Leofwine_draca A surprisingly funny instalment of the CARRY ON franchise, given this film's poor reputation amongst fans. A lot of that ill feeling stems from the presence of Phil Silvers (SGT. BILKO) in the cast, replacing Sid James; Silvers is hardly a perfect fit here, but I found that come the end he had acquitted himself well with the material.And the story is very enjoyable. This is a broad spoof of the Foreign Legion movie, with an upper class toff (Jim Dale, on fine form) and his manservant (Peter Butterworth, excelling in one of his larger roles) drafted into the Legion to do battle against Bernard Bresslaw (excellent) and his nefarious Arabs.The cast give some very good performances in this one, particularly Kenneth Williams playing a (bizarrely) German officer. Inevitably the gags come thick and fast, and there's a fair share of hits among them too, including some great sight gags. What I noticed in particular, and it may be the nature of the spoof, is that CARRY ON FOLLOW THAT CAMEL has much more in common with the 1950s-era CARRY ON flicks than the crude 1970s ones, and that's perhaps a reason I enjoyed it so much.

timsmith37 Sergeant Bilko makes for a disconcerting presence in a Carry On spoof of Beau Geste, but the experiment is more successful than not thanks to a solid Talbot Rothwell script, with Silvers playing well off the stiff upper lip types. Dale and Butterworth are in fine form as the naive aristo and his loyal valet, while Gilmore puts in a moustache twirling turn as the caddish rival, and as the object of their affections Douglas is absolutely luminous - and laugh out loud funny as she undergoes her rites of passage while retaining impeccable English manners.Less successful are the broader ethnic stereotypes from Williams, Hawtry, Simms and Bluthal, though Bresslaw enjoys himself as the villainous sheik, while Harris is more sultry than might be thought possible as a treacherous belly dancer.Not a classic, but by no means the dregs of the series (see Convenience, Loving, Behind, Henry, England, and - shudder - Emmanuelle and Columbus.)

Tweekums The title card may not include the words 'Carry On' but it isn't surprising that they are added to TV listings and the DVD title as this film features many of the Carry On regulars. Jim Dale plays Bertram Oliphant 'Bo' West; a man who decides to join the French Foreign Legion after he is dismissed from his cricket club in disgrace after being wrongly accused of lying. Soon after he leaves his beloved Lady Jane Ponsonby, played by Angela Douglas, learns what how he was wronged and sets off to find him. Once in the Legion West and his manservant Simpson find that life is much harder than they expected… that is until they realise the cruel Sergeant Nocker, Phil Silvers, lied to the commandant; claiming to have been battling Arabs in the desert when he had in fact been with a local woman. With this information the soon get treated much better. The local Sheikh is keen to defeat the French and captures Nocker, West and Simpson along with Lady Jane when she arrives; Nocker escapes but by know the commandant has learnt of his lies so doesn't believe him for some time… when he realised what has happened he sets off with the rest of the garrison to mount a rescue.This film had all the mild innuendo and double entendres one would expect from a Carry On film; none too rude but still sufficiently funny. The regulars give the solid performances one would expect and Phil Silvers is a lot of fun as Sgt. Nocker; a character not dissimilar to Silvers' more famous role: Sgt. Bilko. In this day and age it probably wouldn't be acceptable for a white actor to 'black up' to play an Arab but it was standard practice then and Bernard Bresslaw did a decent job as Sheikh Abdul Abulbul. The story was good enough with a decent plot that gave the team plenty of opportunities to be funny. This might not be one of the classic Carry On films but it is far from being one of the worst so is well worth watching if you have enjoyed other films in the series.

no-skyline Another of the historical/costume Carry On's see's Phil Silvers join the Carry On team as a guest star. This was the first time one cast members name had been allowed to headline over the others and this was undoutbly done to increase the series appeal in America. However this is rumoured to have caused friction amongst the regular cast members which is possibly one reason for Kenneth Williams even more over the top than usual performance trying to out do Silvers.The plot line follows Beau (Jim Dale) and his Butler (Petter Butterworth) join the foreign legion in the 1800's their they meet the conniving Seargent Knocker (Silvers). Seargent Knocker is pretty much just Seargent Bilko in the 1800's which is fine by me as Silvers creation of Bilko is a great character and funny even now over fifty years after the series was broadcast. However the problem being at times this does feel like the Phil Silvers show rather than a carry on. The rest of the cast do OK but it has to be said other than Dale and Breslaw they are either not on their usual high form (Williams and Hawtry as the commanding officers) or underused (an excellent Joan Simms who only appears for less than 10mins in total).Follow that Camel is a funny film but not as funny as the best of the series Silvers adds star power but it hasn't got enough killer lines. There's not one joke that makes you remember this film like the best Carry On's for instance the daffodil in Nurse, Infamy infamy.... in Cleo or the diner scene in Khyber.Out of 10 I'm giving it a generous 7 as I'm a big Bilko and Carry On fan. 7/10