In the wake of "Zulu" and "The Charge Of The Light Brigade" this is another amusing entry in the "Carry On" series which sees the gang up sticks to Imperialist India circa 1895 (actually Snowdonia in Wales circa 1968) for this previously untold tale of the Raj involving the celebrated Third Foot And Mouth Regiment tasked with policing the India and Afghanistan border but whose aura of superority is punctured when the locals discover that the so-called invincible "men in skirts" actually wear cotton underpants under their fighting kilts.
A lot of the jokes in actual fact probably hail from the 19th Century and those that don't have a sauciness born of the 1960's. Put these together with a cast containing top notch Carry-On-ers Sid James, Joan Sims, Charles Hawtrey and Kenneth Williams, throw in relative newcomers like Bernard Breslaw, Terry Scott, Peter Butterworth and Angela Douglas and one-shot Roy Castle, all in fine form and you have a recipe for a frequently funny movie.
What sets it a little apart from other entries are the better-than-average production values particularly the costumers and especially the interiors of the Khazi's palace and a decidedly sardonic view of British colonial pomposity, brilliantly manifested in the culminating scene where the British dignitaries dinner is disrupted by the rebelling locals in a scene one could almost imagine in a Monty Python skit.
Cheap laughs abound, even down to proper names like Bungdit In (and yes, "You're a better man than I", duly gets a look-in), the Arsi-Tarsi tribe and the Khazi himself, all of these telling the level of humour aimed at here, but the odd subtle gem creeps in here and there, like Williams biting the hand that feeds when mocking a shirtless servant banging a gong as "Rank stupidity" although you have to wonder how the "Fakir Off" line escaped the censor's red pen.
Yes you have to ignore the racial stereotyping and casual sexism typical of the brand, but once you make the required allowances, you'll probably find yourself tittering (sorry, it must be catching!) along with the likes of myself.
A lot of the jokes in actual fact probably hail from the 19th Century and those that don't have a sauciness born of the 1960's. Put these together with a cast containing top notch Carry-On-ers Sid James, Joan Sims, Charles Hawtrey and Kenneth Williams, throw in relative newcomers like Bernard Breslaw, Terry Scott, Peter Butterworth and Angela Douglas and one-shot Roy Castle, all in fine form and you have a recipe for a frequently funny movie.
What sets it a little apart from other entries are the better-than-average production values particularly the costumers and especially the interiors of the Khazi's palace and a decidedly sardonic view of British colonial pomposity, brilliantly manifested in the culminating scene where the British dignitaries dinner is disrupted by the rebelling locals in a scene one could almost imagine in a Monty Python skit.
Cheap laughs abound, even down to proper names like Bungdit In (and yes, "You're a better man than I", duly gets a look-in), the Arsi-Tarsi tribe and the Khazi himself, all of these telling the level of humour aimed at here, but the odd subtle gem creeps in here and there, like Williams biting the hand that feeds when mocking a shirtless servant banging a gong as "Rank stupidity" although you have to wonder how the "Fakir Off" line escaped the censor's red pen.
Yes you have to ignore the racial stereotyping and casual sexism typical of the brand, but once you make the required allowances, you'll probably find yourself tittering (sorry, it must be catching!) along with the likes of myself.