This Saturday Night Special harkens back to a time in history when it was still okay to have fun.
"Carry On Regardless" was the fifth of 31 'Carry On' films made between 1958 and 1992, many of which featured the same troupe of actors.
"Carry On Regardless" is not a movie as much as it is a series of vignettes, or an hour and a half of edited down Three Stooges-like episodes, or some other comedy shorts. It's sexy, it's bawdy, but it's never cheap or dirty. It really is just fun!
"Carry On Regardless" is a story of a 'Temp' agency providing part-time jobs for a bunch of misfit job seekers as they get sent endlessly on a series of botched, and/or misunderstood jobs.
Sidney James is Bert Handy, the guy who runs the "Helping Hands" agency. Sidney was quite a guy. He came from South Africa where he worked as a hairdresser, but he told people that the reason he looked so rough was because he had been a boxer, which there is no record of. Sidney was in 19 of the 31 "Carry On" movies.
The reason I watched "Carry On Regardless" initially was to see something else that Stanley Unwin was in, but as it turns out, he has one of the smaller roles, but it's one of the more memorable ones.
He comes to "Helping Hands" for some reason, but Bert Handy can't understand a word he's saying, and Stanley turns in a fine performance, doing what he does best, mumbling and bumbling and taking the English language to a place where few are willing to venture, which he will reprise a couple of times before the movie is over.
So off they go on a series of adventures in krazy town! Liz Fraser is the ditzy blonde Delia King, and was in a total of four 'Carry On" movies. Her first assignment is to go to a guy's house and try on a bunch of clothes he bought for his wife to see how they fit. Innocent enough, but of course it goes horribly awry when his wife comes home and finds her half naked in the closet.
Bert Handy has a cranky old millionaire hire him to go wait at the hospital for for his appointment for him, because he's too important to wait himself. While Bert is there, he's mistaken for a Doctor. He tries to help this patient by giving him tips at the racetrack.
He doesn't hesitate when a chance comes up to help give the nurses their regular checkups!
Francis finally gets a job he wants as a model, only to be foiled again!
Francis is multi-lingual, and gets a job translating between a man and his wife, who has suddenly started speaking what I think is German.
The pretty hilarious Charles Hawtrey as Gabriel Dimple was also in 24 different "Carry On" films. The job he gets is as a corner man in a professional boxing match!
But the boxer breaks his hand accidentally and Gabriel Dimple substitutes for him in the match, and is doing pretty good sticking and moving until his pants come down. He does end up winning the bout!
The office gets a call and a muffled message about something to do with a fourth bridge, and Sam Twist goes on a mysterious trip aboard a train. He's certain he will be contacted, and when all else fails, he decides to needs to jump off the train at the fourth bridge.
What the man on the phone really wanted was to hire a fourth player in a game of bridge when one of the regulars couldn't make it.
Talk about being offtrack!!
Sam is one of the main characters, and gets another job in a library. He's supposed to be completely silent, but the old men in the library are cracking him up with their snoring and shifting hairpieces, and he can't take it, and starts laughing out loud!
The last segment involves all the players when the maid knocks over the box with all their individual assignments in it, and gets them all mixed up when she puts them back. The workers all know what they are supposed to do, but are sent to the wrong places to do it, like here, Francis knows he's supposed to translate for a bunch of Chinese people, and is very confused when it turns out to be a bunch of white girls. He's then perceived as some kind of pervert, and is hauled away!
Bill Owen as Mike Weston was supposed to go to a strip club full of 'birds' to work as a bouncer, but they sent Gabriel Dimple instead, who was supposed to come help this lady move her birds.
Stanley Unwin shows up again, and this time Francis does some translating for them. It turns out he's the landlord, and he's been trying to tell Bert Handy that he's going to have to re-locate "Helping Hands," because he's going to lease it to somebody for a higher price.
He then tells them they can stay with no increase in rent, if they will just renovate an olde home for him that he owns!
The place is a total dump, and then it gets worse when the water comes on! Maybe this wasn't such a good deal after all!
Totally exasperated, the gang is finally saved when Stanley shows up, and tells them he has decided to tear the whole place down and build new, rather than trying to fix it up, and they are then allowed to take out their frustrations out on the building!
I enjoyed "Carry On Regardless" so much, I think I'll go watch "Carry On Screaming" again!
