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  • Widescreen 1.66:1
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    Carry on Cruising
    Universal/Universal . R4 . COLOR . 86 mins . G . PAL

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    The 'Carry On' movies come from the heartland of British vulgarity. They are the filmic equivalent of the old Donald McGill seaside postcards, from the Edwardian era, which extracted every possible sort of comic possibility from big buttocks and breasts.

    Carry On Cruising was the sixth 'Carry On' movie, and the first to be released in colour. We think nowadays of the James Bond series as being Britain's longest-running series of films; I think we're up to about the 21st title in that series. It's salutary to remember that the 'Carry On' series carried on for more than 30 movies - what a great tribute to British taste!

    Carry On Cruising didn't seem as isn't as funny as some of the earlier or later films in the series that I can vaguely remember from long long ago - though I did make the mistake of watching this one cold-sober. For best results, I think the 'Carry On' movies are best viewed in that state which lies somewhere between legless and totally comatose. Still sober enough to use the remote-control - not sober enough to turn the thing off.

    Here are 'Carry On' stalwarts Sidney James, Kenneth Williams, Kenneth Connor and others, setting off to sea on what should be Sidney James's last-ever cruise as Captain of this happy liner. If this cruise is a success, he moves on, in a long-awaited promotion.

    But what's this? He calls his ship's officers for inspection, and finds that in place of his well-tried and trusted complement of officers, half are ill and have been replaced by rank beginners. It's a recipe for disaster - but he soon gets this odd lot to learn to pull together (that's a 'Carry On' style nautical joke).

    If you love the 'Carry On' series, you'll enjoy Carry On Cruising. If you don't love them, you won't. How's that for incisive criticism?!

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      Audio
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    Contract

    This is a widescreen 1.66:1 transfer. As with most transfers of this ratio, it is not an anamorphic transfer, which doesn't matter too much since this ratio uses so much of the conventional Academy-ratio screen. There is quite a bit of grain and some flicker during the opening credits, but this seems very normal and quite filmic. Much of the grain seems to disappear during the film itself, and the picture quality is uniformly very high, although it deteriorates whenever what seems to be stock-footage is used for travelogue-style shots. The colour is rather soft but still vibrant, and tonal contrasts are excellent.

    Audio is two-channel mono, with no deterioration from what would have been originally presented. There are no extras of any kind, not even a trailer.


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  •   And I quote...
    "What a great tribute to British taste the 'Carry On' series is. This is the first 'Carry On' flick in colour, which was something new - they didn't bother changing the jokes, though."
    - Anthony Clarke
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