Leofwine_draca CARRY ON GIRLS is probably the one CARRY ON film that cements this film series's reputation as the 'smutty postcards' of the film world. It's certainly the sauciest of all the CARRY ON films to date, using the excuse of a beauty contest to reveal the flesh of as many girls as possible, and indeed the fresh beauty of the starlets (in particular Valerie Leon, Margaret Nolan, and Wendy Richard (!)) puts everybody else, the regular team included, into the shade.The story is some silly thing about scheming councillors (Sid James playing himself, and a delightfully stuffy Kenneth Connor) arranging a beauty contest only to have their efforts thwarted by the local women's lib, led by an enjoyable June Whitfield. In reality, though, what we get are endless innuendos, risqué sight gags, and plenty more besides. It's a film in which Peter Butterworth's groping old bloke is played for laughs, so what more can you say? Yes, the format feels a little tired and stale by now, with Bernard Bresslaw's cross-dressing antics bringing to mind those of Kenneth Cope in CARRY ON MATRON and a general seen-it-all-before sense to the proceedings. But, for better or worse, CARRY ON GIRLS provides one of the most unforgettable set-pieces of all the franchise, and I'm talking about THAT eye-popping cat-fight between Barbara Windsor and Margaret Nolan. People always remember the exercise scene from CARRY ON CAMPING but this goes considerably further and once watched is difficult to erase from the memory banks.

bkoganbing The Carry On series was known for its risqué and somewhat lewd and bawdy humor, more and more as the series went on. But in Carry On Girls where the subject is a beauty contest there's definitely more of it here than the rest of the series. Definitely Carry On Girls is Sid James's finest and most leering best.James owns a small hotel with Joan Sims that is not doing all that well. He comes up with a capital idea, hold a beauty contest at his hotel. Both make money and publicity and indulge in his favorite pasttime. He sells the mayor of the town Kenneth Connor on the idea though the stodgy Connor has his reservations.What's also around the local feminist June Whitfield who just on principle doesn't care for James's sexist ways. But the idea of exploitation of female bodies sets her off and she looks to sabotage the event. Between her sabotage and Sid James's eternal quest for any kind of publicity you have the makings of a funny film.That final scene at the beauty pageant is one for the books in the Carry On series. If you like nubile young female bodies and have a bawdy sense of humor, Carry On Girls is your film.

Spikeopath The seaside resort of Fircombe is struggling to attract the tourists, so Sid Fiddler (Sid James) proposes a beauty contest to draw some much needed punters into the town. Getting the inept Mayor (Kenneth Connor) to agree was easy enough, but opposition comes in the form of Augusta Prodworthy (June Whitfield) and her league of feminists.Lurid, smutty and just about average in the pantheon of the Carry On series. No Kenneth Williams for this one, but a point of interest is that Robin Askwith appears for the only time. Askwith ironically would become the star of the "Confessions" series of film's which would take the sex comedy to a whole new plateau from 1974 onwards. Carry On Girls has its moments, Bernie Bresslaw in drag brings quite a few gags, while Peter Butterworth as a lecherous old man steals the film.Also pleasing for the franchise faithful is that the Sid James and Barbara Windsor (Hope Springs) pairing gets a nice arc befitting the relationship the pair built up during the series. Beauty contests and feminist whiles are given the treatment in Talbot Rothwell's screenplay, and the dying seaside town in need of a boost has a certain warmth to it (filmed on location in Brighton on England's South Coast). But really it's mild Carry On fare outside of the flesh and double entendres that are laced in humorous stereotypical cheapness. 5/10

MARIO GAUCI This latter-day "Carry On" entry doesn't feature such series stalwarts as Kenneth Williams, Hattie Jacques or Charles Hawtrey, but still manages to be great fun – if, in no way, a classic. Council member Sid James (tied up with hotel manageress Joan Sims) decides to drum up business for their modest town by organizing a beauty contest. Kenneth Connor (sporting a funny accent and fuzzy hair-do) is the long-suffering Mayor – who, apart from his office duties, has to contend on a daily basis with openly contemptuous wife Patsy Rowlands (theirs is inspired mismatch casting indeed). Another couple is James' best pal Bernard Bresslaw and his young wife Valerie Leon (initially made to appear frumpy-looking but who eventually undergoes a make-over when, unbeknownst to her spouse, she determines to enter the contest herself out of jealousy).Barbara Windsor is "Miss Easy Rider"(!) and she's involved in rivalry throughout – erupting soon enough into a catfight in Sims' hotel lobby – with ex-roommate Sally Geeson. June Whitfield is the feminist council member who opposes the contest; to this end, she engages photographer nephew Robin Askwith (later star of several naughty "Confessions" films – I've never watched any, but am on the point of acquiring a few) to cover the preparations in order to uncover some misdeed which would allow her to put a stop to the whole 'debasing' event. Jack Douglas as the hotel concierge incorporates his hilarious twitching routine (also seen in CARRY ON ABROAD [1972] and "Lamp-Posts Of The Empire", an episode from the CARRY ON LAUGHING [1975] TV series). The finale – in which the contest is systematically sabotaged by the puritanical female townfolk (including the Mayor's own wife!) is an undeniable highlight of the film but is, essentially, a direct lift from a much earlier entry in the series – the superior CARRY ON TEACHER (1959)!