Rio Hayward All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Ella-May O'Brien Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

sqdb This was the second of the Carry On films set in a hospital and was released in 1967. It featured the first appearance in a Carry On film by the late, great Frankie Howerd and he is excellent here. He went on to appear in Carry On Up The Jungle in 1970. Most of the Carry On regulars appear here, though Charles Hawtrey is somewhat more subdued than normal. Kenneth Williams is also excellent as a smarmy doctor, as is Hattie Jacques as the matron and Anita Harris also appears as a nurse. It was rumoured that Jim Dale did some of his own stunts and he has a great set-piece here on a rooftop, as he hangs on for dear life. Sid James, who suffered a heart attack just before the film was due to start shooting, has less to do here, though and spends most of the film in bed. I did not enjoy Barbara Windsor in this film, though, but I could never tolerate her as an actress, she couldn't act for toffee and she only got parts in films because of her generous bosom. The film is funnier than some of the other Carry On films, though and it has always remained one of my favourites of the series. I watched it again recently and I still found myself laughing, even after all these years. I regard it as one of the best of the series and much better than most of their films to come during the 1970s. If you haven't already seen it, then watch it on TV or DVD. You won't regret it.

Leofwine_draca While there are few genuinely laugh-out-loud moments in this hospital-set film - and while it's a definite come-down from the 1950s CARRY ON NURSE - CARRY ON DOCTOR proves to be a worthwhile and effectively amusing entry from the middle of the series, one that stands out perhaps because it proves a nice contrast to the number of period-set movies the team had been making previously.For me, one of the best things about the production is that almost all of the team is present (aside from the much-missed Kenneth Connor, still on his six-year hiatus from the franchise). All that and you get Frankie Howerd too, delivering a slightly more restrained performance than you'd expect from the actor.I enjoy the films that are set in single locations, because they tend to work harder for the laughs and this is no exception. Although there's a noticeable emphasis on sex and titillation for laughs compared to earlier instalments, this is still relatively tame compared to later efforts like CARRY ON DICK. Of the cast, Jim Dale and Kenneth Williams are on top form, and it's great to have Sid James and Barbara Windsor back in the fold (even if both are in relatively minor parts). A fast pace and general feeling of hard work and physical performance on part of the cast make this a superior CARRY ON adventure.

Robert J. Maxwell I saw one or two of the earlier "Carry On" movies when they were first released and didn't them clearly except for one conversation involves Sid James. Someone remarks that Arabs are a very intense people, and James assumes this sardonic grin and replies, "Yes, the Arabs do everything in tents, don't they." On the basis of this one lousy but smile-worthy pun, I bought the entire boxed set of the "Carry On" series, each entry having its own audio commentary.I'm half way through the first example I've sampled -- "Carry On Doctor" -- and feel compelled to watch the whole 45 hours of the series, since I've already paid for them.But I do so with a heavy heart. The world has changed a great deal since I heard that pun about "tents" and it must have had its effect on my sense of humor. This is almost unbearable silly. Performers make feeble jokes, then turn to stare at the camera and cackle maniacally. It isn't the low-brow farcical quality of the gags that are depressing. It's that they're not funny.The actors do their best and there are some familiar faces among them -- Kenneth Williams, Sid James, Hattie Jacques -- but what can they do with such shoddy material? It's like a television situation comedy that has defied its natural death and meanly continues to run long after it's begun to decompose.Benny Hill was more inventive and funnier. Monty Python, compared to this, is elegant wit.I might have picked a bad example to start with. Maybe other episodes are better. I hope so. I don't look forward to slitting my wrists. At the same time, there seem to be many people who have found this series hilarious, so my values may have been warped by history.

Terrell-4 The patient is Francis Bigger, played by Frankie Howerd, and the line is a sly reference to the funniest scene in Carry On Nurse. It's probably the cleverest line in Carry On Doctor. Like Carry On Nurse, Carry On Doctor takes place in hospital and, as the movie says, is a bedpanorama of hospital life. The long-running Carry On movies were bawdy, low-comedy, good-natured madhouses that featured a repertory company of comics we came to recognize instantly. Here, the company is made up of Kenneth Williams, Jim Dale, Hattie Jacques, Sid James, Joan Sims, Charles Hawtrey, Barbara Windsor and Bernard Bresslaw, among others. They play the patients, the doctors and the nurses at Finisham Hospital. If you relish jokes about bedpans and hernias, where any possible activity below the waist will wind up as corny, corny jokes or wheezing double entendres, Finisham is the place to be. Says Dr. Kilmore (Jim Dale) to Francis Bigger, "Just as I thought. You fell on your coccyx." "I did not," says Bigger, "I fell on my back." "Your coccyx is at the base of the spine," points out Dr. Kilmore. Says Bigger, "Well I've never heard it called that before." A Carry On hospital movie always has lots of nubile nurses assisting the longing denizens of the male ward. "Nurse, I dreamt about you last night," says a hobbled Ken Biddle (Bernard Bresslaw) to the stacked Nurse Clarke (Anita Harris). "Did you?" she asks? "No," Biddle says, "you wouldn't let me." And of course we have to deal with the Matron, a large woman more indomitable than a battleship, who knows how to keep any male quivering at the thought of one of her enemas or her ice baths. Has a matron ever been played as perfectly as Hattie Jacques? Her matrons always know what they want, and in this movie, Matron wants Dr. Kenneth Tinkle (Kenneth Williams), the hospital's chief physician. "Matron," Dr. Tinkle says, "you may not realize it but I was once a weak man!" "Doctor," says Matron, "once a week is enough for any man!" Who cares what the plot is when we have lines like these? We even have Charles Hawtrey who, in film as well as in life, raised mincing about to an art form, playing a father-to-be suffering from false pregnancy symptoms. It's a small, unlikely and vivid bit. The whole movie is a funny, gently off-color and totally innocent experience...such as the small boy who swallowed half a crown and was taken to hospital. Two days later the boy's mum asks the doctor, "How's he doing?" "Sorry, missus," the doctor says, "there's still no change."