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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mel O&#039;Drama" data-source="post: 83719" data-attributes="member: 23">I'd forgotten how evenly - and dramatically - split the first fourteen Carry Ons were: a straight run of seven original, contemporary films followed by a further straight run of seven full period costume films which mostly consist of film spoofs (ok - Spying isn't strictly speaking a period film, but it's certainly operating within certain parameters that set it apart from the true contemporary films).At this point I'm almost halfway through the latter and the series has become a very different animal. It feels like most of the innnocence has left the series. So, too, has the subtlety.Spying is the broadest instalment so far. This is Barbara Windsor's first film, and it could be tempting to lay the blame for the noticeabe change in tone at her feet. Certainly, she is hardly the definition of restrained. Even by the standards of Babs's Carry On canon, this is one of her least subtle performances. There's gurning aplenty here, and her tits get plenty of screen space (albeit still covered up at this point) She is funny, but one feels she would be funnier if she wasn't trying quite so hard (a theory probably justified by seeing most of Windsor's return appearances in the series where she seems more relaxed).But then consider what Windsor is working with here. Kenneth Williams is in full caricatured flight. in his most OTT performance yet. This is the only film in the series in which he utilises his "Snide" character for the entire ninety minutes. Watching it this time I found it a little exhausting - the pitchy, nasal drawl threatening to give me one of my heads. Charles Hawtrey, too, gets plenty of screen time with there being a somewhat diminished team. He's great fun to watch and his performance is consistent with most of his Carry Ons, but the exposure means that the scene-stealing qualities which set him apart from the team are less apparent (even though he does steal many of the scenes). Of the main team, the most centred here is Bernard Cribbins, which is a little odd. Cribbins is a nice addition to the team. If anything, he embodies some of the innocence that is vanishing from the series quickly at this point. His overprotective bit towards the woman he's fallen for is a repeat of his arc in Jack and feels a little stale by film's end, but that has more to do with the writing than Cribbins himself.The supporting roles are some of Carry On's finest. Eric Barker makes his mark on his third film in the series playing his usual authoritative figure. He and Richard Wattis are a nice double act, their unshakeable phlegmatic deadpan giving some of the film's subtlest comedy which would be a perfect fit in any of the earliest films (their stony faced response to the bizarre situations reminded me very much of the Commissioner Gordon/Chief O'Hara scenes in the Batman series, still two years away at this point). Sadly, Barker would vanish from the series until Emmannuelle, while this is Wattis's only appearance in the entire series.Dilys Laye vamps it up nicely as a femme fatale. Her role here is much smaller than that in Cruising, but equally effective. She is most definitely one of the series' hidden assets. Victor Maddern is another, here in perhaps his most significant Carry On film role as Milchmann. He never looked more dashing - at least not in this series. Renee Houston has a cough and a spit in her second appearance. Judith Furse, in her third and final series role, has the dubious honour of playing the villain of the piece Dr. Crow, a character designed to get cheap laughs out of gender fluidity.Jim Dale gets to don various disguises - including drag - for his relatively small role (though his biggest to date). He's very good in each and it's easy to see why he was the natural choice to step in as romantic lead when Cribbins fell out of favour with Rogers and Thomas.In introductory scenes it seems the Bond gags are going to be thick and fast, but they quickly ebb out in favour of standard Rothwell one-liners, which is probably all for the better.I forget the reason for shooting this film in black and white, though I suspect it came down to budget. Some moments do have a noir-ish feel to them, but I can't help feeling as a Bond satire it would have worked far better in glorious colour.Speaking of glorious colour, Cleo is quite startling in its glory. It really does feel like the Carry Ons' masterpiece and must have vindicated the decision to go period with the films. Of course, they were making use of existing sets and costumes, but everything about it feels instantly "right". What's more, it's funny. There are more memorable lines in this film than in all the previous Rothwell films combined (everyone knows the "infamy" line, of course, but that's one of many that had me chuckling last night).And the cast feels like it's almost back up to full strength. This is perhaps the fullest cast so far, with Hattie Jacques the only notable absentee.It's interesting to note how the cast dynamics have changed since those early Hudis films. Joan Sims - having missed the previous four - is back. And instead of romantic lead she gives us the first of her memorable harridans, paired up with Kenneth Williams in the first of many "odd couple" pairings that define the series (I won't include Williams's romance with Jill Ireland in Nurse, odd as it was to those in the know, as that was played for truth). The former object of her affections, Kenneth Connor, also takes on a more character role for his return to the series (which would also serve as his exit from the series - at least until Up The Jungle, some seven years later).With the big subject matter, Williams has plenty of opportunity to go overboard. While he takes plenty of those, his performance is surprisingly restrained at times - certainly compared with Spying. There's a sense that the inherent drama of the piece greatly appeals to him as a stage actor. This of course makes his more overboard moments funnier. He even manages to squeeze Churchill and Harold Macmillan in there... along with Marcus et Spencius, reminding us that the Carry Ons are above all bastions of Britishness.</blockquote>

Verification: Who played JR Ewing?