Carry on Jack (1963)

User Rating:

5.7/10   

Director:

Gerald Thomas

Writer:

Talbot Rothwell (original screenplay)

Release Date:

November 1963 (UK)

Genre:

Adventure | Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

You'll go overboard for -

Plot:

This is the tale of Albert Poop-Decker, a newly commissioned Midshipman (although he took 8 1/2 years to qualify)...

Plot Keywords:

Ship | Navy | Carry On | Historical | Sequel

Cast

Kenneth Williams	...	Captain Fearless
Bernard Cribbins	...	Midshipman Albert Poop-Decker
Juliet Mills	...	Sally
Charles Hawtrey	...	Walter Sweetly
Donald Houston	...	First Officer Jonathan Howett
Percy Herbert	...	Mr. Angel, the Bos'un
Jim Dale	...	Young Carrier
Patrick Cargill	...	Don Luis, the Spanish Governor
Cecil Parker	...	First Sealord
Ed Devereaux	...	Hook, Pirate
Peter Gilmore	...	Patch, Pirate Captain, aka Roger
George Woodbridge	...	Ned
Ian Wilson	...	Ancient Carrier
Jimmy Thompson	...	Adm. Horatio Nelson
Anton Rodgers	...	Hardy
Michael Nightingale	...	Town Crier
Frank Forsyth	...	Second Sealord
Barrie Gosney	...	Coach Driver
John Brooking	...	Third Sealord
Jan Muzurus	...	Spanish Captain
Vivienne Ventura	...	Spanish Secretary (as Vivian Ventura)
Marianne Stone	...	Peg
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Marian Collins	...	Girl at Dirty Dick's (uncredited)
Kenneth Cope	...	Sailor (uncredited)
Dominique Don	...	Girl at Dirty Dick's (uncredited)
Sally Douglas	...	Girl at Dirty Dick's (uncredited)
Jean Hamilton	...	Girl at Dirty Dick's (uncredited)
Jennifer Hill	...	Girl at Dirty Dick's (uncredited)
Rosemary Manley	...	Girl at Dirty Dick's (uncredited)
Dorinda Stevens	...	Girl at Dirty Dick's (uncredited)

Directed by
Gerald Thomas

Writing credits
Talbot Rothwell		(original screenplay)

Produced by
Frank Bevis	....	associate producer
Peter Rogers	....	producer

Original Music by
Eric Rogers

Cinematography by
Alan Hume		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Archie Ludski

Art Direction by
Jack Shampan

Costume Design by
Joan Ellacott

Makeup Department
Olga Angelinetta	....	hairdressing
Jim Hydes	....	makeup artist
Geoffrey Rodway	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Donald Toms	....	unit manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Anthony Waye	....	assistant director

Art Department
Don Picton	....	set dresser (uncredited)

Sound Department
Bill Daniels	....	sound recordist
Christopher Lancaster	....	sound editor

Camera and Electrical Department
Godfrey A. Godar	....	camera operator (as Godfrey Godar)
Harry Gillard	....	still photographer (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Rod Nelson-Keys	....	assistant editor (uncredited)

Music Department
Eric Rogers	....	conductor

Other crew
Nat Cohen	....	presenter
Lt. Cdr. Ian Cox	....	technical advisor (as Ian Cox)
Penny Daniels	....	continuity
Stuart Levy	....	presenter

Production Companies

• Peter Rogers Productions

Distributors

• Anglo-Amalgamated Film Distributors (1963) (UK) (theatrical) (presents) (as Anglo Amalgamated)
• Warner-Pathé Distributors (1963) (UK) (theatrical) (released throughout the United Kingdom by) (as the Warner - Pathe Distribution Ltd.)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (1988) (UK) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (2001) (UK) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Carry on Sailor
Carry on Up the Armada (UK) (working title)
Carry on Venus

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG | UK:PG (video rating) | UK:A (original rating)

Filming Locations:

Frensham Ponds, Farnham, Surrey, England, UK

Company:

Peter Rogers Productions

Trivia:

First Carry On... film made in costume and with a historical setting.

Quotes:

Albert Poop-Decker: If you've got a heart of oak, it's got a worm in it.

Movie Connections:

Followed by Carry on Spying (1964)

CARRY ON JACK (Gerald Thomas, 1963) **1/2

This title – intended as a spoof on the troubled MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY (1962) – emerges as the odd one out in the "Carry On" series: not only do we only find just three regular performers here (Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey and Jim Dale), but there's little typical material; taken on its merits, however, it isn't bad at all and not quite the dud described on the series' official website!

Incidentally, the irregular actors are the ones who score best – particularly Bernard Cribbins as an unlikely but likable hero (his character is named Poop-Decker!) and Donald Houston, intense as the villain of the piece; on the feminine side, there's the surprise casting of Juliet Mills (as a floozie who passes off as a midshipman – she sets out in search of her lost love, who turns out to be a pirate leader!). As I said, the "Carry On" stalwarts rather play second-fiddle here (especially Dale, who only gets an inconsequential bit early on), though Williams and Hawtrey manage to assert themselves during the film's latter half (when Houston and cohort Percy Herbert instigate a mutiny and our heroes are cast off at sea).

While there are obviously a number of laughs scattered throughout, the general tone is atypically serious: Williams – playing the cowardly skipper of the "Venus", he's given the unsurprisingly ironic name of Captain Fearless – even loses a leg and, consequently, gets twice the "desk job" he so craved for. Also in the cast is Cecil Parker as the long-suffering Admiral who sets the naïve, bumbling Cribbins off on a naval career and reappears at the end to decorate him and his companions (Houston has blackmailed Spanish Governor Patrick Cargill into yielding his entire fleet and is taking it victoriously back to England, when it's unwittingly destroyed by Cribbins & Co. – the ship's loaded cannons go off during a deck-fire, with the deed being taken for a successful attempt on their part to repel the oncoming Spanish invasion!).