Carry On Sergeant
It’s all about a Dad . . . a Draftee . . . and a Detonation heard round the camp!
Carry on Sergeant was the very first Carry-on film to be made by Peter Rogers and Gerald Thomas. This venture follows Sergeant Grimshaw (William Hartnell) who makes a bet with colleagues that he can turn a hapless group of National Servicemen into hard working resilient soldiers. The recruits include Charlie Sage (Bob Monkhouse) who is mistakenly called up on his wedding day, Horace Strong (Kenneth Connor), who’s does everything he can to get out of the army and James Bailey (Kenneth Williams), an upper-class toff who constantly belittles his superiors.
This is really an excellent start to the Carry On series. Watching it today gives you a strong sense of nostalgia, when writers were genuinely funny, with their edgy yet innocuous humour. Carry on Sergeant is by no means the best of the Carry on Series, it is however a really enjoyable 80 minutes with a wonderfully patriotic theme.
8/10 – Calum Roberts