Carry On Camping

Sid and Bernie want to take their girlfriends on holiday. They find a place; there is a campsite in the brochure and in the photographs people are walking about with nothing on. They do not mention this to the girls. They get in the car. When they arrive the site turns out to be something else: a muddy field, a bad tempered owner and rules. There are other groups on the same ground; a girls' school camp, a family with a caravan and a commune. The tents fall down, it rains, and nobody gets what they wanted. Gerald Thomas directs. Sidney James, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims, Kenneth Williams, Barbara Windsor and Bernard Bresslaw are in the cast. It is a British production, made in 1969. The film is part of the Carry On series, which ran to more than thirty films and made its own audience in Britain. It was among the most watched entries in the series. It was shot in winter; the crew worked in a muddy field and the grass was painted to look green. The scene in which Barbara Windsor's bra flies off is among the best known moments in the series. The humour rests on double meanings and stock types. The narrative is episodic; the scenes stand on their own and the plot is weak. The film also mocks the sexual revolution of its moment. Its limit is age; the jokes are dated, the women are types, and the outlook is uncomfortable today. Who it is for: viewers who like British popular comedy and the Carry On series. Who it is not for: it is old, coarse, and the humour belongs to its period.