Carry on Matron (1972)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

Director:

Gerald Thomas

Writer:

Talbot Rothwell (screenplay)

Release Date:

May 1972 (UK)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime

Plot:

A gang of thieves plan to make their fortune by stealing a shipment of contraceptive pills from Finisham maternity hospital...

Plot Keywords:

Nurse | Carry On | Medical | Hypochondriac | Maternity Ward

Cast

Sid James	...	Sid Carter (as Sidney James)
Kenneth Williams	...	Sir Bernard Cutting
Charles Hawtrey	...	Dr. Francis A. Goode
Joan Sims	...	Mrs. Tidey
Hattie Jacques	...	Matron
Bernard Bresslaw	...	Ernie Bragg
Kenneth Connor	...	Mr. Tidey
Kenneth Cope	...	Cyril Carter
Terry Scott	...	Dr. Prodd
Barbara Windsor	...	Nurse Susan Ball
Jacki Piper	...	Sister
Patsy Rowlands	...	Evelyn Banks
Amelia Bayntun	...	Mrs. Jenkins
Brian Osborne	...	Ambulance Driver
Valerie Shute	...	Miss Smethurst

Also Known As:

Carry on Matron or From Here to Maternity or Familiarity Breeds or Womb at the Top or The Preggars Opera (UK) (long title)

Runtime:

87 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:L | Australia:PG | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (video rating) (1987)

Filming Locations:

Denham, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company:

Rank Organisation, The

Trivia:

The last film in the series to feature "Carry On..." regular Terry Scott, this was also his last cinema film.

Goofs:

Continuity: As Sid and his villains drive into Finisham Hospital car park in their Ford Zodiac, it can be clearly seen that the car has two normal windscreen wipers. However, when you see a view of them sitting in the car after it has stopped, the windscreen wipers are nowhere to be seen, only the stalks where the wipers should be are visible.

Quotes:

Dr. Prodd: Mrs. Tucker, isn't it? Now what can I do for you?
Mrs. Tucker: Well, I came to see you three months ago, because I was a little bit worried about my husband being able to have a baby.
Dr. Prodd: Yes, that's right, he's a bit older than you, isn't he?
Mrs. Tucker: Eighty-eight.
Dr. Prodd: Yes.
Mrs. Tucker: Well, if you remember, you suggested it might be a good idea to take in a lodger, you know, someone nearer my own age.
Dr. Prodd: [uncomfortably] Yes, well, purely off the record, of course.
Mrs. Tucker: Well, it worked! I'm pregnant.
Dr. Prodd: Oh! What about your husband?
Mrs. Tucker: Oh, he's tickled pink.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Featured in Can We Carry On, Girls? (2001) (TV)

Another barrel of laughs from the Carry On crew

With its delightfully corny old jokes, cringe-inducing wordplay and flagrantly over-the-top performances, CARRY ON MATRON resembles a particularly outrageous end-of-the-pier farce, but the sheer energy and exuberance of the performers (and of Talbot Rothwell's tightly-packed screenplay) keep it entertaining and compelling throughout. Series fans will get a kick out of seeing the usually uptight and prudish Williams playing against type as an insatiable sexual predator, forcing himself on the flustered Matron in an almost hysteria-inducing scene that sees both actors on top form, milking the juicy dialogue for all it's worth. A good example is as follows -

MATRON : You don't understand! I'm a simple woman with simple tastes, and I want to be wooed! SIR BERNARD : Oooh, you can be as WUDE as you like with me!

Elsewhere, Sid James has a rare straight role as a cockney crook, Kenneth Cope is touchingly funny as his reluctantly cross-dressing son, Bernard Bresslaw is lumberingly moronic (and I love that hippie-ish wig he wears!), Joan Sims and Kenneth Connor are a memorable odd couple, and there are fine cameos by Madeline Smith, Valerie Leon and Margaret Nolan. Don't forget to watch for the scene where Terry Scott gets injected, as he tactfully puts it, "up the archipelago" - after what he went through in CARRY ON CAMPING, he must have had the most painful posterior in the business!