Carry On Henry (1971)

Undescribable Perfection

Strong and Moving!

Beautiful, moving film.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

A curiously neglected entry, perhaps as it was made in a period when the series had generally started to go into decline, but in my view it's one of the best of all, certainly in the top three. The historical outings were usually among the team's funniest, and Talbot Rothwell provides perhaps his most audacious script with a real plot, told in his trademark puns and double entendres, but with a real abundance of panache and wit, attaining an almost poetic quality. Sid has his definitive role as Henry and it's alarming that he almost missed out due to other commitments, with Harry Secombe being considered for the part; no doubt Harry would have made a great King Hal, but it wouldn't have been the same at all. Charles Hawtrey, with much more to do than usual, gives a glorious performance as the King's 'taster' who samples much more than the food. Barely two years later he had left the series for good; surely some way could have been found to accommodate this most cherished of eccentrics. Equally memorable is Terry Scott's lecherous Cardinal Wolsey, reliable only for getting hold of the wrong end of the stick. Who could forget Barbara Windsor as Rothwell's Bettina, the best Bet to come Henry's way in years. And Kenneth Williams is a treat, snide and supercilious as the scheming Thomas Cromwell. Incidentally, the gag about S.E.T. got the biggest laugh of all on first release, as it stood for 'selective employment tax' which meant nothing a few years later, but was cause of much political argy-bargy at the time. Some vintage K.W. can also be glimpsed on an interview he gave on the set at the time, as did Sid and Terry Scott in full regalia. Joan Sims and the rest of the cast are excellent too, as is Alan Hume's photography, making HENRY look very lavish for a low budget film. Only problem is I can't watch anything about Henry and his court without thinking of Sid, Kenny and the team.

With such people as Charlton Heston, Richard Burton, Robert Shaw, and Montagu Love playing Henry VIII you get the idea it's both a plumb role and a serious part. But the big screen never a Henry VIII like the one that Sidney James gives us in Carry On Henry VIII.Henry gets a couple extra wives in this one, dropped nicely between Anne of Cleves and Catherine Howard. One's going to the block as the film opens. After that James gets a present of French princess Joan Sims cousin of King Francis I of France and that seems like a good bet to solidify an alliance.But on the wedding night it turns out Henry can't stand her garlic breath. Not only is it on all that French food, but the woman uses it like chewing gum. James is set to fling her out and he lights on a new truly bosomy queen for his taste.But that upsets the balance of power in Europe. Not to mention the machinations of Kenneth Williams as Thomas Cromwell and Terry Scott as Cardinal Wolsey.Then there's poor Charles Hawtrey who is the king's equerry and Queen Sims believes that her needs come first if the king isn't meeting them, maybe Hawtrey will. That was quite the seduction scene.Medieval England never saw history like this, but Carry On Henry VIII gives out with a lot of laughs.

Carry On Henry tells of Henry VIII's other two wives, the ones that history forgot to mention: ample, French, garlic-munching Queen Marie (the delightful Joan Sims) and saucy blonde strumpet Queen Bettina (bubbly Barbara Windsor). When Henry (Sid James) finds it impossible to consummate his marriage to the former thanks to her terrible aroma, he seeks a quickie divorce and an even quicker marriage to the latter, but in doing so threatens to upset both the Vatican and the King of France.Historically duplicitous and hysterically on the mark, this lively Tudor romp is hugely entertaining viewing thanks to a silly script that plays fast and loose with the facts (even throwing in fun anachronisms such as a breezy jazz rendition of Greensleeves, Guy Fawkes, and the guillotine), plenty of ribald innuendo, lots of heaving bosoms, and spirited performances from the Carry On regulars, with Sid James, in particular, excelling in the role of Henry, giving arguably the greatest (certainly the most memorable) cinematic portrayal of the formidable monarch.

An unofficial tale about Henry VIII's two brief marriages between Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour.The usual crude humour of the series is reasonably neglected in preference of real wit and poignancy, the acting shows unexpected sophistication, the dialogue sharp, and even the period detail seems stimulatingly accurate in this surprisingly effective travesty of "Anne of the Thousand Days", "Lion in Winter", "A Man for All Seasons" and other British historical sagas. One of the best efforts of all concerned.