| Carry on Nurse (1959) | |
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Rating: 6.2/10 (3,194 votes) Director: Gerald Thomas Writer: Patrick Cargill, Jack Beale, Norman Hudis Stars: Kenneth Williams, Hattie Jacques, Kenneth Connor Runtime: 86 min Rated: Not Rated Genre: Comedy, Romance Released: 16 Sep 1960 |
| Plot: An idiosyncratic group of patients wreak havoc in the men's surgical ward of Haven Hospital. They decide to take their revenge on the frosty Matron, and there is even a spot of DIY surgery! | |
After the success of Sergeant, the plan formed to create a run of similar themed comedies, utilising the Carry On tag. Carry On Nurse looked at another national institution, this time a hospital, and once again stuck a bunch of misfits in the mix to face a variety of problems they must overcome. A few of the faces from Sergeant return – Terence Longdon, Shirley Eaton, Kenneth Connor, Charles Hawtrey, Hattie Jacques, and Kenneth Williams – and are joined by a couple of faces who would also become series regulars, such as Joan Sims and Leslie Phillips. The films would go on to be the top grossing film in the UK for 1959, and holds the title as the series’ highest box office admissions.
This time around, the setting is Have Hospital, and the focus is on the nursing staff and the troublesome patients they have to deal with. Longdon plays a journalist named Ted who is admitted to hospital with appendicitis, and immediately is smitten with Nurse Denton (Shirley Eaton). Hattie Jacques is the Matron of the ward, conducting regular inspections and seemingly always being let down, generally by the misadventures of clumsy new Nurse Dawson (Joan Sims). The nursing staff also have to contend with the demanding Colonel who has his own private room, and the variety of patients all with their own tics and demands, and it seems they will never be able to please Matron on her rounds.
Amongst the patients is Kenneth Williams, once again playing a bookish, educated intellectual, and once again stealing every moment he can, firmly rooting himself as a popular favourite character actor for the series. The other core Carry On cast are already familiar, and playing to their strengths demonstrated in Sergeant. Newcomer Joan Sims lends awkward charm to the proceedings, and Leslie Phillips oozes into the mix with a relaxed manner with which he would strike gold in latter films. Around the core gang, a strong and varied mix of British thesps pad out the proceedings and ensure this film is more confident with the fun than Sergeant was.
This is the film that really cements the approach the series would adopt, including some of the saucy comedy (still quite subdued – it was 1959 – but definitely starting to make its presence known), and it is no surprise that the setting of a hospital would be one the series would return to over the years with Doctor, Again Doctor, and Matron.
