Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20393 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-05-12
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: PAL, Special Edition, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 84 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Made in 1978, Carry On Emmannuelle was really the last gasp of the most fondly regarded series of British comedy films. In most respects, it hardly does justice to the many truly funny and brilliantly played previous scripts. But it does feature a curiously vulnerable, even touching, performance from Kenneth Williams as a French diplomat with a wife of insatiable physical appetites. In theory, of course, it aims to be a pastiche of the hugely popular Emmanuelle, which had marked the transition of soft-core erotic cinema into the art house. But it's too crudely scripted and lacking in the belly laugh-inducing innuendo of the best Carry On films to succeed on that level.

"Are you hungry, Loins?" Emmannuelle asks the chauffeur. "I think I could manage a little nibble," he replies. You get the idea. In the title role, Suzanne Danielle, who would go on to be the best of the Princess Diana impersonators, isn't a good enough comic actress to raise such lines above the ordinary. And the few stalwarts who returned for this outing--Joan Sims, Kenneth Connor and Peter Butterworth--just about emerge with their dignity intact. This was a Carry On too far. But fans will want it for their collection because it shows Kenneth Williams at his most professionally committed--his diaries reveal his real thoughts on the matter--and to remind themselves of the high quality of so much of the work which had gone before. --Piers Ford

Special Features
Audio Commentary by Jack Douglas
Photo Gallery with Captions
Theatrical Trailer
What A Carry On Documentary
Film Trivia Notes
Collector’s Booklet with Star Profiles

Synopsis
Bedroom diplomacy comes to the foreplay in this romping sexual farce. Strictly adult comedy.

Customer Reviews

The End Of An Era
Although this thirtieth and final film of the original Carry On canon is usually denigrated by critics and fans alike, Carlton has afforded it the same care as the most popular entries in its Special Edition series of releases. Certainly the film falls very short of the high standards set by such Talbot Rothwell-written classics as ‘Carry On Up The Khyber’ or ‘Carry On Camping’. However, the benefit of hindsight can reveal a sincere effort and a few comedic treasures to the sympathetic viewer.

Suzanne Danielle stars as the eponymous nymphomaniac wife of Kenneth Williams’s French Ambassador, Emile Prevert. Her promiscuous sexual activity is followed with interest by the elderly household staff, comprised of a handful of stalwarts. However, the ambassador is more interested in his unlikely new hobby – bodybuilding.

One of the more successful sequences is a series of flashbacks to the most unusual amorous experiences of each household staff member. Peter Butterworth obliges with the requisite drag performance while Joan Sims is truly hilarious in a scene of suburban seduction set in a laundrette. Joan’s shrieking and infectious laughter helps to smooth over some of the film’s more awkward moments.

The widescreen image presented by this DVD is bright and clear with very few signs of print deterioration. In fact, the film is beautifully lit and photographed. However, the soundtrack fluctuates at random from loudly distorted to nearly inaudible – a problem which Carlton seems to have been unable to rectify. The animated main menu is extremely well executed in this instance and there is a welcome set of extra features, including the 1998 documentary ‘What’s A Carry On’. The documentary was made to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of the film series and is an affectionate collection of clips and interviews. Other extra features include a collector’s booklet, surprisingly good theatrical trailer and innocuous commentary by two surviving cast members and Carry On historian Robert Ross.

There is no escaping the fact that this is not a good film by anybody’s standards but it is a vast improvement on 1976’s ‘Carry On England’. This is a curiosity piece in which the spirited performances of Suzanne Danielle, Kenneth Williams and Joan Sims somehow help to make a rather embarrassing outing quite engaging nonetheless.

Nice documentary
This DVD features a 1 hour long documentary about the "Carry on" movies called "What's a Carry On". It's really worth watching, either if you're already a fan of this series or if you're just new and want to see what it's all about. It takes us on a journey from 1958 to the 1990's. From the first movie "Carry on Sergeant" to the last movie "Carry on Columbus" with lots of clips and interviews with the people involved. I really enjoyed it.
Oh yeah, there's also a movie included on this DVD called "Carry on Emmannuelle". Don't bother watching that. It's not funny and if you thought it would include a lot of nudity, you're wrong.
But the documentary is really nice. Made it worth the money.

Patchy.
For the first half hour or so, this much derided late addition to the series almost manages to match some of the earlier classics. The innuendos come thick and fast, and several promising plot leads and characters are introduced such as the gormless mummy's boy Theodore, used and abused by the sexy french vamp, herself representing the kind of powerful, feminist 70's woman that even the average Carry On fan could feel comfortable with. The plot soon drifts, however, and even the shared reminiscences of amorous adventures, laden with comedic potential, feels a little rushed and unimaginative. The lead actress would probably have been rejected if auditioning for Allo Allo, something that could probably be overlooked if she had had the lecherous foil of Sid James to play with. All in all, like a few other Carry On's, this edition gives the social historian a classic snapshot of British sexual mores changing at an astonishingly breakneck speed, whilst providing the rest of us with a par for the course quota of nostalgic politically incorrect belly laughs.