Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #64053 in DVD
• Released on: 2001-08-27
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Black & White, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 83 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Made in 1960, Carry On Constable is one of the earliest Carry On comic romps, arriving before they'd carved out their bawdy niche in British cinema. In fact, this Gerald-Thomas-directed effort isn't dissimilar to most of the mainstream Brit-com of its era. A flu epidemic has forced a police station to take on a brace of callow recruits: Kenneth Connor, a superstitious bag of nerves; Leslie Phillips, playing his usual rapscallion self; the ludicrously effete Charles Hawtrey and Kenneth Williams. The "plot" is a sequence of thoroughly creaky gags at the expense of this bumbling quartet. The staple characters hadn't settled into their "classic" personae yet. Here, Sid James is an exasperated sergeant, not the sort of crinkly rogue he played in later years, Kenneth Williams is dry, detached and supercilious, while Hattie Jacques is no matron but a sympathetic sergeant, whose every walk-on is not yet accompanied by the portly strains of tubas and bassoons. The comedy here is, frankly, dismal--banana skins are slipped upon and officers' legs urinated upon bydogs, all to a rueful soundtrack of wah-wah trumpets. The main appeal of this movie is as a period slice of damp, pre-Beatles London in glorious black and white.

On the DVD: Although picture and sound are adequate (though poorly dubbed in places), there are no extras at all, a shame for the hardcore Carry On aficionados to whom this release would surely, perhaps exclusively, appeal. --David Stubbs

DVD Description
DVD Special Features:

Interactive Menus
Scene Access
Subtitles: none
Dolby Digital

Synopsis
Sidney James (in his first Carry On role) heads up the cast in this wacky take on law and order. This sorry lot of boys in blue can't seem to get anything right. CARRY ON CONSTABLE also features Kenneth Connor, Charles Hawtrey, Kenneth Williams, Joan Sims, Hattie Jacques, and Shirley Eaton.

Customer Reviews

Superb stuff with some classic one liners
I personally enjoy the old black and white Carry On movies, and this one is one of my favourites. With some superb performances from Kenneth Connor and Kenneth Williams,this movie represents excellent value for money. Ding dong, I'm not wrong!

TRADITIONAL CARRY ON
Early entry in the series and basically a re make of Carry On Seargant only this time round being set in a police station. Even so, there are still many laughs to be had even though you can see the chaotic situations that the team get themselves into coming a mile off. The cast includes SID JAMES, in his first Carry On role, KENNETH WILLIAMS, CHARLES HAWTREY, KENNETH CONNOR, LESLIE PHILLIPS, JOAN SIMS, HATTIE JAQUES and ERIC BARKER. The best players are KENNETH WILLIAMS and CHARLES HAWTREY in their usual outrageously camp roles. An overly good, clean old fashioned comedy.

Enter Sid James
Carry On Constable was a turning point in the series as it marked the first apperance of Sid James. Surprisingly he doesn't play his usual rogue-like, lecherous old man role as he always did in later entries, instead playing a fair, down-to-earth, good old fashioned policeman who is continually undermined by his superior. Still his performance was a breeze of fresh air in the series. This is basically Carry On Sergeant transferred to a police station. None of it is beleavable of course, but there is certainly plenty of fun to endure and this is perharps one of the best of the black and white Carry On's. Leslie Phillips, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey and Kenneth Connor, all play the blatantly incompetent trainee police-officers who make a mockery of virtually every task they're given but all turns out good in the end of course - after all this is a Carry On film. Amongst the rest of the cast include Joan Sims as super-efficent WPC Gloria Pasworthy (who Kenneth Connor falls hopelessly in love with in the film), Hattie Jaques as a down-to-earth, understanding officer who enjoys a close friendship with Sid James and an amusing cameo from Joan Hickson playing a loveable, typically English eccentric who is forever drunk and getting arrested on drunken-disorderley charges.