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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mel O&#039;Drama" data-source="post: 383822" data-attributes="member: 23">The On The Buses saga drew in to the terminus last night with the final film... Holiday On The Buses (1973) <img src="https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.moviemem.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F07%2FHOLIDAYONTHEBUSESHR.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=0b46204af99e465ac5091e7cc904d1683606b2c1c1752cf7e0d316bce8d82cfd&ipo=images" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /> Things got off to a slightly worrying start with the bus crash sequence which was brought on by a nubile woman's wardrobe malfunction, leaving her boobs exposed to Reg - and us - for quite some seconds. Although by the standards of the time it was reasonably tame and fairly standard, it still felt like a line crossed which didn't necessarily need to be. Funnily enough, I'd been reminded of On The Buses' relatively skin-less record when watching Mutiny On The Buses which had a sequence upon which Carry On England seemed to base one of its scenes several years later. In both films, an authority figure bellows that his subordinates are to wear only "X" uniform, which the rebellious group chooses to interpret literally. And in both films, the women end up with boobs exposed. The main difference is that Mutiny's women turned their back to camera to part their jackets and expose themselves to the character in question, whereas England's women (depending which cut one watches, at least) had boobs exposed to camera for prolonged scenes of dialogue. The Mutiny method is far preferable and no less funny since we all get the point (so to speak). It reinforced that exposed flesh doesn't make it any funnier. I suppose this is just Buses keeping up with the times: Percy had come and gone (oo-er Missus), the Carry Ons were inching themselves towards being bawdier and the Confessions franchise was just around the corner. I'm not offended by the relatively modest boobage on display here, but perhaps a little disappointed that On The Buses came so close to maintaining its own kind of innocence right to the end but failed at the very last jump. I did fear this film was going to be full of such salacious cheap gags. As it was, this was really a one-off, apart from a very unsexy flash of "Olive's" bare bum in the swimming pool (it actually belonged to someone hired after days of auditions for an arse double). The "send 'em on holiday" scenario is something that was in the air at the time - the Carry Ons had been Camping and Abroad, and I believe Steptoe and Son had been on a honeymoon the previous year, setting a trend for big screen sitcom spinoffs that would run through to at least Are You Being Served?'s package holiday in '77. Stan and Jack taking jobs on the buses at a holiday camp felt surprisingly natural. The biggest hurdle to get past was the contrivance of both of them and Blakey ending up on the same camp, but the dynamic is so essential to the setup I was able to willingly suspend disbelief. It's clear that the films take place in their own continuity, one that's separate from the series - which is why it's so nice to see Stan and (especially) Arthur back since this film was made after the final series where they'd been absent. It was expected that nothing would be said about their "returns", because in this timeline they'd never been away. What I hadn't expected was that the film series would drop the ball slightly with its own continuity. One example of this - Blakey being Inspector at the beginning of Holiday despite having been demoted to conductor the end of Mutiny - can be easily forgiven. It's a sitcom standard for a character to get their just desserts at the end of one episode only for normal service to be resumed by the beginning of the next. In this regard, Blakey's return to Inspector is in-keeping with the motifs of this world. The audience needs its familiarity, so it's probably preferable to a strict continuity from the previous one - particularly since it's clear a significant amount of time has passed between films. The other example, though, is one I found more bothersome. At the end of Mutiny, Olive and Arthur revealed they're expecting a second child, but in Holiday there is no sign - nor any mention - of another child, despite Little Arthur clearly being a couple of years older. Most of the ways this can be explained away don't feel very sitcom-appropriate. Not this particular sitcom world, anyway. I suppose there's the comic phantom pregnancy, or symptoms brought on by Olive's constant eating. Frankly, though, it shouldn't be for the audience to do the writers' work, and this feels like a case of the ball being dropped. Expectations for this final film were low. I'd read a some less-than-favourable comments about it along the way as I did searches to satisfy curiosity about the series, so I was prepared that it might well be a bit of a schlep to get through. On these lines, it's worth noting that this film was directed by Bryan Izzard, whose body of work up to this point consisted exclusively of television work: mostly sitcom episodes. Fortunately, as it turns out, the bulk of his television work was made up of On The Buses episodes. All from the last two series, so not exactly peak time Buses, but he clearly knew and understood the cast and this comes across on-screen. In many ways, Holiday - despite the significant change in setting - captures something of the series that the previous two didn't. It's not necessarily better than them, but for my money it's every bit as watchable and I feel a big part of this is due to the collaboration of writers, a director and a cast who had all worked on the series together. The change of location to the holiday camp is good fun and injects a nice energy. With original writers and cast present and correct, it still feels more like the On The Buses we know than the last few series, no matter where it takes place. It serves as quite the showcase for Pontins. I had noticed their signage featured prominently on the side of buses in the first couple of films and wondered about sponsorship. In one of the interviews on the Blu-ray, Roy Skeggs mentioned Fred Pontin who seemed to have some kind of relationship or connection with (or clout over) Hammer, and it sounded like using Pontins for the camp was a no-brainer for this reason (to do otherwise, presumably, would have rocked the boat too much). Prestatyn itself looks very pretty on film and the camp mostly comes across as shiny and attractive (apart from the shots of the exterior where guests roam around just inside very high barbed wire fences which make it look reminiscent of a concentration camp). The guest cast is certainly the most fun of the three films. Of course, there are the familiar character actors and dollybirds of the type we've seen in the other two - with Michael Sheard included in the former category, playing this timeline's version of his character in late episodes of the series. But there are bigger names as well: Like Henry McGee as the holiday camp manager, and Kate Williams (probably best known from Love Thy Neighbour, but also cropping up in a number of the previous series in this thread) as Blakey's unfaithful girlfriend, the camp's nurse. Possibly most notably is Steptoe himself, Wilfred Brambell as Doris's Irish suitor. The chemistry is really good and he and Doris Hare work well together. Even though I've never seen Romany Jones or Yus, My Dear, it still felt exciting to see the characters from those series (also Chesney & Wolfe creations) cross over into the world of On The Buses. I hadn't really considered watching either of those two series, but I enjoyed them enough to put them onto my viewing radar. With this being the last we'll see of these characters, I suppose a lot was pinned on the ending. It's certainly not perfect (for the purposes of this, I suppose perfection would probably be everyone ending up back at the depot or the Butler home with the promise that they'll scheme and be frustrated in their various ways forevermore), but it's wrapped up in a far more satisfying way than the series' (admittedly piss poor) ending. Stan may have ended up as a demolition driver, but at least he looks happy. And - this being On The Buses - we can assume he'll probably be back at the depot in a week or two (along with Jack and Blakey). Somewhat appropriately, we left Arthur looking as though he was about to give Olive a backhander. But I'm sure he restrained himself. And that's that for On The Buses...</blockquote>

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