Rating: C+
Dir: Gerald Thomas
Star: Frankie Howerd, Sidney James, Joan Sims, Kenneth Connor
At times it feels like someone went back fifty years in a time machine, and made this movie for the sole purpose of triggering Letterboxd users. It is likely the most problematic in the series, for those who persist in judging material from previous eras by contemporary correctness. Which kinda misses the point, since if anyone is being depicted poorly here, it’s the English aristocracy. This is very much the same kind of class-based humour as Carry On Up the Khyber, with the ruling classes being taken out of their natural habitat, yet refusing to adapt their behaviour to the radically different situation.
In this case, it’s a jungle expedition, funded by Lady Evelyn Bagley (Sims), and led by ornithologist Professor Inigo Tinkle (Howerd, in peak “Oo-er, missus!” form). Also along is big-game hunter and guide Bill Boosey (James), and the head of his native bearers Upsidaisi (Bernard Bresslaw, naturally). The Professor is after the rare Oozlum bird, but Lady Evelyn seeks her son, lost on a previous expedition on which her husband was, apparently, eaten by a crocodile. The group find themselves first captured by cannibals, then it’s a case of “out of the frying pan, into the fire,” as they become the captives of the all-female Lubby-Dubby tribe, from the lost world of Aphrodisia. They need the men to breed, a prospect initially embraced by Boosey and co… until they see exactly who their brides are going to be.
Around this, there’s a good deal more going on: it’s probably one of the busiest films in terms of plot. There’s an entire subplot involving Lady Evelyn’s son, who has grown up to become a native vine-swinger, Ug (Terry Scott). He falls for Evelyn’s maid, June (Jacki Piper), while the aristocrat is energetically looking for a man herself. This leads to an extended sequence where it feels like half the cast are climbing into, or escaping from, each other’s beds. And that also includes a “gorilla” that’s wandering around. Quotes used advisedly, since it’s the most obvious man in a suit you can imagine. And guess what? That’s the point. If you take it, or anything else here, at all seriously, then more fool you.
It is, very clearly, parody, with the targets including the Tarzan franchise, as well as films like Slave Girls. But it’s very equal opportunity in terms of its targets. Indeed, there’s a case to be made that Upsidaisi is the smartest and bravest character on view: his actions certainly lead to the party’s rescue. That’s he’s played in blackface by Bresslaw is almost par for the course, the actor having previously been an Arab sheik and Afghani tribal leader. Offense makes as much sense as thinking panto dames are taking roles away from women. I was also amused that Bresslaw spoke Swahili for the role. The “natives” – being mostly of Caribbean ancestry – couldn’t understand him. But Sid James, who was born and brought up in South Africa, did…
More importantly: is it funny? On occasion, it undeniably is, such as this dead-pan exchange between the party, just after they have been captured by the cannibals.
What’s that big pot?
Probably flatulence.
We’re going in that pot.
Us? Stewed?
Not a chance. Stone-cold sober.
Some of the elements are less successful. To be honest, the whole Lubby-Dubby subplot, despite the presence of Valerie Leon as their queen, goes on too long. It hasn’t got much to offer beyond “Blokes want sex with pretty women.” However, the interplay between the characters is genuinely amusing, and as ever, the jokes fly at everyone’s expense. Nobody here gets out alive. Least of all the Oozlum bird.