Monday, December 21, 2020

DVD/150: CARRY ON CLEO (Gerald Thomas, 1964)

The tenth CARRY ON film jumped on CLEOPATRA's bandwagon, nabbing scenery and costumes left behind when the Taylor epic moved filming from the UK to Italy.

In hindsight, I always think it a favourite but whenever I watch it, I get increasingly inattentive as the famous moments of the film are mostly in the first half and the second half quickly dwindles away.

As usual with the CARRY ONs, the parts are more than the whole *Swanee whistle effect* with marvellous turns by Kenneth Williams as Julius Caesar and Sid James, for once giving an actual performance as Mark Antony.

The always dependable Joan Sims and Jim Dale are under-used, their comedy wattage is woefully missed in the second act.

It has a perfect Cleopatra in Amanda Barrie - her sly delivery and attitude really stand out - but again, she is wasted by not appearing until well into the film.  

Shelf or charity shop?  I think it might be time to give up it's space in my collection...

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