Carry On at Your Convenience

Carry on At Your Convenience
Carry On at Your Convenience (DVD)
Directed by	Gerald Thomas
Produced by	Peter Rogers
Written by	Talbot Rothwell
Starring	Sid James Kenneth Williams Joan Sims Charles Hawtrey Hattie Jacques Kenneth Cope Bernard Bresslaw Richard O'Callaghan Jacki Piper Patsy Rowlands Renee Houston Bill Maynard
Music by	Eric Rogers
Distributed by	Rank
Release date(s)	December 1971
Running time	90 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	Probably About £100,000 - £200,000
Preceded by	Carry On Henry
Followed by	Carry On Matron

Carry On at Your Convenience, released in 1971, is the 22nd film of the Carry On series and was the first box office failure of the series. The failure has been attributed to the film's attempt at exploring the political themes of the trade union movement, crucially portraying the union activists as buffoons. This apparently alienated the traditional working-class audience of the series. The film, known as Carry On Round the Bend outside the United Kingdom, did not return full production costs until 1976 after several international and television sales.^[1]

Origin of the title

The film revolves around a company where toilet equipment is manufactured. At the time of filming, public toilets in England were called "Public Conveniences" on signposts. The phrase "Carry on at your convenience" is one typically used by the examiner during a test for qualifying for a driving licence, instructing the candidate to resume driving after a part of the test involving stopping the car.

Plot Summary

In lavatory factory W.C. Boggs & Son, Est.1870, the owner W.C. Boggs (Kenneth Williams), grandson of the founder and a staunch traditionalist, is having no end of trouble. Bolshie union representative Vic Spanner (Kenneth Cope) continually stirs up trouble in the works, to the irritation of his co-workers, calling a strike for almost any minor incident – or because he wants time off to attend a local football match. Sid Plummer (Sid James) is the factory foreman bridging the gap between workers and management, shrewdly keeping the place going amid all the unrest.

Prissy lavatory designer Charles Coote (Charles Hawtrey) has included a bidet in his latest range of designs, but W.C. objects to the manufacture of such "distasteful" items. W.C. won't change his stance even after his son, Lewis (Lew) Boggs (Richard O'Callaghan), secures a large order from abroad for the bidets. It is a deal that could save the struggling firm, which W.C. has to admit is in debt to the banks.

Vic's dim stooge Bernie Hulke (Bernard Bresslaw) provides bumbling assistance in both his union machinations and his attempts to woo Sid's daughter, factory canteen worker Myrtle (Jacki Piper). She is torn, though, between Vic and Lew Boggs, who is something of a playboy but insists he loves her.

Unusually for Sid James, his character is a faithful husband, albeit a cheeky and sorely tempted one. Sid's wife is Beattie (Hattie Jacques), a lazy housewife who does little but fuss over her pet budgie, Joey, which refuses to talk despite her concerted efforts. Factory worker Chloe Moore (Joan Sims) contends with the endless strikes and with her crude, disinterested travelling salesman husband, Fred (Bill Maynard), who neglects her and leaves her dissatisfied. She and Sid, who also live next door to one another, enjoy a flirtatious relationship and are sorely tempted to stray.

Sid and Beattie find that Joey can correctly predict winners of horseraces – Joey tweets when Sid reads the name of horse Peewit the Third from his newspaper, and it transpires he is miraculously 100 per cent accurate on all races. Sid places bets on the horses Joey reacts to; they win and Sid makes several large wins – including a vital £1,000 to lend to W.C. when the banks refuse a bridging loan – before being barred by his bookie.

Then the strikers return to work - however it is only to attend the annual works outing - a coach trip to Brighton. A good time is had by all on the day out, with barriers coming down between workers and management, thanks largely to that great social lubricant, alcohol. W.C. becomes intoxicated and spends the day – and it seems the night – with his faithful, adoring secretary, Miss Hortense Withering (Patsy Rowlands). Lew Boggs manages to win Myrtle from Vic Spanner, giving his rival a beating, and the couple elope. After arriving home late after the outing and with Fred away, Chloe invites Sid in for a cup of tea. They fight their desires and ultimately decide not to have the tea fearing that neighbours might see Sid enter Chloe's home and get the wrong idea.

At the picket lines the next day, Vic gets his comeuppance – partly at the hands of his mother (literally, as she spanks him in public) – and the workers and management all pull together to produce the big order to save the firm.

Behind the scenes

After Sid James' character was criticized for leering at young girls in Carry On Camping (1969), here his character was changed to the put upon family man similar to the character he portrayed in the TV sitcom Bless This House ^[1]. In the next film Carry On Matron (1972) his character was preoccupied with thieving, but made odd suggestive comments to nurses (including one played by Jacki Piper, who played his daughter in this film). Sid's girl-chasing persona was fully reinstated for subsequent films.

Notes

External links

• Carry On at Your Convenience at the Internet Movie Database
• Carry On At Your Convenience at The Whippit Inn

See also

• Prague Philharmonic, Gavin Sutherland conducting. The carry on album: music from the films : London, England : ASV, p1999. LCCN 00300982