Carry On Matron (1972)

I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

Pretty Good

How sad is this?

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

It's fair to say Carry on Matron isn't perhaps as original as Doctor or Nurse, but there are some genuinely hilarious moments in this film, the duo of Kenneth Williams and Charles Hawtrey are the making of the film, their scenes together are comedy gold. Each time I watch the pair talking about 'Hamlet' it truly cheers me up. It is fair to say that some of the material has been recycled but it's still great fun. Hattie Jacques is brilliant in the title role, I do find it a little sad she'd now been type cast as the battleaxe Matron, especially when you see how fabulous she was in Cabby. Kenneth Cope is odd in the part somehow but just about gets away with it, but poor Bernard Bresslaw, he was idiotic in this, a better actor then the part. It is one of the better latter day Carry on films, lots of laughs, and a comedy master class from Kenneth Williams. I am struck by the quality of the production values, it looks and sounds great. I find this a truly feel good film.

The medical-based Carry On films always proved to be popular in the series. Carry On Nurse (1959) had topped the British Box Office charts and, surprisingly, even reached the top in America and ran in some cinemas for over two-and-a-half years. Carry On Doctor (1967) was virtually an updated re-make 'Nurse' and became a huge hit too. I have to say Carry On Again Doctor (1969) is my own personal favourite medical caper in the series, though Carry On Matron does come a close second.In 1971 producer Peter Rogers and director Gerald Thomas decided a return to a hospital setting was what the series needed to recover from the commercial failure of Carry On At Your Convenience. 'Matron' (1971) was made when the series was nearing its peak. The storyline actually had a little more structure to it than previous medical titles in the series, and this gave it a focus.Sid (Sid James) and his reluctant bunch of petty crooks (Kenneth Cope, Bernard Bresslaw and Bill Maynard) plan to rob a maternity ward of fertility pills that are worth millions abroad. They send in Kenneth Cope in drag posing as a trainee nurse. His identity is soon discovered by Nurse Ball (Barbara Windsor) and very soon they become lovers. It's all the usual predictable gags and corny old British jokes but there is something about the cozy little world of the Carry On's that remains refreshingly timeless.The formidable Hattie Jacques takes the title role as Matron, who plays this more gently than the usual ferocious stereotype as seen in 'Nurse' and 'Doctor', and brings warmth, likability and grace in to her performance. Matron is in love with Dr. Bernard Cutting (Kenneth Williams) and by the end of the film the pair marry. The on-off affair of Kenneth Williams and Hattie Jacques had emerged in previous entries in the series ('Doctor' and 'Camping') and finally it was concluded in this 'Matron' when they finally made it to the altar. These stalwarts of the series share some classic, delightfully funny scenes.Kenneth Williams is often hilariously over the top, flamboyant and his usual pompous, supercilious figure of authority, whose blatant paranoia causes much amusement as he fears he may be turning into a woman. So he sets out to woo Hattie Jacques in order to prove his "manhood". Classic stuff! Joan Sims turns up in a lovely cameo here, playing an over-expectant mother who spends all her time in bed, constantly eating and flatly refusing to induce labour. Kenneth Connor plays the impatient father-to-be who spends most of the film pacing up and down in the waiting room shouting orders and being his usual bundle of nerves.Terry Scott plays the ever-randy doctor, a part that was similar to the character Jim Dale used to play in the previous two medical titles, although less is actually less likable (despite being excellent in other Carry On's)/ He pursues Kenneth Cope relentlessly, not realising that he is in fact a man and not the nurse hes posing as.The overly effeminate Charles Hawtrey breezes in throughout the film and is as hilarious as ever, although we don't get to see nearly enough of him. His comic partnership with Kenneth Williams is priceless! Check out the scene when Williams begins chasing Hawtrey around the desk! The rest of the cast all get their moments with Sid James playing his usual rogue-like self, yet is calmer than usual (and better for it), Barbara Windsor being as bubbly and lovable as ever, Bernard Bresslaw again playing Sid James dopey sidekick, Patsy Rolands taking a minor supporting role as Kenneth Williams secretary and Jaki Piper playing a young nurse (her last Carry On role).Carry On Matron is consistently funny and develops well to a fun climax. The scene where the ambulance crashes through into the hospital is actually quite amusing despite its silliness. If you're a fan of this genre of comedy, you'll love it.Ian Phillips

Around the time that Carry On Matron was made there was a concern in the United Kingdom about a declining birthrate. You couldn't prove it here by all the kanoodling and attempted kanoodling going on at this maternity hospital.Birthing babies and the prevention of that is the subject for the satire of Carry On Matron. Right about then birth control pills were at a premium in the British Isles and Sid James and his cronies have an idea to rob the Maternity Hospital of its supply of the pills. But first in order to pinch them they have to know where the hospital keeps them.That's when James gets the idea to have his son Kenneth Cope go in a disguise drag as a new matron. Of course Cope is a red-blooded British male and the job proves difficult to concentrate on, especially after he's roomed with Barbara Windsor who packs naturally what he has to use some socks to convey.Carry On regular Joan Sims is the way overdue expectant mother who is enjoying all the service the hospital provides and milking every bit of it while her husband Kenneth Connor a railroad worker has taken up residence in the waiting room waiting for his first child. Kenneth Williams is the head of the hospital, a man with issues whom he hopes that head nurse Hattie Jacques will solve. Solving everyone's issues is hospital psychologist Charles Hawtrey.It was with poignancy also that I watched Kenneth Williams pursuing Jacques and trying to explain his problems. It was a little too close to home for the real Kenneth Williams.The final robbery is borrowed somewhat from The Lavendar Hill Mob which is only right since Sid James was in that film as well.A real Carry On classic.

One of the weaker Carry On adventures sees Sid James as the head of a crime gang stealing contraceptive pills. The fourth of the series to be hospital-based, it's possibly the least of the genre. There's a curiously flat feel throughout, with all seemingly squandered on below-par material. This is far from the late-70s nadir, but Williams, James, Bresslaw, Maynard et al. are all class performers yet not given the backing of a script equal to their ability.Most of the gags are onrunning, rather than episodic as Carry Ons usually are. So that instead of the traditional hit and miss ratio, if you don't find the joke funny in the first place you're stuck with it for most of the film. These continuous plot strands include Williams – for no good reason – worrying that he's changing sex, and Kenneth Cope in drag. Like the stagy physical pratt falls, the whole thing feels more contrived than in other movies, and lacking in cast interest. Continuing this theme, Matron lacks the customary pun and innuendo format, largely opting for characterisation and consequence to provide the humour. In fact, the somewhat puerile series of laboured misunderstandings and forced circumstance reminds one more of Terry and June ... so it's appropriate that Terry Scott is present, mugging futilely throughout.Some dialogue exchanges have a bit of the old magic, such as this between Scott and Cope: "What about a little drink?" "Oh, no, no, I never touch it." "Oh. Cigarette then?" "No, I never touch them." "That leaves only one thing to offer you." "I never touch that either." That said, while a funny man in his own right (livening up the duller episodes of Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) no end), you do feel that Cope isn't quite tapped in to the self-parodying Carry On idealology and that Bernard Bresslaw dressed as a nurse would be far funnier. This does actually happen, in part, though only for the last fifteen minutes.Williams attempting to seduce Hattie Jacques while Charles Hawtrey is hiding in a cupboard is pure drawer room farce, but lacks the irony to carry it off. That said, Williams's description of premarital relations is priceless: "You don't just go into the shop and buy enough for the whole room, you tear yourself off a little strip and try it first!" "That may be so," counters Jacques, "but you're not going to stick me up against a wall." Williams really comes to life in his scenes with Hattie, and you can never get bored of hearing a tin whistle whenever someone accidentally flashes their knickers.Carry On Matron is not a bad film by any means, just a crushingly bog-standard one.