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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 Jack (1964)

Carry On Jack (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 PG
Year Of Production 1964
Running Time 87:07
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
Bernard Cribbins
Juliet Mills
Charles Hawtrey
Donald Houston
Cecil Parker
Patrick Cargill
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 1.66:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles None Smoking No
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

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

Plot Synopsis

    Carry on Jack is an unusual entry in the "Carry On" series of films. While it is directed by series regular Gerald Thomas, it stars only two of the regulars from this era: Kenneth Williams and Charles Hawtrey. Jim Dale appears in a small role, although he would appear more regularly in the series later in the 1960s. The major parts this time around are played by Bernard Cribbins, who was reasonably popular in British films of the time, and Juliet Mills (daughter of major international star John Mills), who would become reasonably well known internationally herself later in the decade.

    Despite the absence of more of the regular cast (or perhaps because of it), Williams and Hawtrey are in better form than usual. The rest of the cast are less effective, though there are some interesting appearances from stars who would be better known to Australian audiences from TV series. One is Patrick Cargill who was the star of Father, Dear Father. Of more local interest is Ed Devereaux (who appeared in the Skippy TV series).

    The film itself is one of the "historical" entries in the series (along with Carry on Cleo, Carry On Up The Khyber and so on). It is set in the time of Nelson and the naval wars between Britain and her enemies, France and Spain. The story revolves around Mills, who plays the part of Sally, a wench at Dirty Dick's tavern. She wants to find a way to get to Spain to follow her boyfriend who apparently was press-ganged into the navy and has not been seen for 3 years. She seduces novice midshipman Albert Poopdecker (Cribbins), knocks him out, steals his uniform, and takes his place on board the good ship Venus. As luck would have it, Poopdecker is also enlisted by a press-gang and ends up on the same ship.

    The skipper of the ship, Captain Fearless (who of course is anything but), is played by Kenneth Williams. Hawtrey is another luckless victim of the press-gang, run by Mr Angel (and of course, he also is anything but). The plot is the usual succession of pratfalls, sight gags, and double-entendres. It starts off quite brightly, but fades in the final third. My favourite bit is actually right at the start, when we see a dying Nelson utter his famous line "Kiss me, Hardy" (I never quite understood that one in history class). Hardy looks back at Nelson and utters the immortal line "You must be mad!".

    The standard of the jokes is all downhill from there. When the press gang are picking up Hawtrey they suggest "Wouldn't you like to go to sea friend", and he replies "See what?". Well, no one ever accused these films of being classy, but they do provide the occasional giggle, chuckle, and the odd guffaw (apologies). The family enjoyed this one (the third "Carry On" we have watched in recent weeks), and I thought it was a reasonable way of passing the time at the asking price. (By the way, the "Jack" of the title refers to the small flag at the bow of a ship.)

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Transfer Quality

Video

    The transfer of this film is quite good considering its age, and is better than some more modern films I have watched recently.

    It is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.66:1, but is not 16x9 enhanced. This is its original production ratio.

    The picture is quite sharp with reasonable shadow detail and only a little low level noise. There is some loss of resolution in the effects shots of ships sailing (see 63:10 for one example).

    The film is one of the first in the series to be shot in colour. The colours are quite nice with little fading, though they do look old (as opposed to restored pictures which tend to be brighter and more natural).

    It seems that the original print was in reasonable condition as there were no MPEG artefacts worthy of mention. There is some minor telecine wobble during the opening credits. Film artefacts are small and infrequent - see 43:01 for one of the infrequent negative artefacts.

    The film has no subtitles and there is no layer change.

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

Audio

    The audio transfer on the disc is rather ordinary. The only audio track is an undistinguished Dolby Digital 2.0 mono effort (no doubt reflecting its original sound).

    The dialogue itself is reasonably clear, and audio sync is spot on. It is a little "tinny" but does the job.

    The music in the film is by Eric Rogers. It is no more memorable than the music from Bruce Montgomery earlier in the series. It is suitably nautical at times, jaunty at others, and underscores the comedy well enough.

    As is often the case with these Dolby 2.0 mono tracks, the sound is unfocussed. It can be improved by switching to Dolby Pro Logic mode which centres the dialogue nicely.

    The subwoofer sees minimal activity, showing some minor action during sea battles.

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

Extras

Menu

    Static menu. 20 Scene Selections. No more extras.

R4 vs R1

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

    This film is available in Region 1 in a similar configuration to the Region 4. The Region 4 is preferred because of the PAL picture.

Summary

    I like the "Carry On" films, particularly the early entries in the series. This one has some humorous moments as long as it is taken on its own terms. If you are collecting this mid-price series on DVD this one will be as good as any of the others in your collection.

    The video quality is quite good considering this is a fairly old low-budget film.

    The audio quality is below average.

    There are no extras (the Davison mantra).

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Tony Robert Davison (read my bio)
Wednesday, November 12, 2003
Review Equipment
DVDToshiba SD-K350, using Component output
DisplaySONY VPL-HS10 LCD projector, ABI 280cm 16x9 screen. Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p.
Audio DecoderKenwood. Calibrated with Video Essentials.
AmplificationKenwood
SpeakersKenwood

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