Carry on Emmannuelle (1978) User Reviews

Bottom of the "Carry On" barrel

[Libretio · 2/10 · 3 January 2005]

CARRY ON EMMANNUELLE

Aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Sound format: Mono

"Carry On" regular Sid James had been dead for almost two years when this threadbare concoction hit UK cinemas in 1978, and principal scriptwriter Talbot Rothwell had retired from the business in 1975 following a bout of ill health, throwing the long-standing (and extremely lucrative) "Carry On" series into disarray. While CARRY ON EMMANNUELLE isn't the worst of them - that 'honor' belongs to CARRY ON ENGLAND (1976), an utterly turgid wartime entry - Lance Peters' script was initially rejected by star Kenneth Williams as unworkable, though the finished product could hardly be worse! A mild, half-baked spin on the "Emmanuelle" series (inspired by Just Jaeckin's 1974 softcore drama), the 29th "Carry On" epic features Williams as the French ambassador to London, whose sexpot wife (Suzanne Danielle, surprisingly assured in her screen debut) has it off with all and sundry whilst pining for her husband's absent libido (lost when he landed on a church spire during a parachute jump - which demonstrates the film's level of wit). Series stalwarts Joan Sims, Jack Douglas, Kenneth Connor and Peter Butterworth look suitably embarrassed as members of the ambassador's household staff, and Larry Dann plays a downtrodden nerd who falls in love with Danielle following an amorous encounter on Concorde; Beryl Reid is his mum, a vision in chintz.

Opening with a dreadful disco ditty ('Love Crazy', written by Kenny Lynch and sung by 'Masterplan') which must have seemed dated even in 1978, CARRY ON EMMANNUELLE swaps the double entendres and deconstructive satire of Rothwell's era for a barrage of blatantly obvious sex jokes, none of which are even remotely funny, while Williams is reduced to mugging frantically over Danielle's 'suggestive' dialogue and dropping his drawers every time there's a lull in the action. While exploitation fans in other countries had been enjoying frank cinematic depictions of sex and sexuality since the late 1960's, British voyeurs - ie. those whose tastes ran more to NAUGHTY KNICKERS (1970) and DEEP THROAT (1972) than the mature exploration of adult themes favored by Ken Russell (THE DEVILS), Stanley Kubrick (A CLOCKWORK ORANGE) and others at the cutting edge of mainstream outrage - were forced to endure heavily censored imports and tawdry homegrown comedies (I'M NOT FEELING MYSELF TONIGHT, CAN YOU KEEP IT UP FOR A WEEK?, LET'S GET LAID, etc.) which reinforced sexual stereotypes of every persuasion, and CARRY ON EMMANNUELLE is no better or worse than any of them. Having bombed at the box-office, this SHOULD have been the series' last gasp, but director Gerald Thomas and producer Peter Rogers revived the format in 1992 for the equally lackluster CARRY ON COLUMBUS, while "Carry On London" (shudder!) currently exists in pre-production limbo. All together now:

"That woman is lo-o-ve crazy / She's lovin' all night! / That woman is lo-o-ve crazy / Won't stop for a bite!..."

Told you it was dreadful, didn't I?...

So Bad It's Unfunny

[JamesHitchcock · 2/10 · 25 June 2004]

The permissive society of the seventies led to a growing number of erotic films in both Britain and France. The two countries, however, often had very different approaches to erotica. The characteristic British erotic film of the period was the 'sex comedy', typified by the later 'Carry On' films as well as the 'Confessions' series, 'Percy' and cinematic versions of stage farces such as 'Don't Just Lie There, Say Something' and 'No Sex Please, We're British'. These films all started from the premise that sex is something intrinsically comic, and attempted to get laughs from innuendo, doubles ententes and smutty, sniggering humour about breasts, bottoms, penises and bodily functions.

The typical French erotic film of the period- characterised by the 'Emmanuelle' series- took quite the opposite approach. The 'Emmanuelle' films approach their subject with an almost reverential seriousness, and are filled not only with sex scenes but also with much tedious sermonising about the Meaning of Life (which generally means having as much sex as possible). Whereas the British made sex seem ridiculous, the French came close to making it seem boring.

'Carry On Emmannuelle' would therefore seem to represent an intriguing fusion of two quite different approaches to the erotic film. The 'Carry On' films were by no means uniformly bad. They were generally at their best in the fifties and sixties when they concentrated on exploiting a vein of humour which was later to be mined to great effect by Mel Brooks- the deliberate parody of an established film or television genre. Thus 'Carry On Cowboy' parodied the western, 'Carry On Cleo' the sword-and-sandal epic (especially 'Cleopatra' itself) and 'Carry On Constable' British TV cop shows such as 'Dixon of Dock Green'.

The 'Emmanuelle' films might be thought to offer plenty of targets to the parodist or satirist, with their misty, soft-focus photography, their stilted dialogue and their pretentious philosophising. 'Carry On Emmannuelle' does not, however, attempt to guy the affectations of its original models, but is made as a fairly standard piece of British sex comedy- the main difference between this and earlier 'Carry Ons' is that smutty innuendo has largely been replaced by direct sexual references. The only links to the original films are the name of the heroine (deliberately misspelled- apparently for copyright reasons), the fact that she is married to an older man who works for the French diplomatic service (in London rather than in Bangkok) and the fact that she is continually unfaithful to him. The actress who plays Emmannuelle, Suzanne Danielle, another long-legged, curly-haired brunette, has a passing resemblance to Sylvia Kristel, although she is more voluptuous and lacks the Dutch girl's delicate features. Emmannuelle's husband M. Prevert (a fairly common French surname meaning 'green meadow', but probably chosen in this instance because of its closeness to the English word 'pervert') is impotent, so she enjoys herself with any other man she can find, including a gallery of VIPs, an entire football team, various embassy servants and an Australian body-builder. (Unlike her namesake one-n Emmanuelle, who takes as many female lovers as male ones, two-n Emmannuelle seems to be exclusively heterosexual).

The film does not, however, generate any humour from Emmannuelle's frantic sexual couplings. It simply assumes that the fact that she seduces so many men is a hugely amusing joke in itself. The film's theme tune 'Love Crazy' (apart from being intensely irritating) is not appropriately named. Emmannuelle may be sex-crazy, but that is not the same thing. Love is not an emotion featured anywhere in this film. The script's attempts at wit are feeble in the extreme- a running joke about the butler Lyons, whose name Emmannuelle consistently mispronounces as 'Loins', is as about as good as it gets. There is the typical 'Carry On' assumption that any sexual or lavatorial reference is automatically good for a laugh. All genuine humour seems to have been surgically removed.

This is a good example of one of the most miserable types of film, the failed comedy. A wretched serious drama can at least provide inadvertent humour of the 'so-bad-it's-funny' kind. A wretched comedy cannot. 'Carry On Emmannuelle' is so bad it's unfunny. When she walked out on this film, Barbara Windsor showed a greater discernment than I thought she possessed. The producers of the 'Carry On' films seem to have agreed that it was a failure, because it persuaded them to wind up the series and we were spared more offerings of this nature in the eighties. The failure of the attempted revival 'Carry On Columbus' (another rat-wretched 'comedy') in the early nineties shows what a wise decision that was. 2/10.

Sad Coda To The Original Series

[jbridge-1991 · 2/10 · 27 June 2021]

"Carry On Emmannuelle" was the 30th and final instalment of the celebrated Carry On franchise, consisting of various satires, parodies and farces with a soupcon of Anglo-Saxon innuendo and vulgarity. Subtlety was not its first name, but the familiar parade of venerable, reliable and practised comic performers involved were always capable of raising a laugh, and indeed many more when production, script and casting worked in smooth unison, with the best examples being 'Nurse', 'Cleo', 'Doctor', 'Screaming', 'Camping', 'Abroad', 'Henry', 'At Your Convenience' and most of all 'Up The Khyber'. Sid James, Hattie Jacques, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims, Kenneth Connor were there from early on, with Barbara Windsor, Bernard Bresslaw, Jim Dale, Jack Douglas and Peter Butterworth joining the gang a bit later on, with this combination of comedic talents proving a surprisingly effective if not irresistible blend, particularly in the mid-late 60's when the series was at its peak.

Sadly, inspiration began to flag in the more permissive 70's, when the double entendres and sauciness was looking increasingly stale when the Confessions series and numerous imitators emerged in the middle of the decade. The Carry On's from this point on began to call a spade a spade and show rather more flesh than before (mostly of the young female kind, though not exclusively) to keep up with changing times, as the suggestive, cheerful vulgarity gradually turned into full-blown smut. About this time, the main crux of the team like Sid, Hattie, Charlie and Joan were becoming less prominent if not absent, due to illness, sackings, or in Sid James' case, an untimely death while performing on stage in 1976, which really meant the writing was on the wall after a rather dismal and poorly received TV version the previous year.

'Girls', 'Dick' and 'Behind' were acceptably bawdy, but 'England' had very few of the regulars involved, who themselves were looking both tired and listless, with newer replacements simply not up to the job. It failed financially, and 'Emmannuelle' was a last desperate throw of the dice as the decade was coming to an end, an obvious reference to the French erotic drama of four years earlier but also an attempt to keep in step with the number of crude and tawdry British sex comedies that became so prominent in this era (The Confessions series ended the previous year).

Alas, it was doomed from the outset, plagued as it was by poor production values (the scenes with back projection are especially awful), a dismal script, leaden comic timing and unhappy performances, Kenneth Williams in particular struggling with his cod French accent, in a film he appeared in only reluctantly, with his lack of enthusiasm shared by the sparse other regulars on board such as Sims, Connor, Douglas and Butterworth, who actually just about manage to raise a few weak laughs regarding flashback sequences describing their most erotic experiences to the nominal lead, Suzanne Danielle, who carries most of the film's plot and action (if it can be described as thus) in seducing every man she meets due to her husband Williams' inability to perform.

With both the story and leading character very seedy, any pretence that this is a Carry On film is barely noticeable save the few disinterested familiar names that try and give such an impression. The film failed to find an audience at the box office, and the series ended on this low and dispiriting note. The Politically Correct New Wave/Alternative Comedy style was just around the corner, rendering the Carry On's an outdated relic. Even if 'Emmannuuelle' had been an artistic and financial success, it is doubtful it could have survived in the 80's anyway, as other regulars passed away or were semi-retired.

Yet, there was to be one more attempt in the less PC 90's with 'Columbus', but this was misconceived and misguided; very few of the regular gang appeared and ironically, many of the cast members were made up of the Alternative Comedy brigade, supposedly against sexist and suggestive humour as innuendo was replaced with smut for the sake of it and expletives. This clash of styles didn't work as it was perhaps more poorly received even than 'Emmannuelle' had been, with director Gerald Thomas sadly dying the year after it was released.

Despite rumours of another revival since, none have come to fruition, and it is probably best that they don't, as the series standards of saucy but not rude seaside postcard humour appears both innocent and charming decades after its peak, its main cast much loved and remembered, with a handful of titles worthy now of being called genuine comedy classics. Let us draw a veil over 'Emmannuelle' and recall the memorable scenes from 'Cleo', 'Screaming', 'Camping' and 'Up The Khyber' instead.

RIP Carry On films 1958 - 1978

[gnb · 8 September 2002]

One would expect this, the last in the long line of Carry On films, to be a load of old rubbish. And while it is perhaps not Carry On heaven it is still worth a look.

It is ironic being the last in the series, that after the utterly appalling Carry on England, Emmannuelle is actually a slightly better film. Kenneth Williams is in fine nostril-flaring form, Kenneth Connor is a delight as the sleazy chauffeur and stunning Suzanne Danielle a joy to behold in her body hugging outfits. Even the snazzy 70s theme song, "Love Crazy" is quite catchy!

However, we are now at the end of the line for this series of comedy favourites and it is sad to see a now bloated Joan Sims doing not very much, an ancient Peter Butterworth doing not very much and underused Jack Douglas not falling over and making silly noises.

Also long, long gone is the series' subtle use of innuendo and double entendre. As with Carry on England, we are now subjected to nude bottoms and breasts to raise a titter among the audience. And the nose cone gag on the Concorde has to be seen to be believed!

Better than its predecessor and worth an occasional viewing but by no means one of the best. A very, very different film to Sergeant which launched the series a staggering 20 years before.

Doesn't deserve the Carry on name

[Sleepin_Dragon · 1/10 · 20 August 2015]

I have to say Carry on behind ranks as the last great Carry on film, after that they really do go downhill, but this one, I can't even think of many words to describe it, it's so bad it's almost unwatchable.

Thomas and Rogers must have been disappointed with the final outcome, they were so used to brilliance, and so were the cast, what they made was a cheap, desperate attempt to suit a change in society.

I'm scarred by the look on Joan Sims's face as she tries to deliver her lines. When I read Beryl Reid was in it I was really excited to see it, a fabulous comedy actress, what a shame this was her first, and last.

The worst film of all time? it's truly embarrassing, and it's just crude, but not even funny crude. I can't believe I got to the end. Hated it. 1/10

Making the Confession movies look classy...

[Nestor-4 · 1/10 · 22 April 2005]

By the time that Carry On Emmannuelle rolled around, the boom in smutty sex comedies in the UK reached it's zenith and the comparatively innocent double-entendres of the Carry On movies were looking increasingly dated with audiences preferring to seek out something with strong nudity and some crude laughs, rather than watch another Carry On movie in the hope that there might be a fleeting glimpse of a pair of breasts.

With the Confession movies pulling in the punters, and with David Sullivan muscling into the scene with movies like Come Play With Me & Playbirds, Gerald Thomas & Peter Rogers ventured into previously unexplored territory and plunged into spoofing adult movies.

The result was ghastly.

Featuring only a handful of the regular cast, most of them had flown the coup by this time. Kenneth Williams only appeared in the movie as a favour to Gerald Thomas, Kenneth Conner (the unsung hero of the Carry On series in our opinion) tries to have fun with the appalling material, but just ends up making himself look foolish - a great pity. Of the others, only Joan Sims, Peter Butterworth & belated regular Jack Douglas are on hand to help tie this car-crash of a movie to the Carry On series.

One joke that will have a modern audience spitting their drinks across the room involves Dino "Mind Your Language" Shafeek as an immigration officer at an airport.

The saddest slight of all in this non-starter of a movie has Kenneth Conner as Leyland, the Ambassador's chauffeur, showing Suzanne Danielle around London, in a bid to get her sexually excited - driving past Nelson's Column, he starts gurning and emoting "corr", or terms along those lines. Dear oh dear...

Ultimately, Carry On Emmannuelle was too tame for the Dirty Mac Brigade and too strong for those who loved the more innocent Carry On movies. No wonder this was the last regular entry in the series.

Appalling

[elvisleeboy · 1/10 · 24 April 2020]

This dreadful film seems like an attempt to see just how far they could go with degrading Kenneth Williams and his talents. The film is an insult to him, as well as to Joan Sims, Kenneth Connor, Jack Douglas and Peter Butterworth. To add insult to injury, this is the last film in which they would appear together, providing a rather shameful and pathetic epilogue to these icons of British culture who deserved far better.

The Carry On team should really have called it a day following Talbot Rothwell's retirement from script writing duties. The drop in quality following Carry On Dick, Rothwell's last, is palpable and his successors seemed oblivious to what the Carry Ons were about. Lance Peters replaces the classic innuendo and warmth they are known for, with a charmless, crass and witless script, so far removed from the classic films in the series.

The only positive to take from this film, is that its existence illustrates that, while the Norman Hudis and the Talbot Rothwell Carry Ons were never high art, they were certainly not low-brow either - A term that applies perfectly to Carry On Emmannuelle.

Joint worst Carry on film

[Committed_to_nitrate · 1/10 · 6 September 2023]

RANKING: With CARRY ON SCREAMING rated number one, of the thirty which were made this is either 29 or 30, sharing the shame with CARRY ON ENGLAND of being the worst.

TYPICAL: This awful film doesn't even feel like a Carry On film. Rather than being a parody of EMMANUEL which although not my cup of tea, it is fairly well made, professional picture this purposefully has the feel of a cheap porno film made in back street warehouse. It's horribly tacky, cheap and nasty. Furthermore it's not funny.

SEXY LADIES: An essential for a Carry On film is sexy ladies. With this one however they seem to have forgotten what a Carry On sexy lady is. There's something inexplicable about how the English find sexiness funny but Carry On films have always been the epitome of this silly, saucy seaside-postcard humour. Suzanne Daniel's character simply doesn't fit into a cheeky saucy comedy.

This is even worse than those awful 'Confessions Of' films - unwatchable!

Dreadful Farrago....

[johngmclaughlin · 1/10 · 25 November 2020]

This was a film too far. There was no level of gratuitous nudity, (however pretty the girl) which could rescue it. Kenneth looks horribly uneasy throughout. This was, I believe, his last last "carry on" film. Bad concept, bad plot, poor screenplay, weak photgraphy. The cast were unenthusiastic and jaded... Truly awful and really should never have been made....

Reeks of desperation to stay relevant

[BrickNash · 3/10 · 3 February 2020]

I'm sad to say that, being born in 1977, this is the first Carry On film to be made within my lifetime - and it is a travesty!

This isn't Carry On, it's a "Confessions of..." film that just happens to have some of the old Carry on cast in it. There's almost nothing redeemable here. The script is atrocious, and the direction by the once great Carry On director Gerald Thomas is lacklustre. Even the usually magnificent Kenneth Williams is pretty bad here, reduced to chewing the awful dialogue in a really ropy French accent.

The film just reeks of desperation from all quarters. It is of course a play on the Emmanuelle softcore porn films which is using the Carry on name to "carry" it, but the mix of the two just doesn't work.

It's steers too far away from the saucy suggestive and fun humour of the vintage Carry On films, but it doesn't go far enough with the supposed "porny" bits to satisfy even a curious look for filth's sake. It's caught in some horridly cheap looking middle ground between the two, and as such tried to serve two masters while failing at both.

It's sad that a once great, and often rather clever series is reduced to this form of desperate trend jumping in order to try and stay relevant. The vintage Carry On cast members that do appear try their best (Jack Douglas does a decent turn in a different sort of role), but it all falls flat thanks to the awful dialogue which lack s any of Talbot Rothwell's wit and charm.

The last true great Carry On film was Carry On Dick in 1974 as it had most of the core cast and crew, and while Carry on Behind in 1975 was a decent stab at the formula and a fun movie in its own right, it wasn't really a Carry On film in the truest sense.

Carry On Emmannuelle is a very low brow bow out for a series which was a bit low brow anyway, but which traditionally managed to be fun at the same time - sadly something this film lacks.

Don't bother with this film. It's boring, unfunny, cheap looking, and desperate.

Wants to be like the Danish Zodiac films, but can't

[anders-n-aa-larsson · 2/10 · 9 October 2020]

After Denmark as the first country in the world abolished censorship for pornography in the late 1960s, the Danish film genre "gladporr", that can be defined as a combination of folk comedy (lustspel) and pornography, became a major Danish export item. It seems, Carry on Emmanuelle wanted to be like the famous Danish Ole Søltoft Zodiac films, but couldn't due to different censorship leglislation.

Not unlike decaffeinated coffee - a porn comedy without any nudity. It's just not a good concept.

Standing up for Emmannuelle

[wilvram · 8/10 · 11 January 2010]

Granted its obvious defects, this porn parody is a far funnier Carry On than many give it credit for.

The Carry On regulars are all in fine form, with Jack Douglas having his finest hour in the series as suave, randy 'Loins' the butler and there's a treasurable farewell performance from dear old Peter Butterworth, which is vintage Carry On. Kenneth Connor is brilliant, as usual, as lecherous chauffeur Leyland, Joan Sims returns to form as the Dickensian sounding Mrs Dangle and Kenneth Williams is as funny as ever as Prevert. Suzanne Danielle is quite superb as Emmannuelle and her sexy, knowing performance is all the more remarkable considering her limited acting experience at the time.

If you can put aside any preconceptions and accept it as a bawdy romp of Britain in the post-pill pre-AIDS era when PC stood only for police constable, Emmannuelle provides plenty of laughs.

Lighten up people! It's cute!

[lastliberal · 6/10 · 10 August 2007]

Emile Prevert: Why me? You could have Tom, Dick or Harry. Emmannuelle Prevert: I don't want Tom or Harry!

With 20 years of Carry On... films, the British people got a laugh or two with slightly bawdy humor that featured some favorite stars. Some of those familiar faces are here in the last installment of the Carry On... films and they do a bang up job of keeping the laughs coming.

Kenneth Williams leads the cast as the french Ambasador with an impotence problem. No little blue pills in the seventies, so his wife had to find her fun elsewhere. Suzanne Danielle does a good job as the randy wife spreading cheer throughout the land.

Old familiar faces are back as downstairs staff (Kenneth Connor, Joan Sims, Jack Douglas, and Peter Butterworth) who provide several laughs as they react to the Mistress and her antics.

Well worth a watch,

Crude and groan worthy

[Hayden-86055 · 1/10 · 7 December 2020]

Most of the regulars look tired here and it's painful to hear them say their terrible lines. The main actress Suzanne Danielle is especially poor, although I'm sure she tried her best with what she had (script wise).

Almost all of the jokes are sexual and unfunny, there's no wit to be found here at all. Even the lead character is called "Emmannuelle Prevert", how ridiculous.

1/10: Instead of the Carry on series leaving on a high it tries to keep with the times by making the films ever more and more sexual and losing more and more of their original charm

The squalid death of the British sex comedy

[tomfarrellmedia · 26 October 2004]

Love 'em or loath 'em, a certain indefineable Englishness could always be distilled from the Carry Ons, even the ones set in Ancient Rome or The Wild West. They started out in black and white, stable mates to Norman Wisdom and assorted Ealing comedies and wound down two decades later when the permissive society has made their nudging winking humour obsolete. Through the years, the same actors kept resurfacing parodies of silly suburban Englishness: the leathery lecher Sid James, the squeaky blonde Babs Windsor along with demure Charlie Hawtrey, bulgy eyed Kenneth Williams, repressed matron Hattie Jacques and sharp faced nag Joan Sims. It was the repetition and safeness we cherished, the over the top boooiings! and deliberately crass innuendos, Babs' bra flying off amid stretching exercises and hitting a horror-struck Williams in the face: "Oooh! Matron! take them away!" Far from being 'sex comedies', the Carry Ons are also childishly innocent. None of the villains e.g. Bernard Bresslaw as Bunghit Din in 'Up the Kyber' are genuinely bad. Sid's ear is forever being grabbed by Sims before he can do anything with Babs. All of these elements are absent from Emmanuelle and the result is painful and repulsive. Rogers' dire payment of his actors meant they had little choice but to return time and time again to Rothwell's scripts. By 1978, Sid James was dead, Charles Hawtrey sacked and Jacques (along with Windsor Davies and Terry Scott) committed to better-paying BBC sitcoms. Barbara Windsor reportedly walked out on this one and it's puzzling that her close friend Williams didn't do likewise as he'd already been burnt by the wretched 'Hound of the Baskervilles.' Peter Butterworth, Joan Sims and Kenneth Connor chip in but you know a movie is in trouble when Benny Hill's straight man (Henry McGee) is brought along to make up the numbers. Attempting to capitalise on the success of the French 'Emmanuelle' movies, the old pre-feminist and pre-pill approach to sex is junked in favour of a movie where the elderly Williams is shown copulating with Suzanne Danielle. In her role as Emmanuelle Prevert (pervert get it...? Swiftian wit,we think) Danielle attempts to find satisfaction after Williams was castrated in a nude hand-gliding incident by bedding innumerable men, while a rubbish 'disco' number plays. Meanwhile, shy mother's boy Theodore falls for Danielle and the servants recall their own lamentably unsexy brushes with the permissive society. By the time of this movie's release, the Carry Ons were already dinosaurs and the 1974 effort 'Carry on Dick' was when the series should have been wound up. Other comedies of the time 'Confessions of a...' or 'Percy' have not dated well, but the sea side bawdiness of the 1960s Carry Ons will just about make them watchable on a Sunday afternoon. Not this effort, interesting only as a cruddy little snapshot of post-sixties, pre-Aids views on sex. With Emmanuelle, the Carry Ons died although the stake had to be sharpened one last time in 1992 when the even worse 'Carry on Columbus' rose from the coffin.

The last, but not quite the worst

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 21 December 2015]

I always thought CARRY ON EMMANNUELLE was the worst of the Carry On films (not counting CARRY ON COLUMBUS, which is like some bastard cousin of the series), having seen it years ago and judged it to be pretty pitiful. However, having now watched all of the films, I can report that it's not the worst at all; that 'honour' goes to the preceding CARRY ON ENGLAND, which doesn't even feel like a proper Carry On.

At least this film features a lot of the old regulars back on screen for the final time: Kenneth Williams, Joan Sims, Kenneth Connor, Jack Douglas, and Peter Butterworth feature in this, and the latter foursome make a particularly good quartet in their scenes as various household staff. The bit where they sit around the kitchen table and recount their amorous escapades is the highlight of the film and recalls the glory days of the show, with Butterworth shining in particular as the doddering old butler.

A shame, then, that the main plot is such a boring rip-off of the classic erotic film series (and there's something typically cheap and tacky about the misspelling of EMMANNUELLE so as not to breach copyright). I don't know who thought that viewers wanted ample rear nudity from Kenneth Williams, but we get it. Suzanne Danielle is really pitiful as the lead and drags the film down whenever she appears, but on the plus side there are cameos from Victor Maddern and Beryl Reid which liven things up a bit. If you squint a bit, ignore all the tired sex jokes and nudity, and focus on the supporting characters, then you might just enjoy this. A bit.

Argh! No! It's horrible!

[chuffnobbler · 1/10 · 10 May 2003]

Awful. Horrible. Terrible. The bitterest end you could imagine. Carry On Emmannuelle is the last, and by far the worst, of this legendary series of films. The nasty tinge of sex and seediness has taken over. For once in his life, Kenneth Williams wasn't being too harsh on himself when he hated this.

When the song is the only redeeming quality, you know there's something wrong

[TheLittleSongbird · 1/10 · 13 June 2010]

Just when I thought they wouldn't get any lower. After subjecting myself to that nadir known as Carry on England, I was hoping this would be better. Alas... this was just as worse as England, in short it is awful. The only redeeming quality was the song, and when that is the only redeeming quality you know there is something wrong. The direction is lacklustre, the jokes are terrible and poorly timed, the gags don't work, the story is naff, the pacing is messy, the sets look cheap and the acting doesn't cut the mustard. Kenneth Connor is bland and if Kenneth Williams hadn't had that dreadfully cheesy accent he may have raised this movie to a 2 but no...what a waste of a great actor. And how Joan Sims got dragged into this, I shall never know, she looks so embarrassed. Overall, awful and if you haven't seen it, I would recommend you keep it like that, because if you like Carry On like I do, you may find this movie's a disgrace to the series. 1/10 Bethany Cox

Carry On Getting Your Kit Off.

[BA_Harrison · 2/10 · 23 November 2014]

By 1978, the tried and trusted Carry On formula of saucy seaside innuendo and silly slapstick no longer seemed relevant, especially in a world where nudity and sex in the cinema had become commonplace; in an effort to get bums on seats, the series' makers looked towards the world of soft-core porn for inspiration, riding the wave created by the success of Just Jaeckin's Emmanuelle (1974).

Sadly, Carry On Emmannuelle (double consonants throughout, presumably to avoid legal issues) proves to be one of the worst of the whole Carry On series, a laugh free exercise that replaces suggestive humour with blatant and not-at-all-funny sex gags, and knockabout silliness with an excess of bare flesh (and not just from its sexy star Suzanne Danielle as the film's titular French nymphomaniac: in what must have been a career low, Kenneth Williams strips for the camera as well).

Sid James escaped the embarrassment of appearing in this mess by dying two years earlier; Carry On regulars Williams, Kenneth Connor, Peter Butterworth and Joan Sims weren't quite as lucky, their resumé forever blighted by this tawdry flop. Ever the professionals, they soldier on, rattling out the dire one-liners with as much enthusiasm as they can muster, but unsurprisingly fail to produce the laughs, the material being even more tired and worn out than the cast delivering it.

Doesn't Quite Jell

[crossbow0106 · 4/10 · 11 October 2008]

A late period Carry On film, this one stars Suzanne Danielle in her debut performance as Emmanuelle, the wife of an ambassador (Kenneth Williams) and her very sexual ways. She becomes a member of the mile high club and, once in London, seems to bed down any man who breathes. I know its a send up of the Emmanuelle films, but it doesn't quite have the zaniness and laughter of a Carry On film. Ms. Danielle is attractive and often scantily clad, but you really don't care after a while. Kenneth Williams does his best, and he is always good, but the film doesn't really keep your interest. You miss the late Sid James, who passed away before this film was made, he could have made it a better film. Not the worst Carry on, but unless you are a Carry On completist, I don't recommend it.

Carry On No. 29

[michaelarmer · 1/10 · 7 May 2020]

It's hard to think of the words to use to describe this utter rubbish, Peter Rogers and Gerald Thomas decided to jump on the bandwagon of sex films of the day, they had already started earlier in the 70's but now it was full on, the trouble is that sex films do not win any awards (apart from sex awards) and this was no different (it did not win any sex film awards either, that's how crap it was)), it was not funny, no decent dialogue, a ridiculous set up of scenes with no continuity. Crap is the best word I can think of.

The new actor (if you can call her that) was Suzanne Danielle, she made my Carry on Girls list because hers was the main role, but no actual acting was taking place. 3 other actors made their Carry On debut's, Beryl Reid (good actor elsewhere), Henry McGee and Dino Shafeek (another from 'It Ain't Half Hot Mum'), but did not improve it, they were up against it.

The last of the regulars must have done this out of loyalty to Peter and Gerald, Ken Williams, Ken Connor and Eric Barker had been in the series since the start, and Joan Sims started in the 2nd. Peter Butterworth had also done a good few, Victor Maddern, a celebrated actor elsewhere did a few small roles, he had an extensive career and passed away in 1993 from a brain tumour, he was 65. Jack Douglas had become a semi-regular, but he went on to do 'Carry on Columbus'.

Of the bit-part actors, Larry Dann had a better role here, he had done 4, starting with the 3rd film in 1959 'Carry on Teacher', he started acting in 1949 and retired in 2016, he is still with us, now aged 79. Michael Nightingale did a lot more (17 films + TV series), starting acting in 1948, his first for this team was 'Watch Your Stern' in 1960, his next was 'Carry on Regardless', he retired in 1994 and passed away in 1999 aged 76. And Gertan Klauber, a Czech who settled in England who had an extensive career, he did 7 Carry On films and one spin-off, starting with 'Carry on Spying' also finished in this, he retired in 2003, but passed away in 2008 aged 76, he was married to another Carry On bit-role actor, Gwendolyn Watts until her death in 2000.

Ken Williams did 25 films 2 spin-off films (27 altogether) and commented in the compilation 'That's Carry On' with Barbara Windsor, Ken had started acting in 1952 and did lots of other stuff, he was a very funny man, his last role in a Children's TV series was in 1986, he committed suicide in 1988 aged 62, strangely enough his voice was used for an animated film in 1993, in his role in 'Carry on Screaming' he played an immortal vampire type, maybe this was his way of coming back after death?

Ken Connor was a very underrated top actor, he did 17 Carry-ons (he had a long period off in the middle of the series), 1 spin-off, 3 Christmas specials and the 'Carry on Laughing' TV series, he even got his son in on the act, he also did lots of other stuff, he was part of 'The Goon Show' and later appeared in the celebrated TV series 'Allo Allo' as Monsieur Alphonse, he was acting up to his death in 1993 of cancer aged 75 and like Ken Williams, he appeared in a role after he died, in a Sherlock Holmes TV series which was recorded earlier.

The dependable Eric Barker was also in the first 'Carry on Sergeant' in 1958, he only did 3 before this, plus 2 spin-off films, all early ones, but he came back at the end, Eric was a child actor, he started in 1916!!! Aged 4, he had a long career, this was his last film, he passed away in 1990 aged 78.

Joan Sims was a classy actor, she was in the 2nd 'Carry on Nurse' so one film later than the 2 Ken's but ended up doing more, she was also in 'Carry on Admiral' in 1957 (along with Joan Hickson - another Carry On regular) which was in the year before the first Carry On, but despite the name this film was not made by the same team, but it is the one that Peter Rogers got his inspiration from. Joan started acting in 1951, and did 24 Carry On films, one less than Ken Williams, but did 6 of the spin-offs, making 30 in total (this did not include 'Carry on Admiral'), she also did 2 Xmas Specials and was in the TV Series, in the early days she did a lot of films, but later did lots of TV, her last role was in the appropriately named 'The Last of The Blonde Bombshells' in 2000, she sadly passed away of Liver Failure (she had been a big drinker in later years) in 2001, she will be sorely missed.

Peter Butterworth did 16 Carry On's, starting in 'Carry on Cowboy, so a bit later than the others, he also did a side issue and 3 Christmas specials, he was also in the TV series, so despite the late start still got quite a bit in, he was a very good and underrated actor, he started acting even earlier in 1948, and had an extensive career, he was still acting up until his death of a heart attack in 1979, he was only 59.

A long review for a crap film, it is only worth watching for the final Carry on roles of the distinguished actors above.

Ignore the bad reviews

[TheHarshJudge · 9/10 · 25 July 2010]

Don't go expecting a 'Carry On Up The Khyber', or one of the classic Carry Ons - there are a few negatives, such as the terrible animation, a poor back-projection sequence and, it has to be said, a little too much of Kenneth Williams' bottom, but it has a impressive cast and many funny moments. The 'most amorous experience' sequences - particularly Joan Sims in the laundrette and the ever-excellent Peter Butterworth's wartime reminiscence are particularly good. Barbara Windsor was said to have claimed the film as 'pornographic' and turned it down, but it is nothing of the sort, and for a so-called sex comedy, it's very conservative. I think that this is a big part of the problem people have with it, expecting either a Carry On (the humour is more blatant than any other Carry On film) or a Confessions-style sex film; the result is something in-between. The book, by Australian Lance Peters, is remarkably close to the film itself, though fortunately we are spared the sight of Mrs Dangle pleasuring herself on a washing machine (getting instead something far funnier) and a lesbian scene with the Wimbledon ladies champion! It's the last chance to see many of the Carry On greats together (also the last bow too for valued character actor Eric Barker) and is a massive step up from the previous film and series-nadir, England. And if you don't laugh when Kenneth Williams says "we couldn't find the stopcock", you probably aren't human.

Debauchery Can Be Fun

[gavin6942 · 6/10 · 11 December 2010]

Emmanuelle Prevert has flown from France on the Concorde to visit her husband in the United Kingdom, as he is an important ambassador. Strangely, though, the scrawny ambassador allows her to pursue sex with anyone of her choosing, but prefers to not have her himself.

Directed by Gerald Thomas, who has worked on many -- if not all -- of the other "Carry On" films -- and centering around the disco theme "Love Crazy".

The video on the Fortune 5 disc is blurry and faded... looks like a poor VHS transfer -- you cannot even read the credits. The sound seems okay, though.

The film is in sort of a slapstick style, with some strong sexual overtones. It is also incredibly silly -- it's somewhere between "Airplane" and softcore pornography. Very softcore, with lots of sex but no real nudity beyond buttocks.

When the staff shares their oddest love stories, it is pretty great, involving Nazis, a laundromat, a closet, skydiving and gorillas. Harry Hernia has a body, but has the stupidest voice imaginable.

This just makes me feel sad

[SPLeo · 1/10 · 25 June 2022]

I watched this to complete the Carry On series. It just made me feel sad. Carry On fans had come to view the gang with affection, so it hurt to see actors of the calibre of Joan Sims, Kenneth Connor, Kenneth Williams, Peter Butterworth and Jack Douglas appearing in this unfunny schoolboy smut. It was just depressing.

My esteem for Barbara Windsor soared when I learned that she had refused to take part. Joan Sims was right to say she was just embarrassed and wished she had not done it.

Crude, obvious and lacking in any wit, a totally rubbish entry in the series

[bob the moo · 21 June 2004]

Emmannuelle Prevert is the wife of the French Ambassador to the UK. After a separation of some time, she returns to the UK on Concorde to give it another chance. However her husband is only interested in body building and is unwilling to satisfy her very high sex drive. After much pleading, Emmannuelle goes out to see the sights of London and hopefully get some satisfaction along the way.

With the opening of the film on Concorde (spoofing Emmanuelle's own plane moment) we have the height of intelligence of this film (in the reference to that film) but a split second later we are in the territory of crude and obvious jokes starting as it continues with an erect Concorde and the predictable 'are you coming' joke. The material basically continues like this for the rest of the film, with only a very vague (and uninteresting) plot to provide a loose structure. Within this structure are hung endless sex jokes and titillating material (for the period) that started out being lame but ended up being pathetic and just plain stupid. They are totally lacking in the wit that the best of the Carry On films have, instead it is obvious and crude – there is no sparkle to the deliver, it is just plodding and lacking in anything of value.

The accents in the film are pretty awful but I think that's the point as the French people are played by English actors. Danielle is quite sexy and could almost pass as French but she can't act and her sexuality is wasted due to the tame standards required of the film (a group orgy with a football team involves her kissing each of them slightly and that's it – no nudity from her!). The rest of the cast is made up of famous Carry On stars and you can see it in their delivery that they know their glory days are gone and they are not too taken by the material, but it is to their credit that many of them still put on a brave face. Williams has no good lines to work with even if his character is amusing, Connor hams it up rather a lot but enjoys himself, Butterworth is wasted totally while Joan Sims only contribution seems to be having a crude name (Mrs Dangle). Douglas is so-so but Larry Dann is pretty rubbish which is a shame since he is supposed to be a big part of the 'plot'.

Overall, this is rubbish. I wanted to find some silly laughs in it but I found nothing of any value here. The 'jokes' are crude and obvious and there are no moments of clever writing in it at all: the Carry-On series may never have been the height of wit but this entry (oh-err missus) in the series makes some of the early films look like the pinnacle of modern humour. I love many of the Carry On movies and even I hated this one – silly, banal and a disgrace even by the less than high standards of the series.