RANKING: The only "old style" black and white one to be in the top ten. What makes this stand out is it's got an actual plot. Unlike the later ones which relyied on our familiarity with the characters so much so that they could be just a series of smutty jokes, this one has a proper story - albeit a very, very silly one. Although it is a black and white one, it is NOT from the early batch of Norman Hudis films (which are not funny). No, this is a proper Talbot Rothwell picture who wrote virtually all of them from 1963 onwards...and being one of his first, the jokes are fresh!
TYPICAL: Kenneth Williams plays the role Kenneth Williams always played in the early sixties whether in film, TV or radio, particularly in HANCOCK'S HALF HOUR - and he's never been better or funnier than in this.
But is it a typical Carry On Film? No, definitely not. This is more of a James Bond spoof than what people would consider to be a Carry On film. The humour isn't that bawdy seaside postcard style which developed later on but there are a few saucy double entendres to give us a taste of things to come. The humour in this is more akin to the type of silly schoolboy humour you would have heard in the radio comedies of the late fifties and early sixties so if you're a fan of Hancock, Round The Horn and all that sort of stuff, you will definitely love this.
Don't however expect a parody in the classy style of CASINO ROYALE (1967) or AUSTIN POWERS, this makes AUSTIN POWERS seem like Chekhov.
SEXY LADIES: This was made before that factor became an absolute essential ingredient. Nevertheless, Barbara Windsor is quite cute and it doesn't matter in something like this that she hadn't really learned how to act yet.
