Carry On Emmannuelle (1978)

Highly Overrated But Still Good

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

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

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Don't go expecting a 'Carry On Up The Khyber', or one of the classic Carry Ons - there are a few negatives, such as the terrible animation, a poor back-projection sequence and, it has to be said, a little too much of Kenneth Williams' bottom, but it has a impressive cast and many funny moments. The 'most amorous experience' sequences - particularly Joan Sims in the laundrette and the ever-excellent Peter Butterworth's wartime reminiscence are particularly good. Barbara Windsor was said to have claimed the film as 'pornographic' and turned it down, but it is nothing of the sort, and for a so-called sex comedy, it's very conservative. I think that this is a big part of the problem people have with it, expecting either a Carry On (the humour is more blatant than any other Carry On film) or a Confessions-style sex film; the result is something in-between. The book, by Australian Lance Peters, is remarkably close to the film itself, though fortunately we are spared the sight of Mrs Dangle pleasuring herself on a washing machine (getting instead something far funnier) and a lesbian scene with the Wimbledon ladies champion! It's the last chance to see many of the Carry On greats together (also the last bow too for valued character actor Eric Barker) and is a massive step up from the previous film and series-nadir, England. And if you don't laugh when Kenneth Williams says "we couldn't find the stopcock", you probably aren't human.

The Carry On films are supposed to be innuendos, nob gags, a tiny bit of nudity, and dialogue with double meaning, but this film just goes too far with all these things. Basically the film is spoofing the long running French erotic movie series, so the lead female character Emmannuelle (Suzanne Danielle) is the beautiful sex mad wife of French Ambassador Emile Prevert (Kenneth Williams), having sex with many VIPs in frustration, and getting in press scandals because of Theodore Valentine (Larry Dann), desperate to have her. She is having sex with all these people, but the only guy she really wants is obviously her husband. Other than this story, there is a sequence, where Emmannuelle and the house staff: Leyland (Kenneth Connor), Mrs. Dangle (a bigger Joan Sims), Lyons, or "Loins" (Jack Douglas) and Richmond (Peter Butterworth) discuss their strangest sex experiences with each other, and flashbacks, not accurate to their comments, appear. Also starring Beryl Reid as Mrs. Valentine, Henry McGee as Harold Hump and Howard Nelson as Harry Hernia. Danielle may look good naked (from the back at least), but Williams (from the back also), ugh! As for the sex sequences you see most (thankfully not all) of, they are just disturbing and uncomfortable, especially when they involve the five remaining Carry On regulars, Barbara Windsor refused by the way. It is a rotten comedy with nothing good to say about it, just as bad as Carry On England, no good moments - well, you can't ignore Danielle nude, just a ridiculous piece of comedy crap! Very poor!

i completely disagree with the comment below. this film shows the best of British romantic comedy and humour,and i enjoyed every minute of its charm. the characters are well played,and the script is full of humour. Kenneth Williams is the highlight; his french accent could be mistaken for the real thing,and even though he is "married" he is still himself - completely,utterly and fantastically gay. i know other film do they do a tour around London,sleep with the prime minister and the whole English football team. all the latest romantic comedies have bloomed from this film,and anyone who watched it would agree. best of British film making.

This film exhibits a severe drop in quality in this popular long-running comedy franchise and is deservedly considered its nadir (no wonder it proved the last entry for 14 years!). Despite the connection to the soft-core French series (which offset a parallel Italian one), it's really quite tame: statuesque Suzanne Danielle is quite delightful, and the film is chiefly tolerable because of her – the rest is generally tasteless and, sadly, rather lame! On the other hand, the series stalwarts are given little of substance to do, none more so than top-billed Kenneth Williams (who's embarrassing, given that he has to appear butt-naked several times throughout!); guest star Beryl Reid is also wasted as a doting mother of one of Emmanuelle's conquests, and Albert Moses (from the MIND YOUR LANGUAGE TV series) turns up as Williams' bemused psychiatrist.As was the case with the French original, there's little plot to tie the relentless sexcapades: the liberal Emmanuelle's wrecking of a society dinner is immediately followed by a would-be satirical sequence showing her go through various public offices delivering her own special favors. At one point, she even bets with chauffeur Kenneth Connor that she can seduce the Queen's guards – but the scene has an ironic (if predictable) twist; throughout the course of the film, an entire soccer team, an infatuated naïve young man (Reid's son) and a body-building celebrity also figure among the insatiable Emmannuelle's endless parade of lovers.She even arouses Williams' servants – all of them series stalwarts – who open up to reveal their most unusual individual experience in the matter: while these scenes show some invention, essentially they're just a lazy form of padding!; incidentally, Barbara Windsor was supposed to incarnate all of their 'dream lovers' – but, wisely, she dropped out of the project. At the end, husband Williams suddenly finds himself willing (he'd otherwise been obsessed with keeping fit!) and feeds Emmannuelle fertility pills behind her back...leading to a multiple-birth finale which may (or may not) be intended as a nod to Preston Sturges' THE MIRACLE OF MORGAN'S CREEK (1944)!!