Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece

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Teringer An Exercise In Nonsense

AutCuddly Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

Robert J. Maxwell This one has all the familiar faces and farces but is still at heart a formula film. The formula is this. There are a lot of sloppy civilian/soldiers who must be whipped into shape by a devoted sergeant or an officer. They continually disappoint him until the last moment. "The Private War of Major Benson" is another example. Moving away from Training Camps into real combat, we see it in "Patton" and "Twelve O'Clock High." No time is wasted on sentiment or regret in this case though. Nothing is taken seriously. Most of the confrontations are jokes and most of the men are buffoons. Shirley Eaton, as the bride sneaked into the camp, adds a little glamor to the rather gray and bleak scene. Eaton was to be murdered by gold a few years later in "Goldfinger." You know, I certainly hope this isn't an accurate depiction of life in a Receiving Center for draftees. They spend the first night sitting around in civilian clothes, near a pool table, drinking beer. The reason I hope this isn't accurate is that it doesn't in the least resemble my first night in the service and I hate seeing anyone suffering less than I did.

TheLittleSongbird I really like the Carry On movies in general. Later on, the humour did get smutty and then when regulars left or died the series went downhill faster than you could say "bob's your uncle". Carry on Sergeant holds the honour of being the first of the series, and in my mind it is one of the better ones, even with the too-short length and occasionally lacking story. I do think though it looks good, the film is very efficiently directed, the film goes at a fine pace and the music is nice and quirky. The script and cast are what make this entry work. The script is great, it is still very funny but its tone is gentler and I liked that. A lot of the early Carry Ons had this gentle humour, and it is a tone I kind of prefer actually. The cast once again give it their all, not just William Hartnell and Bob Monkhouse who are splendid, but also sterling support from regulars Kenneth Connor, Kenneth Williams(a smarmy know-it-all here), Hattie Jacques and Charles Hawtrey. Overall, a very entertaining and re-watchable entry and a solid debut. 8/10 Bethany Cox

iancampbell72 This is a film which brings a great deal of nostalgia to my dad. He was one of the first few to go through national service in 1948 and every time he sees this film, he can see in the characters most of his army friends he joined with and it's just not writers imagination at play in this film, he has seen similar and been through similar.Everyone down from the sergeant to Charles Hawtrey's Golightly lack of co-ordination on parade brings back fond memories of his time in the Army.The first and originally supposedly the only one that was meant is one of the best with a cast that had some of the best comic and acting talent on show that Britain has produced, from William Hartnell sergeant down through Bill Owen's corporal through Kenneth Williams down to hypochondriac Kenneth Connor. There is barely a weak link in this film.For this comic film is also a history lesson because unlike most comedy film, there is a good deal of truth in this film, just ask my dad.

lfisher0264 One of the early batch of black and white Carry Ons which were so much better than the later, smuttier ones which seem to have become THE carry-ons. If you like this, you'll like Nurse, Cabby, Spying and Regardless. So what happened to British humour? Well, back then we had something called "censorship", and an official censor who went through the scripts crossing out anything risqué. This meant that writers and comedians had to be pretty ingenious and somehow the jokes were much funnier as a result. When everything became possible we were reduced to the single entendre. Anyway, back to the plot - I'd forgotten how hilarious Capt. Potts is, with his formulae for everything. Bob Monkhouse is good. I never get Kenneth Connor but he's not too irritating here, perhaps because he has an actual character to play instead of being let loose to gibber at will. Many of the cast were probably in the British army. I know that Private Williams, K. was in the army in Burma so no wonder his drill looks quite professional. He is sending up his own character here - he was a self-educated and highly intelligent man who liked to show off. He's also playing an overbearing middle class character, whereas he was - as his fans knew - a London boy whose Dad was a barber in Kings Cross.