What a carry on!

I am just watching, for the umpteenth time, the wonderful ' Carry on up the jungle'. I've been a fan of the Carry On movies ever since I can remember, and this is one of my favourites, not least because it has the legendary Frankie Howerd in it.

It is a measure of the quality of the bank holiday telly that COUTJ is the highlight, but never mind. It is, and it's on right now. It's just got to the bit in the natives' camp where Frankie is masquerading as a magician called Tinkle of the Miraculous Doings, a wonderful title for a magician if ever I heard one.

The other night I sat and watched, again for the umpteenth time, 'Carry On Cleo'. I almost know every word, and was counting down to the moment of the most famous line in any Carry On, Kenneth Williams' "Infamy, infamy, they've all got it in for me" which I chanted joyously along with Kenneth when the moment was right.

The Hubby thinks I am an extremely sad woman for my almost childlike enjoyment of these movies, which are a sort of celluloid equivalent of the old fashioned saucy seaside postcard (I always laughed at them too). Bawdy jokes, ridiculous situations and unlikely heroes combine with brilliant writing which is too often underestimated and sneered at. But it's wonderful; the jokes are funny, the situations absurd and the knowledge of the human psyche and the characteristics that fundamentally make us such a pompous and preening race are all there. Sid James, with his lived in face and distinctive, filthy laugh, Kenneth Williams with his upper class superiority, Kenneth Connor, Barbara Windsor, Joan Sims. Hattie Jacques, Charles Hawtrey and Jim Dale as well as countless other supporting actors, Bernard Breslaw probably chief amongst them, will live in cinema history as some of the most brilliant comic actors of the 20th century. Forget about the last few entries in the series of films (Jack, Emmanuelle and one or two other later offerings which mainly lacked the talent of most of the original cast), this was a series of movies which will remain classics forever.

Probably my absolute favourite is Carry On Cowboy (although Carry On Up The Khyber runs it close with Kenneth Williams as the Khasi of Kalibar). All the stalwarts are there plus Angela Douglas as Annie Oakley, out to avenge her father. Every cowboy joke under the sun is thrown in and the star turn is Jon Pertwee as a deaf and incompetent sheriff. And the sight of Sid James as the Rumpo Kid, the villainous cowboy, dressed in drag as a saloon belle is something to behold.

I have almost all the Carry Ons on DVD at home, which I watch when I'm ill or feeling low because they will always make me laugh. I use them as inspiration for writing my panto scripts, or simply to fill an idle evening when there's nothing on the telly. I can watch them again and again without getting bored (although I can't say the same for my family, who groan and go "Not again" when I put one on!).

Now excuse me, I must get on because after this I am watching a compilation programme called "The Best of Benny Hill". Quality!