IT’LL FRACTURE YOUR FUNNYBONE!

The second Carry On film became one of the franchise’s most successful, following in the same vein as Carry On Sergeant (1958), only now set in a hospital ward where the patients rebel against Matron (Hattie Jacques) who rules with an iron fist. They are an amusing lot, consisting of the expected stereotypes, making fun of British class society… but it’s a thin script, held together by a string of sketches where the jokes rarely rise above the silly. Also, Jacques should be more terrifying as the feared Matron. 

1959-U.K. 86 min. B/W. Directed by Gerald Thomas. Play: Patrick Cargill, Jack Beale (”Ring for Catty”). Cast: Shirley Eaton (Dorothy Denton), Kenneth Connor (Bernie Bishop), Kenneth Williams (Oliver Reckitt), Charles Hawtrey, Hattie Jacques, Terence Longdon… Wilfrid Hyde-White, Joan Hickson, Jill Ireland. 

Trivia: Carry On Teacher (1959) followed next.