Carry on Columbus

August 26, 2024

“Carry on Columbus” is a whoopee cushion under the 1492 hoopla. Cheekily berthing its U.K. release, beginning today, between the Salkind and Ridley Scott blockbusters, pic resuscitates the bawdy, vaud-like humor of the original low-budget “Carry On” series with nary a nod to changing fashions. Fast playoff could reap rewards on home turf but offshore chances will need careful nurturing.

For the record, “Columbus” is the 30th in the “Carry On” series that started in 1958 with “Sergeant” and ground to a halt 20 years later with “Emmauelle.” Vet director Gerald Thomas returns for helming chores, with Peter Rogers, producer of the original series, exec producing.

Current item continues the tradition of grafting on new comic talent but, with the trunk team now dead or absent, there’s a distinct lack of company feel. Oldest survivors from the original series are Jim Dale, Jack Douglas, Leslie Phillips, June Whitfield, Jon Pertwee and Bernard Cribbins. Effect, with newer names like Julian Clary, Alexei Sayle and Rik Mayall, is spotty, more a series of individual gags than a thoroughgoing company piece.

Script by Dave Freeman, responsible for the lame “Carry on Behind” (1975), starts weakly with the Sultan of Turkey (an unfunny Mayall) sending two spies (Sayle, Sara Crowe) to spy on Chris Columbus (Dale), a mapmaker with dreams of finding a new sea route to the gold-rich Indies.

Financed by the king and queen of Spain (Phillips, Whitfield), Columbus sets sail with a motley crew and a map in Hebrew translated by a dumb mariner (Cribbins). Losing their way, they end up in the Americas, where the natives are streetwise Indians with Brooklyn accents who call their uninvited guest Columbo.

The movie settles down during the central voyage, with plenty of the usual double entendres and pratfall comedy.

Best material is in the final half-hour, with Yank standup comics Larry Miller as a cigar-chewing chieftain and Charles Fleischer (the voice of Roger Rabbit) as his sidekick.

Still, there are some chuckles along the way, with Dale working hard as the bewildered Columbus and solid support from veteran Cribbins. Sayle and Clary (latter filling the camp Charles Hawtrey spot in the original team) are shadows of their TV personae.

Lensing by Alan Hume is bright and handsome, garnished by John Du Prez’s mock-heroic score. Thomas’ direction is no-frills, but helped along by tight cutting. Pic’s T2.25 million budget is all on the screen in handsome costuming and authentically cheesy Pinewood sets.

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