Robert J. Maxwell I saw one or two examples of this series when they were released and found the amusing. Now that I'm a crotchety old curmudgeon I don't find them so funny, but it may not be the fault of farces like this. It just takes more to amuse me.As it stands, this isn't too bad. A trio of newly graduated spies are sent in the care of Kenneth Williams first to Vienna (nods to "The Third Man") and then to Algiers ("The Maltese Falcon" and a couple of other allusions). Surprisingly few references to the immensely popular James Bond novels and films of the period. The spying here is more old fashioned.There are a couple of laughs in it and the gang is trying hard to please, but it's rough going with such raw material. A man walking along the street steps into an open manhole and disappears with a shriek. Ha ha.Williams uses a peculiar accent and juts his jaw more than usual, as if showing off that grin full of gleaming chiclets. I can't imagine there are many people like the giddy blond, Barbara Windsor. Four people could play a hand of bridge on her bosom, which seems to defy gravity.Not the worst of the lot by any means.

jc-osms Everyone has a secret vice and mine, I suppose, is a predilection for the "cheap as chips" and often as saucy "Carry On" films of the 60's and early 70's which are on constant rotation on UK TV channels even today.This is one of the earlier black and white ones and stars some but not all of the commonly accepted ensemble cast (no Sid James or Joan Sims for example). The innuendo is not as heavy as in later films as the "Swinging 60's" and liberated 70's advanced, but it's there of course, pushing the envelope as much as they dare.The plot is a spoof of the early James Bond films, but also nods in the direction of classics like "Casablanca" and "The Third Man", only don't expect any exotic location shots here, in fact the drop-in library footage of these locations gets a laugh in itself, it's so obvious.There are plenty of amusing quips and situations, with the usual hit-or-miss success rate. Kenneth Williams minces about as only he can, implausibly playing up to the ladies in the cast while a young Barbara Windsor gets disrobed as usual but otherwise spares us her trademark cackle and for once is quite palatable. There are a couple of obvious mis-casts - Charles Hawtrey's arch campness is too close to Williams' to be effective and it's obvious that Jim Dale would have been better suited to the gormless young male lead part than the irritating Bernard Cribbins (something the casting director would put right before too long - Cribbins never got another part in the series while Dale got the nod in at least two of the funnier entries soon afterwards, in "Carry On Cowboy" and "Carry On Doctor").The humour is, as has been said before akin to that in British sea-side postcards of the time and is the film equivalent to the likes of Benny Hill on TV. Both were hugely successful in the UK although I doubt the "Carry On..." films travel much outside the UK, unlike Hill. Even so, the best of them are really quite funny and it's fun to see the writers toying with the censor of the time in attempting to slip in as risqué a joke as they can.

ShadeGrenade A milkman ( Victor Maddern ) walks into a top secret research centre and steals Professor Stark's new formula before blowing him up. In Whitehall, the Chief of B.O.S.H. ( Eric Barker ) and chief security officer Cobley ( Richard Wattis ) wonder whom to send to get it back. "I know its scraping the barrel, but what about Simkins?". The Chief says: "That's not scraping the barrel. That's going beneath it!". Simkins ( Kenneth Williams ) has urgent business of his own, having spent the night locked in a filing cabinet. "Haven't you anything to do?". asks the Chief. "Not half, after being in there all night!", replies the junior spy. A message from Carstairs ( Jim Dale ) confirms that Milchmann ( the milkman ) is an agent of S.T.E.N.C.H. ( the Society for Total Extinction of Non-Conforming Humans ), an organisation bent on world domination led by the evil Dr.Crow ( Judith Furse ). With a team of three inept trainee spies - Daphne Honeybutt ( Barbara Windsor ), Harold Crump ( Bernard Cribbins ) and Charlie 'Oh Oh Oh' Bind ( Charles Hawtrey ), he catches the next plane to Vienna...With James Bond mania sweeping the world, the 'Carry On' gang just had to join in the fun. Though made on a smaller budget than Charles K.Feldman's 'Casino Royale' ( released three years later ) it manages to be ten times funnier. The story has a nice sweep, starting in London before moving to Vienna then onto Algiers, then back to London via the Orient Express and finally to S.T.E.N.C.H. H.Q. Some of the jokes are surprisingly rude for the time; for example, emerging from a toilet, Simkins tells Carstairs: "I should give it a minute!". Williams' 'Simpkins' is an expansion of the 'Snide' character from 'Hancock's Half-Hour'; he even gets to say 'stop messing about'. 'Spying' marked the 'Carry On' debut of the bubbly Windsor, and you can see why she became one of the best-loved cast members. Jim Dale's 'Carstairs', modelled on Sean Connery's 007, makes a good straight man for the others to bounce off. Richard Wattis and Eric Barker had both appeared in the 'Danger Man' television series starring Patrick McGoohan ( the former in 'The Ubitquitous Mr.Lovegrove' and the latter was John Drake's boss 'Hardy' in Season 1 ). Dilys Laye ( as café singer Lila' ) is drop dead gorgeous. She got to sing two songs specially composed for the film - 'Too Late' and 'The Magic Of Love'. Eric Pohlmann a.k.a. 'The Fat Man' was the voice of 'Blofeld' in the second Bond movie. As 'Dr.Crow' we have the formidable Judith Furse. The good doctor is a hybrid of male and female, intended to be the first in a new species of human. Oo-er! Norman Hudis was supposed to have written this, but his work was not used. Sid Colin and Talbot Rothwell's script effectively spoofs the first two Bonds ( Carstairs' watch is the same as that used by Robert Shaw in the opening of 'From Russia With Love' ) to 'The Third Man' ( Gerald Thomas had been Assistant Editor on Carol Reed's 1949 classic ). The idea of a team of agents working together predates the 'Mission: Impossible' series by two years. The finale in S.T.E.N.C.H. H.Q. as our luckless heroes find themselves trapped in an automated factory is surreal by 'Carry On' standards. The characters' lives are genuinely in peril.The 'Carry On' team could do no wrong at this point and further movie spoofs appeared from them in due course - such as 'Carry On Cowboy' and my personal favourite - 'Carry On Screaming' ( both 1966 ).Funniest moment - Simpkins briefing his agents in London. After showing them how to get off a slick draw ( using a gun ), Daphne comments: "I only wish I could get my draws off as slickly as that!".One quibble though - why was it made in black and white?

petersj-2 This is one of the funnier efforts by the team. Its obviously a send up of other movies of the genre and is shot in glorious black and white which sometimes I prefer. Black and white seems to suit the carry on movies. Life may indeed be in colour but these movies were never a depiction of life. The campery of Kenneth Williams and Charles Hawtrey is as funny as ever. There are those two wonderfully reliable old British actors Eric Barker and the fabulous Richard Wattis as his assistant. It would be hard to find better actors to play the chief and his off sider. I loved the performance of Judith Furse.. hilariously butch.Bernard Cribbins is a great talent and he brings so much more to the series than the annoying Kenneth Connor did. This might have been the first with the great Barbara Windsor and what a spectacular career she had. She actually steals the film and I found myself roaring with laughter. Its a very good carry on but above all the introduction of one of Britains finest stars Magnificent Barbara Windsor. Barbara Windsor was much more than the sexy little bomb shell that added so much to these films and many others. She was a brilliant comedienne and I hope she gets the recognition she richly deserved. Her timing is brilliant.Yes its all very corny but all great comedy is corny. Its rather fun seeing their idea of modern technology,those mobile phones are fun. Wonder what they would think of what we use today. I love the cheap effects of the movie such as the car wash, rather not explain but its hilarious. Its great fun seeing one of Australias most loved exports, John Bluthall in the early stages of a great career.