Carry On Constable (1960)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	None
Rating
Year Of Production	1960
Running Time	88:58 (Case: 82)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Gerald Thomas
Studio Distributor	Universal Pictures Home Video	Starring	Sidney James Eric Barker Kenneth Connor Charles Hawtrey Kenneth Williams Leslie Phillips Joan Sims Hattie Jacques Shirley Eaton
Case	?
RPI	$17.50	Music	Bruce Montgomery

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	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     Carry on Constable is an early entry in the "Carry On" series of films, which ran from the 1950s through to 1978. The films are generally all enjoyable comedies except for some of the later ones in the series which tended to rely more on Barbara Windsor's bare bosom than on their comedic value. The Director of most (all?) of the films was Gerald Thomas, with Peter Rogers producing. The original production company was Anglo Amalgamated but the DVD is now available through Studio Canal (and distributed by Universal Pictures).

    The cast of the films varied, though there was a fairly regular core around which they revolved; including Sidney James, Kenneth Williams, Kenneth Connor, Joan Sims, Hattie Jacques and Charles Hawtrey. Sid James is probably the best-remembered name. Apart from his appearances in numerous movies, he had a long stint in the popular British TV show "Bless This House".

    As a regular Saturday matinee movie-goer in Britain in the 1960s, I watched many of these films when they were first released. I was interested to see if they were still as entertaining as I remembered them. At the time, many of the jokes in the films were already old, and they are now of course much older, but this film still managed to raise a number of chuckles, and a few decent fits of laughter.

     Generally, each of the films in the series poked fun either at a segment of society (so we have Carry on Constable, Carry on Nurse, Carry on Teacher and so on) or was a satire of a film or film genre (such as Carry on Cleo and even Carry on Emanuelle). The plot of each film generally revolves around our misfit group of heroes wreaking havoc on their chosen profession only to triumph at the end.

    Carry on Constable follows the formula well. Sid James plays Sgt. Wilkie in a police station where numbers have been decimated by an outbreak of the flu. He is forced to accept a number of new recruits fresh from the academy, and it soon becomes apparent that they scraped the bottom of the barrel when they chose his new constables. As an example, the novices get lost on their way to the police station and ask directions from some thieves who have just emerged from the store they were robbing. As the thieves head off in the getaway car, one of the constables notes "What a nice fellow".

    The film then moves through a series of slapstick vignettes, including a humorous shower scene (complete with naked butts) which might have made Mel Gibson blush. It is all fairly innocuous and I would have no problem in recommending family viewing. My young daughters had a good giggle, and some of the more adult humour passed them by but was appreciated by the adults watching. Near the end of the film, the recruits have an opportunity to solve a major crime, and I will leave it to you to guess how it turns out, which should not be too difficult.

Video

    The film is now over 40 years old, and it is apparent from the transfer that there was some difficulty in finding an undamaged original. While the overall picture is quite clear and sharp there is extensive damage on evidence. Negative artefacts are particularly prevalent, with some nasty examples to be found at 3:21 and 65:30. Numerous vertical streaks are also observable, with the first significant example coming between 6:07 and 6:20. There is also some occasional pixelisation, but this is barely noticeable.

    The aspect ratio of the film is 1.66:1, which appears to have been common at the time (Yellow Submarine, A Hard Day's Night, and a number of Disney films were shot at this aspect ratio in the same decade). It is not 16x9 enhanced. The action is nicely framed to fit. At 43:40 there is a scene set in a moving car which uses some very ordinary rear-projection to represent the car exterior, a technique I dislike as it stands out so badly from the rest of the film.

    As is common for British films of this vintage this is a black and white movie. The picture shows nice contrasts in shading with good white and black areas. On occasion there is some variation in shade (see around 51:00 as an example) but this does not detract from the overall picture.

    The overall perception is that the picture is average, and certainly watchable; though the artefacts continue through the whole film they do not prevent comfortable viewing.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The sound is recorded at a low level, but it is clear and the lip-sync is good.

    The soundtrack is Dolby Digital 2.0. No use is made of the surrounds or the subwoofer, but as this is a comedy with limited action this is not a problem. At times, the sound is positioned inappropriately for the action, with the dialogue for a character near the centre of the screen coming from the far left of the soundfield, but this does not happen often enough to annoy.

    The music in the film is minimal, and is usually introduced to try and add humour to the on-screen action. There is some quite jaunty marching music when the constables are on patrol, and a few humorous tootles accompanying physical comedy scenes, but none of it will stick in your mind 5 minutes after viewing. It is well-balanced with the dialogue.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

    There are no extras except for Scene Selection (of which there are 20 to choose from).

    This film appears to be available in Region 1 in a bundle with Carry on Teacher, another good entry in the series, which makes it an attractive option, depending upon price.

    The film is a humorous entry in a popular comedy series. While it is not up to the class of the best Ealing comedies of the 1950s, it will still raise a few laughs. I would not recommend paying full price for the film as there are better comedies available, but if you see it in a bargain bin or if you are in a nostalgic mood it is worth a look.

    The picture is average.

    The sound does what it needs to, without being particularly noteworthy.

    There are no extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall