Rating: C-
Dir: Gerald Thomas
Star: Phil Silvers, Kenneth Williams, Jim Dale, Angela Douglas
Like predecessor Don’t Lose Your Head, this was originally released without the Carry On name, being retrofitted after the fact. It is considerably less successful than Head, to the extent you wonder what went wrong. Certainly, you can’t help feeling the absence of Sid James. The part of Sergeant Nocker was originally written for him, but a commitment to TV series George and the Dragon meant he had to be replaced. In an effort to appeal to the American box-office, the producers brought in Silvers, well-known there for his portrayal of Sergeant Bilko in the fifties. It didn’t work, the Yank seeming to have no feel for the particularly British form of humour needed by the franchise.
As with Head, it’s a spoof of classic literature, in this case 1924 novel Beau Geste. Dale plays Bertram Oliphant ‘Bo’ West, who leaves to join the French Foreign Legion under Commandant Maximilian Burger (Williams) – quite what a German is doing in command is never explained – after an unfounded accusation sullies West’s honour. There, he falls foul of Nocker, until he discovers the sergeant’s reputation as a hero is not warranted. Back in England, the accusation having been proven false, his girlfriend Lady Jane (Douglas) makes the hazardous trip to Africa to bring Bo home, but falls into the clutches of evil Arab Sheikh Abdul Abulbul (Bernard Bresslaw), who is plotting to attach the Legion’s outposts. Bo needs to stop the Sheikh, rescue Jane and redeem his reputation.
Talbot Rothwell’s script is not a patch on his one for Head, containing only the bare minimum of memorable lines. I did like Burger’s one about “many a good fiddle is played on an old dune” – detailed explanation available on request. I think it needs a stronger personality at its core: while Dale is a decent hero, he seems to be appearing in a straightforward adventure movie. There’s straight men, and then there’s straight men. As discussed above, Silvers doesn’t work, despite playing a character not dissimilar to his trademark Bilko. He certainly did not merit receiving the largest salary in Carry On history to that point. Silvers cost a whopping £30,000, more than ten percent of the entire film’s budget.
I will say, the makers did a good job of faking the Sahara. The Camber Sands dunes in East Sussex stood in for North Africa, though the unwanted presence of snow did delay shooting. Speaking of faking it, I also note the presence of then pop singer Anita Harris playing an Egyptian belly-dancer called, for some reason, Corktip. She is a surprisingly good belly-dancer, and being born in Somerset, an unconvincing Egyptian. In some ways, especially with its climax of a besieged garrison fighting off natives, it feels like a dry run for Up the Khyber, though the scale here is much smaller. So are the laughs, to be honest.