From 1959 comes the second film in the famous "Carry On" series. Many of the personnel return from the earlier "Carry On Sergeant", now in a different setting but still poking fun at British traditions and authority.
Some of the actors from the first film return in very similar roles: Kenneth Williams as the intellectual, Shirley Eaton as the glamorous love interest, Hattie Jacques as an imperious authority figure and Charles Hawtrey as the wimpish man. Others are now playing different types of characters, notably Kenneth Connor, shedding his previous persona as a neurotic hypochondriac to portray a confident, successful boxer. Bill Owen is no longer an establishment figure as in the first film and joins the ranks of the common men.
Added to the mix are many new faces, not least Joan Sims and Leslie Philips who will go on to become established stars of the film series. The big name guest star on this occasion is Wilfrid Hyde White.
Like the earlier film, there are many witty one-liners, much of the humour suggestive rather than coarse, and the story is littered with instances of authority constantly being undermined by ineptitude.
Did I say story? Alas, that is Carry On Nurse's big glaring weakness. The plot is virtually non-existent. Whereas Carry On Sergeant unfolded with a clear sense of purpose and progression, Carry On Nurse just lurches from one situation to another in a seemingly random manner. As with the earlier film, there are two romances on the go but in this film they seem rather incidental. Kenneth Williams' connection with Jill Ireland (surely one of the most unlikely romances in cinematic history) just sort of happens, and occurring so quickly without complication makes one wonder what the point of it was. More drawn out is Terence Longdon's pursuit of Shirley Eaton. There is a hint that there could be twists in store when Eaton is shown to be looking more longingly at Doctor Winn, but this plot thread, like many others, is just discarded and forgotten about. Another is the idea that Longdon's reporter character is hired to observe hospital life whilst he is a patient there and write a report on it, but again this idea never gets picked up again.
It seems that whenever the film starts running out of steam, a new character is introduced just to keep events ticking along. Having had one incompetent nurse in the form of Joan Sims, we later get another one (Rosalind Knight). Having had one smooth talking, womanising patient in Terence Longdon, halfway through the film we get another in the guise of Leslie Phillips.
The only thrust of the plot in the first half of the film is that Matron mustn't be defied, but we don't get too care too much because we don't see much by way of what happens when she *is* defied, other than a nice brief essay on rank, when Matron's stern rebuke of the Ward Sister is passed on in turn by the Sister to the staff nurse, and so on until the student nurse gets the ear-bashing.
Late on the film comes the most interesting phase, when a drunken Williams is coerced into putting his money where his mouth is and performing an operation himself. This leads to the patients taking over an operating theatre and then unwittingly overdosing themselves with laughing gas. It is pure Carry On comedy, but it only lasts about 15 minutes.
Aside from the main plot is Wilfrid Hyde White's colonel, in a private room. He likes gambling on horses and pestering the nurses, but doesn't really contribute anything by way of laughs until the film's famous closing gag. White is given no interaction with most of the main cast at all and his inclusion seems completely superfluous.
There are lots of good gags, and good performances, but with a shallow plot and, consequently, shallow characters, the overall film is merely average. Writer Norman Hudis just fails to make the ideas work. To see how it should have been done, watch Talbot Rothwell's later reworking of the same ideas in "Carry On Doctor" which is not only much funnier, it has a much stronger storyline and characters the viewer will care more about.
Some of the actors from the first film return in very similar roles: Kenneth Williams as the intellectual, Shirley Eaton as the glamorous love interest, Hattie Jacques as an imperious authority figure and Charles Hawtrey as the wimpish man. Others are now playing different types of characters, notably Kenneth Connor, shedding his previous persona as a neurotic hypochondriac to portray a confident, successful boxer. Bill Owen is no longer an establishment figure as in the first film and joins the ranks of the common men.
Added to the mix are many new faces, not least Joan Sims and Leslie Philips who will go on to become established stars of the film series. The big name guest star on this occasion is Wilfrid Hyde White.
Like the earlier film, there are many witty one-liners, much of the humour suggestive rather than coarse, and the story is littered with instances of authority constantly being undermined by ineptitude.
Did I say story? Alas, that is Carry On Nurse's big glaring weakness. The plot is virtually non-existent. Whereas Carry On Sergeant unfolded with a clear sense of purpose and progression, Carry On Nurse just lurches from one situation to another in a seemingly random manner. As with the earlier film, there are two romances on the go but in this film they seem rather incidental. Kenneth Williams' connection with Jill Ireland (surely one of the most unlikely romances in cinematic history) just sort of happens, and occurring so quickly without complication makes one wonder what the point of it was. More drawn out is Terence Longdon's pursuit of Shirley Eaton. There is a hint that there could be twists in store when Eaton is shown to be looking more longingly at Doctor Winn, but this plot thread, like many others, is just discarded and forgotten about. Another is the idea that Longdon's reporter character is hired to observe hospital life whilst he is a patient there and write a report on it, but again this idea never gets picked up again.
It seems that whenever the film starts running out of steam, a new character is introduced just to keep events ticking along. Having had one incompetent nurse in the form of Joan Sims, we later get another one (Rosalind Knight). Having had one smooth talking, womanising patient in Terence Longdon, halfway through the film we get another in the guise of Leslie Phillips.
The only thrust of the plot in the first half of the film is that Matron mustn't be defied, but we don't get too care too much because we don't see much by way of what happens when she *is* defied, other than a nice brief essay on rank, when Matron's stern rebuke of the Ward Sister is passed on in turn by the Sister to the staff nurse, and so on until the student nurse gets the ear-bashing.
Late on the film comes the most interesting phase, when a drunken Williams is coerced into putting his money where his mouth is and performing an operation himself. This leads to the patients taking over an operating theatre and then unwittingly overdosing themselves with laughing gas. It is pure Carry On comedy, but it only lasts about 15 minutes.
Aside from the main plot is Wilfrid Hyde White's colonel, in a private room. He likes gambling on horses and pestering the nurses, but doesn't really contribute anything by way of laughs until the film's famous closing gag. White is given no interaction with most of the main cast at all and his inclusion seems completely superfluous.
There are lots of good gags, and good performances, but with a shallow plot and, consequently, shallow characters, the overall film is merely average. Writer Norman Hudis just fails to make the ideas work. To see how it should have been done, watch Talbot Rothwell's later reworking of the same ideas in "Carry On Doctor" which is not only much funnier, it has a much stronger storyline and characters the viewer will care more about.