IanPhillips Although some may beg to differ, I find Carry On Again Doctor to be the funniest of the medical-based in the series. There is more structure to the plot than there was in the earlier Carry On Doctor. The film being divided into three sections works very well as this actually makes it feel as though there is a beginning, middle and end of a story.Most of the same actors that were used in Doctor (1967) crop up in this entry, some playing almost identical characters, others completely different. Jim Dale, for instance, virtually resurrects his accident-prone but well-meaning character from 'Doctor', although here he is named Dr. Jim Nookey. Kenneth Williams is as supercilious as always, although his character displays more of a sense of humour than usual. Even so, he is typically snide and as self-serving as his part in 'Doctor'. Joan Sims proves that, when called for, she can be sexy and glamorous, and it's nice to see her in a role where she isn't pigeon-holed in the battle-axe character she would often play. Charles Hawtrey is hilarious in drag, Sid James (who is not introduced until at least half way through the film) is in one of his most unusual roles, and Hattie Jacques, yet again reprises her familiar role of the Matron,though is more gentle in here, conveying a warmth in her character that was absent from her part in 'Doctor'. Then of course we have the bubbly Babara Windsor, whose character Goldie Locks quickly catches Jim Dale's roving eye. Their romance provides a nice sub-plot.Carry On Again Doctor, on the whole, plays very well. Whilst seemingly settling down as a hospital based comedy, the first 15 minutes or so seeming like 'Carry On Doctor 2', the film then wildly steers direction when Dr. Nookey (Jim Dale) is sent out to the Beatific Islands on a medical mission and discovers a special weight-reducing potion. Once back in England, he opens a new clinic for women who wish to lose weight. Then the film settles down and sees its last half hour almost encapsulate the feel of a regular TV sitcom with the weight reducing clinic scenes, with the likes of Joan Sims and Charles Hawtrey (hilariously in drag) staying for full treatment.Following on from 'Up The Khyber' and 'Camping', both of which were landmarks in the series, this ranks as one of my own favourite Carry On's. The dialogue sparkles along with fast, witty dialogue, and there are some impeccably timed performances from virtually all of the regular cast - Jim Dale, Joan Sims, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Sid James, Babara Windsor, Hattie Jaques and Patsy Rolands. It generally captures the true spirit of the Carry On's, yet somehow stands out as quite a unique entry in the series. Certainly many laughs to endure and is a must-see for fans. Generally a recommended comedy all round. A classic!Ian Phillips

ianlouisiana Too often left struggling by the wily old "Carry On.." pros in previous outings,Mr Dale gets his revenge in "Carry on again doctor" where his performance glues the movie together. Even such giants as Mr Williams and Mr James are forced to take a back seat as he howls,pratfalls and gags his way into pre - eminence. It is all the more astonishing because in none of his previous appearances did he seem to me to possess any comic ability whatsoever. At the root of it all is the fairly serious tale of a wonder slimming drug that has the slightly inconvenient side - effect of changing its users' sex. Miss Barbara Windsor may make an unlikely male but Mr Hawtrey is almost "Tootsie" - like in ladies clothes. Mr Williams mostly maintains his posh accent and is all the better for it.He conveys the arrogance and the closed mind of the popinjay consultant to the rich,bored women who flock to his clinic in the hope of a miracle weight loss. Mr Dale and Mr James excel in the Conradian sub - plot about two exiled doctors who redeem themselves. Not one of the best - known of the canon,"Carry on again doctor" is nonetheless pleasingly silly and offers a possibly unique opportunity to see Mr Jim Dale at the top of his game.

w22nuschler This is a good Carry On, but not in the top 10. Jim Dale makes his final appearance as the head doctor. All of the characters are different in this Doctor sequel except for Hattie Jacques who plays the Matron. Valerie Van Ost is also in the sequel and she has a small part as an out patient nurse. I have liked her a lot since I saw her in an Avengers episode. Jim Dale has a lot of funny stunts during the film and they are all done by him. As he gets into trouble, he is sent to a mission in another country and it is run by Sid James. Sid is great as always, but his part is cut way too short. Jim takes back a serum that helps take off weight quickly. Sid follows him to get a piece of the profit. Turns out he took the wrong formula and it changes women into men. They all become partners in the end and Jim marries the girl he was pursuing. Solid film, but I need more Sid James.

jaibo Carry on Again Doctor often gets neglected as an inferior re-run of Doctor, and this does the film an injustice. Gladstone Screwer is one of Sid James' best roles, as he plays a genuine oddity - a man who grew up in isolation on a tropical island and who pursues women not for their beauty or youth but whether they conform to the large tribal buxomness he is accustomed to. He is shocked when Jim Dale's Dr Nookey says he wants a slim girl. There is a wonderful moment where Screwer first sees Hattie Jaques' Matron and gives her a great big whack on the backside. "Do you mind?!" she demands, only to have him brazenly announce "As a matter of fact, I don't." Sid as a dirty old chubby-chaser is more satisfying casting than the usual Sid as pursuer of young women.The film is a satire on slimming crazes and the final 5 minutes are truly perverse. Nookey is making a fortune out of a slimming cure which Gladstone manufactures in and exports from the tropics. Gladstone demands a partnership (as does Kenneth Williams' Dr Carver, who knows something fishy is going on) and, when Gladstone is cheated, he substitutes another serum for the slimming one. It gives all of Nookey's patients a sex-change! Amongst the victims is Barabra Windsor, and the film ends with her marriage to Nookie, who complains as they go on their honeymoon that she hasn't shaved that morning. In the crowd, we spot Charles Hawtrey looking very knowing and pleased with himself as Dr Stoppage, and we realise that he has taken the serum himself and so is now a woman! The clinic is also revealed to be now owned by all of the interested parties.In a way, this ending shows us an extraordinary thing. Gladstone Screwer is a gone-native colonial who sends back to England a very un-Victorian transformative potential which the kind of medical colony he works in was presumably meant to eradicate abroad - the film claims that polymorphous perversity is an unexpected by-product of colonial Capitalism. The film sees, in a Visionary way, how Puritan Capitalism contained the seeds of its own undoing. Yes, products were imported from abroad which make the lucky few a lot of money, but in the meantime everyone wants their slice of the pie (aristocrats & parvenus, old money & new mix as both Gladstone and Carver end as partners in the clinic with Nookey and Joan Sims' Lady Moore). What is more, old ideals of masculinity and femininity have been forever eroded. That final shot, of a man and a woman who are now two men riding away and being waved at by men and women who themselves have no fixed gender is a prophecy we now see being fulfilled around us all of the while.In a couple of hundred years time, these strange, surreal and perverse films will tell people more about how our 20th Century society worked than many a so-called "serious" classic.