Carry On Up the Khyber
Drafted to Laugh
The 16th Carry On produced by Peter Rogers and Gerald Thomas is my absolute favourite film in the entire series by a country mile. It’s also one of my most-treasured comedies of all time, full stop. It’s got everything I love in a Carry On and so much more. It also has by far the best ending of any film in the series. The story takes place in late 19th century India at the time of the British Empire in which the Kalabar Governor Sidney Rough-Diamond (Sid James) is trying to put down an uprising organised by the Khasi of Kalibar (Kenneth Williams), who wants to start an anti-British rebellion by trying to prove that the 3rd Foot and Mouth regiment (a farcical take on the famous Scottish regiment) are nothing but a bunch of wimps. Rough-diamond’s wife meanwhile tries to do everything she can to stop the Khasi. Even if it means doing things which aren’t particularly ladylike for a Governors wife.
That’s just the basic outline of the story, which I’m not going to elaborate on further as it leads to an absolute laugh-fest, which doesn’t stop until after the closing shot of the Union Jack, which seems appropriate considering how patriotic and pro-British the Carry On series became over the years. Bernard Bresslaw gives his best performance in the whole series as the warlord Bundgit Din.
Regardless of whether you’re watching the film now or back at the flicks in 1968, it is still a hilarious performance, filled with double entendre and silliness. The last 20 minutes are for me the best in the entire series. It’s just one ginormous sequence of total sardonic insanity which doesn’t stop until the very last second. It may not exactly be what you’d immediately think of when you say Carry On. But it is exactly the kind of mayhem you’d expect from a low budget escapist British comedy for the time and it is absolutely perfect.
10/10 – Calum Roberts