Carry On Cleo Film Review

The Carry On films are known for being made quickly and cheaply with that sometimes working against the film. This is something that's not true for the film that i'm going to be talking to you all about today as the film had alot of it's sets and costumes made for for the purposes of them being used in another film and heck we even get some returning faces who had been missing from the Carry On films for a few years at this point in time and so then join me as I review the film is regarded as being one of the best Carry On films ever made with the film in question being called simply just "Carry On Cleo" enjoy.

The plot of this film Julius Caesar sends his best friend and guard Mark Anthony to try and convince Cleopatra to give up her throne in Egypt. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad with this films plot being simple but not in a way that works against the film as you do expect Carry On films to have these simple plots to them with this being where the films plot does work it's best as it allows for the typical chaos an gentle anarchy that you expect to see in a Carry On film to shine through as the film won't have to stop telling jokes in order to tell it's plot as now the plot and the jokes can work hand in hand and while yes there other films in this franchise that have better plots like for example Carry On Cabby and Carry On Camping this films plot is more fun due to the fact that it doesn't allow itself to take itself to seriously and is mainly there as an excuse for the film to have these out there jokes that would feel out of place in one of the more serious Carry On films and yet in saying this tho this is the kind of film that might have been better if it did have a much more stronger plot to it due to the fact that the film does barely focus on it's main plot which is something that does make it harder to tell just what the main plot of the film is meant and yet it's when the film does focus on it's plot that the films gets to be alot more entertaining and while the films plot isn't left feeling like an afterthought you can tell that the makers of this films wrote this film quickly again due to the fact that not alot of attention and focus is given to the films plot with the plot of this film also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. 

Starring in this film is Sid James as Mark Antony , Kenneth Williams as Julius Caesar and Charles Hawtrey as Seneca. Also starring in this film is Kenneth Connor as Hengist Pod , Joan Sims as Calpurnia , Jim Dale as Horsa , Amanda Barrie as Cleopatra , Victor Maddern as Sergeant Major , Julie Stevens as Gloria , Sheila Hancock as Senna Pod , Jon Pertwee as Soothsayer , Brian Oulton as Brutus , Michael Ward as Archimedes , Francis De Wolff as Agrippa , Tom Clegg as Sosages , Tanya Binning as Virginia , David Davenport as Bilius , Peter Gilmore as The Galley Master , Ian Wilson as A Messenger , Norman Mitchell as A Heckler , Brian Rawlinson as A Hessian Driver , Gertan Klauber as Marcus , Warren Mitchell as Spencius , Michael Nightingale as A Caveman , Peter Jesson as A Companion and E. V. H. Emmett as The Narrator.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad. With all of this films actors turning in some really good performance in this film as all of the actors that you expect a good performance give us exactly that and yet this is something that's also an issue with the films acting as well as they give you the exact performances that there known for giving and nothing more then that when it is something that would have helped the film if they were able to give us a performance that we didn't know that we wanted with the best actor in this film being Kenneth Williams as Julius Caesar as he is just so wonderfully manic in this film with his performance being one that could be considered hos best performance in the whole Carry On series as you can tell right away that he's having fun playing this part with him milking every single scene that he's in and while he doesn't out act Sid James he does use his face to get alot more laughs out of the film with him even really nailing this version of the character with this being something that does shine through in the final performance with the acting that's in this film really being helped by the fact that this films script is just so good that all this films actors gave to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come with of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very film.

Whilst the Carry On films have never really had memorable characters in them the same thing can kind of be true for this film as well. As while this films characters aren't the best written something which could also be true for all of the Carry On films as well yet what this films characters has going for them that the others don't have is the fact that these characters do have alot of really memorable lines of dialog with that being what helps to make them memorable and while that might not seem like much it is something that does add up as one of the things that the Carry On films aren't really known for is for giving us good characters as alot of them just have the same actors playing the same types of characters and while yes that is also something that could be true for this film as Julius Caesar as very much the typical Kenneth Williams character with him being really over the top and always about one bad day away from having a complete and total mental breakdown this is something that does work well in the characters favor as he does believe that everyone is out to kill him something which we later find out to be true with the film even making it into a sort of running gag with all of the characters kind of being like that as well as they all have moments where they come across as being the kind of character that that actor would usually play in these films and yet they then would have moments that make it feel like that the actors are playing against the type of character that you expect them to play with the only major difference being the the Kenneth Connor character Hengist Pod who is very firmly much the type of character that he would normally play and whist this is something that could be viewed as a bad thing the character is just so funny that it does work well enough in this films favour.

For those of you that might not know alot of the sets and the costumes for this film weren't actually made for this film rather they were made for the Elizabeth Taylor film Cleopatra. Yet when that film abandoned filming in the UK and moved to a different location they left the sets and the costumes so that they could built new sets and new costumes in there new location which meant that anybody could use them for there film or TV show something which did end up happening as they got used as main sets for this film with this being why the sets in this film look alot more expensive and for lack of a better word better then what they usually do as the makers of this film didn't really have to spend any money on the sets and the costumes and heck they might have even used some of Elizabeth Taylor's costumes for the film given as they would have most likely have been left behind as well with this being an example you never want to leave anything behind because of the fact that it could turn up in unexpected places with the two films shared history not even finishing there as there was an original poster made for this film that got pulled out of circulation because of the fact that it shared a similar look to Cleopatra and the producers of the film were ordered to have it removed or else they would get sued with these two films sharing a history together it is interesting to thing that a big budget Hollywood film without knowing it helped to inspire a film that many consider to be the best film in the Carry On franchise whilst the film that inspired it is also one to be one of the best films in American film history.

While this film did see Joan Simms return to the franchise this film was also the final Carry On film to star Amanda Barrie and was the final film for six years to star Kenneth Connor. With Joan Simms now being in every single Carry On film right up until Carry On Emmannuelle with the same thing also being true Kenneth Connor as well with there scenes in the film proving that while the Carry On films don't need them to be funny they are still a vital part of what makes these films work so well in the first place as they both bring a certain energy to the films and to there characters something which does help them both in the case of Simms balance out the gentle anarchic nature of the films and in the case of Connor add to it as both actors do have moments both in this film and in other Carry On films where they can be chaotic and yet they can also be the voice of reason alot of the time as well with neither one of those traits tacking away from there respective films as they both feel right at home in those films and it's the same thing here with the only let down in this regard being Amanda Barrie who it does feel like is trying to hard to be as chaotic and as anarchic as the other Carry On actors with this not really being helped by the fact that alot of her scenes are with Sid James who is always wonderful force of nature in these films and while Amanda does work in the Carry On films as she played her part well in Carry On Cabby she's never meant to be the lead of a Carry On film rather she works the best as being more of a side character or someone who's in the side plot of the film as then she can bring her own kind energy to the film and not have it disrupt the typical chaos tat you expect to see in one of these films. 

This film might just be one of the more adult early Carry On films as while there is no nudity in this film. There is some blood which was something that you never expect to see in one of these films as you go into these films expecting to see the same kind of cheeky humor that you'd find on British postcards and that's really it and while that is there in spades in this film there's alot more violence in this film and heck the film even ends on a down note as Julius Ceaser ends up getting killed when he returns to Rome rom Egypt with this being something that you'd never see in the other Carry On films as they all usually end the exact same way with all of the characters having a laugh before the film fades to black and the end credits start to role and yet it's the fact that the film did go the more mature route that helps this film to stand out all the more as unlike alot of the other films in this franchise the main characters in this film were real people with the film somewhat telling there story and therefor the makers of this film did owe to those people to be as true to how that story ended as they possibly could be have be as while they don't have Cleopatra herself die or even have Mark Anthony die it's the fact that they have a character that for alot of the film was led to believe that everyone is trying to kill him be killed off in for a PG film is still quite a gruesome kill that helps to make the film stand out as it would have been very easy for them to have this film end in the typical Carry On fashion and yet they don't do that which is something that does make this film feel both childlike and yet oddly more adult as well and while yes the film would have worked just as well if the film did end in that typical Carry On way it also would have caused the film to loose it's more adult edge in the process.

Now then this film has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly one hour and twenty eight minuets. With this being pretty much the bogstandard running time for all of the Carry On films as they all bare a strikingly similar running time to them with this film just about having the right amount of plot there to cover that amount of running time in the first place and yet this film really doesn't use it's running time all that wisely as the film doesn't take the time to fully develop it's plot with this being due to the fact that the film doesn't really focus on it's plot with the film giving more time and attention to the plot line with a bunch of slaves that the Romans have captured and are taking to Egypt when all they went to do is break free and return to England and while yes that plot line doesn't eat up as much screen time as the main plot it also doesn't impact the main plot at all which makes those scenes feel pointless as they do take away screen time that would have been better used in giving the films plot alot more development and focus with the film also not really taking the time to fully develop it's characters either which is something that you could argue is part of the Carry On style as the rest of the Carry On films also don't really develop there characters either what makes it sting all the more in this film is the fact that the film is giving us heightened versions of real life people and therefor it would have been really easy even back in 1964 to look just what these people were like in real life and apply parts of there real world personality to there more heightened counterparts with that being something that would make those characters feel all the more developed but I really will admit admit that this film really does have some really good pacing to it tho.  

So now then as this is a comedy that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. With alot of this films jokes being laugh out loud funny and while yes there will be of course some jokes that people outside of the UK won't get which is fair enough as these films were always made with a UK audience in mind even those jokes are still painfully funny with the film making a really good joke about characters named Marcus and Spencius with that being the joke that even tho it's obvious to a fault it's still really funny with the best joke in the whole entire film oddly enough not being the infamy line that Kenneth Williams says altho that is a really funny joke in it's own right rather it's the running joke that Julius Ceaser thinks that this small British man named Hengist Pod is somehow beating all of his best soldiers even tho that's being done by other people with Hengist Pod just taking the credit for it which is a really funny joke and to the films credit they take it as far as they could do by having Ceaser employ him to be his personal guard and having Ceaser force him to take on a guy that's three times his size in the third act with the thing that makes that joke being all of the funny faces that Kenneth Connor gets to make as the character and while the film does have The Narrator make alot of jokes as well those are very hit and miss with the films other jokes hitting all the more harder so much so that it's easy to see why people say that this is the best Carry On film as all of the jokes in this film are just that funny in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. 

Overall it's so easy to see why alot of people love this film as it really is a painfully funny that gets the Carry On formular down perfectly and whilst there might be over films in this series that people's personal favorites no one can deny the fact that when this film is really good it's great and that's exactly what it alot of the time in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad rings that are in this very film in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very film really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 7 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well the boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from Amazon . Co . Uk , Wikipedia , IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get images really from this very film being the really great Google Images this is really because of the fact that really all of the images that I really indeed got and really used from Google Images are all really high quality really with all of the images that really are all and of course really currently up and on the really great and the really solid Google Images really are all being really fairly high in quality and as well as them all really being fairly high in definition.