charlie is not one to take this particular problem sitting down and he embarks on a crusade to destroy this new rival in true "carry on" fashion.
The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.66:1, and is NOT 16x9 enhanced.
The transfer exhibits a soft appearance which is directly comparable to the other movies in the series I have reviewed to date. Shadow detail is rather poor on occasions, especially in the scenes taken in the taxi workshop. There was obviously a poor level of light to start with and the footage suffers for this oversight There is mild low level noise throughout the feature which is most noticeable on the office walls and occasionally in the sky.
This particular Carry On is in black and white. The shades of grey are enough to distinguish different objects and provide an adequate level of detail with good levels of contrast.
There were no obvious MPEG artefacts in this particular episode. Aliasing is rare and mild on the few occasions where it does occur. Film artefacts are a problem and visible from the first frame right up to the last. The original source material must have contained a lot of blemishes in the form of scratches and dust. The majority of marks are black in colour which does reduce their intensity but they do prove a bit distracting at times.
There are no subtitles on this disc.
This disc is a single sided disc so therefore there is no layer change.
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| Shadow Detail | |
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| Grain/Pixelization |  |
| Film-To-Video Artefacts | |
| Film Artefacts | |
| Overall | |
There is only the one audio track on this DVD in the form of an English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono soundtrack. These movies rely on humour and wit rather than directional sound effects but a minimum of a stereo track would have at least opened out the soundstage a little.
The dialogue was clear and easy to understand at all times. Audio sync was not a problem at all with this transfer.
The musical score is by Eric Rogers and it fits well with not only this movie but maintains a certain character trait that is present in every series. The volume levels did not drown out the dialogue at any point during the movie.
Due to the fact that the soundtrack was centre channel based there were no cases where the surrounds were used.
Likewise, the subwoofer was also not used by this track.
| Dialogue | |
| Audio Sync | |
| Clicks/Pops/Dropouts | |
| Surround Channel Use | |
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| Overall | |
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on;
Overall, this was a enjoyable Carry On release which contains a better story and level of acting than some of the other offerings. The car chase is nothing like Gone In 60 Seconds but at least they gave it a go.
The video is showing its age and suffers from frequent film artefacts.
The audio is in mono but does not suffer from any dropouts or other sonic blemishes.
There are no extras.
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| Audio | |
| Extras | |
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| Review Equipment | |
| DVD | Denon DVD-1600, using RGB output |
| Display | Loewe Aconda 9381ZW. Calibrated with Video Essentials/Ultimate DVD Platinum. This display device is 16x9 capable. |
| Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials/Ultimate DVD Platinum. |
| Amplification | Denon AVR-2802 Dolby EX/DTS ES Discrete |
| Speakers | Whatmough Classic Series C31 (Mains); C06 (Centre); M10 (Rears); Magnat Vector Needle Sub25A Active SubWoofer |