Carry On Cleo

In Britain two men, the inventor Hengist Pod and the fighter Horsa, are taken by the Roman army and carried to Rome as slaves. By accident Hengist overcomes a group of gladiators and is taken for a great fighter; Caesar makes him his personal bodyguard. Meanwhile Caesar goes to Egypt, meets Cleopatra, and there is a group in Rome planning to kill him. Hengist is looking for his wife and at the same time trying to survive at court as a coward nobody has noticed. Gerald Thomas directs. Sidney James, Kenneth Williams, Kenneth Connor, Charles Hawtrey and Amanda Barrie are in the cast. It is a British production. The film was shot at Pinewood using the sets and costumes left over from a large budget Cleopatra film made shortly before. The pun Kenneth Williams delivers as Caesar is counted among the most quoted lines in British comedy. The narrative follows the known shape of the Carry On series; wordplay, innuendo and a plot with no respect at all for history. The film has nothing to do with history and says so openly. The matter it treats is the mistaking of heroism; the real coward is taken for a great warrior. Amanda Barrie's Cleopatra directly imitates the famous Hollywood production of the period. It is counted among the best liked entries in the series. The ending resolves the confusion. Its limit is the humour; the jokes belong to their time, some are sexist, and they are lost in translation. Who it is for: viewers who like the British comic tradition and sixties farce. Who it is not for: it is dated, the humour is innuendo, and the ending simple.