"The pill? What do you think they used that for?"
"I can't conceive."
We have to wince a little at the portrayal of the Algerian characters and the use of brownface in particular, good though Bernard Bresslaw is as antagonist Abdul Abulbul, and all the dodgy Arab stereotypes are out in force. One of the funniest jokes is about suicide. As for the jokes about what happens to Jane when alone with various men, well...
It was 1967, a very different time. But crikey.
Yet this Carry On treatment of Beau Geste and the French Foreign Legion works well. Sid James is absent, but the one-off appearance of the very American and very funny Phil Silvers in this very British comedy franchise works triumphantly. Silvers is magnificent here, as are Jim Dale and especially Angela Douglas. Kenneth Williams is also worthy of particular praise; he's very good and very funny without necessarily being camp here. He has far more range as a comic actor than even his admirers tend to acknowledge.
Yet what elevates this film to top tier status is the script. Yes, Talbot Rothwell gives us a very Carry On text, as he should, but this one is unusually witty as well as being ribald.
Here's hoping for a couple more of this quality before things apparently start to go downhill...
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