Carry On Columbus
The final Carry-on film to be produced by Peter Rodgers and Gerald Thomas had a great premise and was carefully timed to be released on the 500th anniversary of Columbus discovering America, unfortunately this was pretty much where the good points end. The film was a Box Office success due to the public’s eagerness for a new Carry-on film, however the reviews were pretty damning, it was the most critically slated film of the whole series and was widely regarded as the worst Carry On of them all.
The plot of the film follows mapmaker and explorer Christopher Columbus (Jim Dale), who believes there is an easier way to get to India and the far-east, without going through Turkey where the sultan is obsessed with taxing anyone on the silk road to China. The Sultan (Rik Mayall), discovers Columbus’s plans to head West, so he dispatches his agents led by Fatima (Sara Crowe), to stop him on his ventures. Invariably this leads to Columbus accidentally discovering the Americas, where the natives behave more like the cast of Cheers than supposed terrifying native warriors.
I gave this film a 3/10 as it was not as bad as Henry or Emmannuelle, however I will never understand out how this awful script was ever green-lit. Likewise, I can’t work out whether the totally unsuitable early 90’s acid-trip music is brilliant, as it is so unexpected, or just another severe error from the elderly Rogers and Thomas. To be honest this film still confuses me, so you will have to work out whether I recommend that you watch it or not.
3/10 – Calum Roberts