Carry On Cruising

You have to feel for poor old "Capt. Crowther" (Sid James) when he discovers that half of his crew have gone down with something and their replacements don't even know what ocean they are sailing in. His problems don't stop there as the SS "Happy Wanderer" has a clientele that would probably have made the "Titanic" iceberg jump out of the way. As ever, it's Esma Cannon who steals the show as the lively, doddery, "Miss Madderley", but there are also some fine contributions from Liz Fraser; Ronnie Stevens - always pickled - and Kenneth Williams as the hapless second-in-command. The jokes are all the usual round of nautical, innuendo-ridden, quips (though I am not sure I heard "avast behind" in there) and the cast look like they are all enjoying themselves as the story plots it's predictable, but entertaining, course. Somehow I felt the "Carry On" films worked better in black and white, the humour pertained more to the past rather than the colour of the future, but this takes a swipe at all things cruising: snobbery, excess, boredom and the middle classes who tended to occupy the cabins when not getting blotto on cocktails they had never heard of - and it does it quite well. It's a chortle, not a laugh out enterprise and is anchored well by some pithy writing and Messrs. James and Williams.