Carry On Admiral

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Carry on Admiral
Carry On Admiral film Theatrical release poster (1957).png
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Val Guest
Screenplay byVal Guest
Based on Off the Record by Ian Hay & Stephen King-Hall
Starring David Tomlinson
Ronald Shiner
Joan Sims
Cinematography Arthur Grant
Edited byJohn Pomeroy
Music by Philip Green
Distributed by Renown Pictures Corporation
Release date
  • 14 May 1957 (1957-05-14)(Britain)
Country Great Britain
LanguageEnglish

Carry on Admiral (U.S. title: The Ship Was Loaded) is a 1957 British comedy film directed by Val Guest and featuring David Tomlinson and Ronald Shiner. [1] Joan Hickson also made an appearance in this film and a few films in the Carry On series. [2] It was based on the 1947 stage play Off the Record , written by Ian Hay. [3]

Contents

Joan Sims, who later became prominent in the Carry On series, has a small part. [4] It predates and was not part of the Carry On series, and does not share any regular cast members beyond Sims, though it is similar in tone and style to the earliest films in the series. [5]

Plot

In the course of a drunken reunion, two old friends (one a junior Government minister, the other a Royal Navy officer in uniform about to take command for the first time) switch clothes before passing out. Next morning, their changed clothes result in a series of cases of mistaken identity. The film follows the efforts of each to reunite himself with his own destiny.

Cast

Production

Val Guest said "George Minter approached me to see if we could make a film of it [the play], and we knew we couldn’t use the title Off the Record because it was a terrible title and it was all about the navy, and I came up with a series of titles of which we agreed we all liked Carry on Admiral... George Minter, unfortunately, didn’t register it, it was never registered and I don’t know why he didn’t, and it was just pilfered, willy-nilly, by the boys when they made the Carry On series." [6]

The fictional ship HMS Sherwood in the film is played by a Daring-class destroyer. Other ships shown include the battleship HMS Vanguard and the frigate HMS Paladin during the title sequence, two Dido-class cruisers in early background scenes, and a Loch-class frigate during the closing credits. Several scenes were filmed in Admiralty House, in Portsmouth Naval Base.[ citation needed ]

Reception

Box office

According to Kinematograph Weekly the film was "in the money" at the British box office in 1957. [7]

Critical

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "This traditional British farce does not look at all at home on a wide screen. Although the play from which it is adapted was first produced in 1947, it is essentially a period piece – vintage of the early thirties. It makes up in zeal what it lacks in wit and is played and directed with tremendous gusto." [8]

The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 2/5 stars, writing: "This is not one of the Carry Ons, but an unremarkable screen adaptation of an almost forgotten stage farce. Also known as The Ship Was Loaded, this comedy of errors has more in common with radio hit The Navy Lark than its saucier namesakes. David Tomlinson and Brian Reece goof gamely as the civil servant and the salior whose identities get muddled, but it's A.E. Matthews (at the ripe old age of 87) who steals the show." [9]

In British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959 David Quinlan rated the film as "mediocre", writing: "Hoary old naval farce, played with vigour but pretty antiquated." [10]

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References

  1. ↑ "Carry On Admiral". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
  2. ↑ "Joan Hickson | Movies and Filmography". AllMovie.
  3. ↑ Goble, Alan (8 September 2011). The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN   9783110951943 – via Google Books.
  4. ↑ "Carry On Admiral (1957)". BFI. Archived from the original on 9 April 2018.
  5. ↑ "Carry On Admiral (1957) - Val Guest | Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related". AllMovie.
  6. ↑ Fowler, Roy (1988). "Interview with Val Guest". British Entertainment History Project.
  7. ↑ Billings, Josh (12 December 1957). "Others in the money". Kinematograph Weekly. p. 7.
  8. ↑ "Carry On Admiral". The Monthly Film Bulletin . 24 (276): 58. 1 January 1957 – via ProQuest.
  9. ↑ Radio Times Guide to Films (18th ed.). London: Immediate Media Company. 2017. p. 157. ISBN   9780992936440.
  10. ↑ Quinlan, David (1984). British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd. p. 290. ISBN   0-7134-1874-5.


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