Carry on Girls (1973)
Directed by Gerald Thomas

Film Review

By the time the Carry On team had arrived at their 25th offering of innuendo and slapstick it was apparent that the series had run out of steam and was destined to repeat itself as writer Talbot Rothwell failed to come up with new gags.  The gradual fading away of the regulars compounded the series' woes but the main reason why the Carry Ons were losing their appeal was because they were being overtaken by events.  More explicit sex comedies, such as the Confessions films, were beginning to make the Carry Ons look naive and dated, but when producer Peter Rogers and director Gerald Thomas tried to move with the times and go for more graphic sexual references, they were destined to fail, as this was not what audiences expected from the Carry Ons.  Carry On Girls marked the beginning of this decline.

With Charles Hawtrey having been dropped from the series and Kenneth Williams busy performing My Fat Friend in the West End, the film is already reeling from the loss of two of the Carry Ons' best-loved stars.   Hawtrey is replaced by Jimmy Logan, who, as the lisping poor man's Larry Grayson, gives the absolute worst performance of any Carry On film.  Inexplicably, Valerie Leon was dubbed by June Witfield (and badly so in many scenes), which wouldn't have been so bad if Witfield was not already playing a major character in the film.  The film also suffers from some bad editing and a lethargically paced plot.

Carry On Girls does offer a few amusing situations (notably the infamous cat fight in which Babs Windsor gets down and very dirty with a rival beauty contestant), the humour is generally way below par and few, if any, of the performers have that sparkle which they showed in the previous films.  Overall, the film is watchable and not quite as dull as its grim seaside location (easily recognisable as Brighton), but the laughs are few and far between and you do feel by this stage that the Carry Ons have had their day. Unfortunately, worse was to come...

Film Synopsis

Fircombe is a dreary English seaside resort which is having difficulty attracting tourists.  In the hope of reviving the glum little town, district councillor Sid Fiddler suggests that a beauty contest be held on the pier.  The mayor Frederick Bumble endorses the proposal but Augusta Prodworthy, the leader of a militant women's lib group, is vehemently opposed to it.  Sid's girlfriend Connie Philpotts is none too taken with the idea either, especially when Sid decides to accommodate the shapely contestants in her hotel for free.   Connie joins forces with Augusta and the mayor's wife Mildred to sabotage the beauty contest...