| Carry On Cleo | |
|---|---|
 Original UK quad poster | |
| Directed by | Gerald Thomas |
| Written by | Talbot Rothwell |
| Produced by | Peter Rogers |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Alan Hume |
| Edited by | Archie Ludski |
| Music by | Eric Rogers |
| Distributed by | Anglo-Amalgamated |
Release date |
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Running time | 92 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | £165,802[2] |
Carry On Cleo is a 1964 Britishhistoricalcomedy film, the tenth in theseries of 31Carry On films (1958–1992). RegularsSid James,Kenneth Williams,Kenneth Connor,Charles Hawtrey, andJim Dale are present and Connor made his last appearance until his return inCarry On Up the Jungle six years later.Joan Sims returned to the series for the first time sinceCarry On Regardless three years earlier. Sims would now appear in everyCarry On up toCarry On Emmannuelle in 1978, making her the most prolific actress in the series.Jon Pertwee makes the first of his four appearances in the series. The title role is played byAmanda Barrie in her second and last Carry On. Along withCarry On Sergeant andCarry On Screaming!, its original posters were reproduced by theRoyal Mail on stamps to celebrate the 50th anniversary of theCarry On series in June 2008. The film was followed byCarry On Cowboy (1965).
It is often regarded as the best in the series.[3]
The film opens duringCaesar's invasions of Britain, withMark Antony (Sid James) struggling to lead his armies through miserable weather. At a nearby village,cavemen Horsa (Jim Dale) and Hengist Pod (Kenneth Connor) attempt to alertBoudica to the invasion, but are captured by the Romans.
Once in Rome, Horsa is sold by the slave-trading firmMarcus et Spencius, and Hengist is destined to be thrown to the lions when no-one agrees to buy him. Horsa and Hengist escape and take refuge in the Temple ofVesta. Whilst hiding there,Julius Caesar (Kenneth Williams) arrives to consult theVestal Virgins, but an attempt is made on his life by his bodyguard, Bilius (David Davenport). In the melee, Horsa kills Bilius and escapes, leaving Hengist to take the credit for saving Caesar's life and to be made Caesar's new bodyguard.
When a power struggle emerges in Egypt, Mark Antony is sent to forceCleopatra (Amanda Barrie) to abdicate in favour ofPtolemy. However, Mark Antony becomes besotted with her, and instead kills Ptolemy off-screen to win her favour. Cleopatra convinces Mark Antony to kill Caesar and become ruler of Rome himself so that they may rule a powerful Roman-Egyptian alliance together. After seducing one another, Mark Antony agrees, and plots to kill Caesar.
Caesar and Hengist travel to Egypt on a galley, along withAgrippa (Francis de Wolff), whom Mark Antony has convinced to kill Caesar. However, Horsa has been re-captured and is now a slave on Caesar's galley. After killing the galley-master (Peter Gilmore), Horsa and the galley slaves kill Agrippa and his fellow assassins and swim to Egypt. Hengist, who had been sent out to fight Agrippa and was unaware of Horsa's presence on board, again takes the credit.
Once at Cleopatra's palace, an Egyptian soothsayer (Jon Pertwee) warns Caesar of the plot to kill him, but Mark Anthony persuades Caesar not to flee. Instead, Caesar convinces Hengist to change places with him, since Cleopatra and Caesar have never met. On meeting, Cleopatra lures Hengist, who accidentally exposes both Cleopatra and Mark Anthony as would-be assassins. He and Caesar then ally with Horsa, and after defeating Cleopatra's bodyguard Sosages (Tom Clegg) in combat, Hengist and the party flee Egypt. Caesar is returned to Rome, only to beassassinated on the Ides of March. Horsa and Hengist return to Britain, and Mark Antony is left in Egypt to live "one long Saturday night" with Cleopatra.
The costumes and sets used in the film were originally intended forCleopatra (1963) atPinewood Studios before that production moved to Rome and rebuilt new sets there.[4]Carry On Cleo was filmed between 13 July and 28 August 1964.[5]
The original poster and publicity artwork byTom Chantrell were withdrawn from circulation after20th Century Fox successfully brought a copyright infringement case against distributorAnglo Amalgamated, which found the design was based on a painting byHoward Terpning for which Fox owned the copyright and was used to promote the Cleopatra film.[6][7][8]
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Interiors:
The film premiered at London'sWarner cinema on 10 December 1964[1] and went on to become one of the 12 most popular movies at the British box office in 1965.[9]
Colin McCabe, Professor of English at theUniversity of Exeter, labelled this film (together withCarry On Up the Khyber) as one of the best films of all time.[10]
In 2007, thepun "Infamy, infamy, they've all got it in for me", spoken by Kenneth Williams, was voted the funniestone-line joke in film history.[11][12] The line was not written by Rothwell but borrowed with permission from aTake It from Here script written byFrank Muir andDenis Norden.[13][14]
In a 2018 retrospective on the series, theBritish Film Institute namedCarry On Cleo as one of the series' five best films, alongsideCarry On Screaming (1966),Carry On Up the Khyber (1968),Carry On Camping (1969), andCarry On Matron (1972).[15]