Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4350 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-07-07
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: PAL, Special Edition, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 85 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Hattie Jacques finally got to the play the title role in 1972 when Carry On Matron immortalised the character she had developed during several previous outings, most notably in Carry On Doctor. And she seized it with gusto. This is no one-dimensional performance, but a very human portrait of a woman doing her best to retain her authority in the face of mounting chaos--a raid planned by Sid James to steal the hospital's supply of contraceptive pills. Certainly, she's obsessed with regular bowel movements--this wouldn't be a Carry On film otherwise--but she remains a majestic figure of dignity with a touch of human warmth. Occasionally, too, a real hint of irony peeks through the slapstick and the innuendo.

Surely scriptwriter Talbot Rothwell had his tongue lodged firmly in his cheek when he gave Barbara Windsor--then married to Ronnie Knight--the line, "I don't fancy being a gangster's moll!" Terry Scott makes a guest appearance and Sid James is at his most conniving and lecherous. Theatre impresario Bill Kenwright has a cameo role and there's an early appearance from Wendy Richard as a prototype Pauline Fowler. But it's the female stalwarts who shine. Joan Sims and Hattie Jacques were truly comic actresses of the highest order. --Piers Ford

DVD Description
If your funny bone is in need of tickling, this is the prescription you need. Carry On Matron finds the team on top form in Finisham Maternity Hospital where the kindly Matron (Hattie Jacques), panic-stricken surgeon Sir Bernard Cutting (Kenneth Williams) and wacky psychiatrist Dr. F.A. Goode (Charles Hawtrey) rule the roost. It’s action stations when Sid Carter (Sid James) leads a gang of incompetent crooks intent on stealing a huge hoard of birth control pills. Joan Sims shines as the expectant mother in this beloved Carry On favourite.

Special Features

• Audio Commentary with Patsy Rowlands and Jacki Piper
  
• Photo Gallery with captions
  
• Theatrical trailer
  
• Carry On Laughing: And In My Lady’s Chamber
  
• Film Trivia notes
  
• Collectors booklet with star profiles
  
• Running time: 85 mins approx.

Customer Reviews

Iconic
The Carry on shows have reached iconic status and rightly so. Carry on Matron is just the very best of all carry on shows. It is light-hearted and funny entertainment.... lots about sex without really mentioning it. It is never vulgar. It is well done and you see lots of actors who became household names. In short: pure and simple fun!!

The best carry on of all!
This is definately the funniest, and best of all carry on films. Sid James plays a leader of a group of robbers who are determined to steal some pills from a hospital, and so they send in somebody to dress up as a nurse and have a look around. When this fake nurse goes in he finds a sex mad doctor (terri Scott), a hypercondriac (kenneth Williams), a beautiful young nurse that he can't take his eyes off (Barbara Windsor), a psychologist who would rather talk about his crazy wife than treat patients (Charles Hawtry) and a Matron who tries her best to keep everything in the hospital under control. But it's very hard with the collegues she's got! This is the best carry on of all because it has pratically all of the carry on cast, and it is pact with hilarious jokes, especially by Kenneth Williams.

Hilarious Medical Caper
The medical Carry On's had always been a popular phenomenon in the series. Carry On Nurse (1959) topped the U.S box office charts and ran in some cinemas for over two and a half years. Carry On Doctor (1967) was virtually an updated re-make of that classic and this became a huge hit too. Carry On Again Doctor (1969) is my own personal favourite medical Carry On and was another enormous success too.

In the 1970's ideas were beginning to wear thin so producer, Peter Rogers and director, Gerald Thomas decided a return to the hospital, which had always proved a popular staple in the series, was what the series needed to give it an injection of life needed after the failure of Carry On At Your Convienience (1971).

Carry On Matron (1971) was made when the series was nearing its peak. The storyline actually had more of (dare I say it) structure to it than previous medical titles in the series.

Sid (Sid James) and his reluctant bunch of petty crooks (Kenneth Cope, Bernard Bresslaw and Bill Maynard) plan to rob a maternity ward of fertiity pills which are worth millions abroad. They send in Kenneth Cope in drag posing as a nurse. His identity is soon discovered by Nurse Ball (Barbara Windsor) and very soon they become lovers. Its 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 Jaques takes the title role as Matron, who plays this more gently than the usual ferocious steretype as seen in Nurse and Doctor. She soon falls in love with Dr. Bernard Cutting (Kenneth Williams) and eventually the pair marry. The on-off affair of Kenneth Williams and Hattie Jaques emerged through various entries in the Carry On's and finally it was concluded in this entry when they finally made it to the altar. Kenneth Williams and Hattie Jaques share some classic scenes together in this entry.

Kenneth Williams is another hilariously over the top, flamboyant and pompous figure whose blatant paranoya causes much amusement in the film as he fears he may be turning into a woman and so sets out to woo Hattie Jaques 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 eating constantly in bed and refuses point black 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 characteur JimDale used to play in the previous two medical titles. He pursues Kenneth Cope relentlessly not realising that he is infact 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. His comic partnership with Kenneth Williams is priceless.

The rest of the cast all get their moments with Sid James playing his usual rogue-like self, Barbara Windsor being as bubbly and loveable as ever, Bernard Bresslaw again as Sid James dopey sidekick, Patsy Rolands taking a minor supporting role as Kenneth Williams secretary and Jaki Piper playing a young nurse.

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.