"Actor: Charles Butterworth"

• Carry On Follow That Camel | DVD | (27/08/2001) from £5.60   |  Saving you £4.39 (78.39%)   |  RRP £9.99

  In Carry On Follow That Camel, Sergeant Bilko himself, Phil Silvers, lends lustre and trademark spectacles to this 1967 desert spectacle following the adventures of a group of foreign legionnaires who find themselves besieged by a bloodthirsty band of Bedouins. Silvers plays Sergeant Nocker, a rogue cast firmly in the Bilko mould, who takes a dislike to new recruit Jim Dale, a young upper class gent forced to join the legion following disgrace at a cricket match. He's accompanied, naturally, by his faithful manservant (Peter Butterworth), with the pair showing a fine disregard for the austere requirements of the Foreign Legion. However, once they reach an agreement with Sergeant Nocker, they can join forces to repel the Bedouins, led, not unpredictably, by Bernard Bresslaw. This is vintage Carry On, in spite of Sid James' absence. Kenneth Williams' performance is subdued by having to deliver the usual puns ("zere are a couple of points I still need to go over", he informs busty Joan Sims) in a mangled French accent but Silvers gets into the right mode of delivering broad comedy with subtle inflections. Peter Butterworth draws the short straw this time and must feature in the obligatory cross-dressing scene, while Charles Hawtrey is a splendidly unconvincing hardened legionnaire. As for Bresslaw, can any other British actor, with the exception of Sir Alec Guinness, have distinguished himself in such a variety of multi-ethnic roles? On the DVD: Sadly, there are no extra features except scene selection. The picture ratio is 4:3. --David Stubbs

• Carry On Doctor | DVD | (04/05/2001) from £6.22   |  Saving you £3.77 (60.61%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Bedpan humour rules in Carry On Doctor, the vintage 1968 offering from the familiar gang, assisted by guest star Frankie Howerd as bogus faith healer Francis Bigger. Hospitals, of course, always provided the Carry On producers with plenty of material. Today, these comedies induce a twinge of serious nostalgia for the great days of the National Health Service when Matron (Hattie Jacques, naturally) ran the hospital as if it was a house of correction, medical professionals were idolised as if they were all Doctor Kildare and Accident and Emergency Departments were deserted oases of calm. But even if you aren't interested in a history lesson, Talbot Rothwell's script contains some immortal dialogue, particularly when Matron loosens her stays. "You may not realise it but I was once a weak man", says Kenneth Williams' terrified Doctor Tinkle to Hattie Jacques. "Once a week's enough for any man", she purrs back, undaunted. Other highlights include Joan Sims, excellent as Frankie Howerd's deaf, bespectacled sidekick, Charles Hawtrey suffering from a phantom pregnancy, 1960s singer Anita Harris in a rare film role, and Barbara Windsor at her most irrepressible as nurse Sandra May. This is one of the best. On the DVD: Presented in 1.77:1 format for a pseudo-widescreen effect, the picture quality is good and sharp, accompanied by a standard mono soundtrack. The same no-frills approach is taken with the packaging; a functional scene index and no extras. Yet again, a missed opportunity to use the DVD release to provide some context. At their best, the Carry On films are rightly seen as classic comedies of their type. They really deserve to be better celebrated. --Piers Ford

• Carry On Again Doctor | DVD | (27/08/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The title of Carry On Again Doctor (1969) says it all; almost the same cast playing similar characters to their previous year's outing in Carry On Doctor. This one rejoices in the alternative title "Bowels are Ringing". But the enduring popularity of these films owes almost everything to their basic formula and if this one occasionally seems a bit cobbled together, all the old favourites are still there, working away. This time, the setting moves from the National Health Service to the private sector and even stretches as far as the "Beatific Islands" when Jim Dale is exiled to a missionary clinic for his overzealous attention to the female patients, who include Barbara Windsor of course. There, orderly Sid James rules the roost of the clinic with his harem of local women. Trivia addicts can spot Mrs Michael Caine in a brief role as a token dusky maiden. The second half of the Talbot Rothwell script picks up nicely as the characters converge on the private hospital back in England where Dale rakes in the money with a bogus weight loss treatment. Hattie Jacques is in fine form as Matron, Kenneth Williams fascinates with his usual mass of mannerisms and Joan Sims is stately as the Lady Bountiful figure financing most of the shenanigans. It's a tribute to their professionalism that we can still lose ourselves in some of the creakiest old jokes around. On the DVD: Bog standard 4:3 picture format and mono soundtrack provide an adequate viewing experience, especially as today most people will be more familiar with these films from television transmissions than from their cinema release. However, the lack of extras is a shame. Apart from the scene index, there is nothing to distinguish the DVD from its video equivalent. At the very least, a cast list or star biographies would add a little value. --Piers Ford

• Royal Wedding / Second Chorus | DVD | (08/05/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £4.99

  Royal Wedding (Dir. Stanley Donen 1951): Brother and sister dance act Tom and Ellen Bowen finish an engagement in New York and journey to London at around the same time as a Royal wedding. On board the cruise ship Ellen meets and falls in love with Lord John Brindale with the result she pays less attention to her dancing. Upon arrival in London Tom auditions for a new partner and meets Anne Ashmond but romance starts to threaten the act... Second Chorus (Dir. H.C. Potte

• 3 Classic Musicals Of The Silver Screen - Vol. 1 - Second Chorus / The Duke Is Tops / Private Buckaroo | DVD | (07/03/2005) from £4.03   |  Saving you £0.96 (19.20%)   |  RRP £4.99

  Second Chorus: Trumpet players Danny (Fred Astaire) and Hank (Burgess Meredith) have been avoiding graduation for seven years so that they can continue playing with their college band. They hire pretty Ellen Miller (Paulette Goddard) as the band's agent and as she quickly increases their earning power the boys find themselves with flourishing musical careers. Ellen is one day hired as Artie Shaw's band manager and makes plans for Danny and Hank to audition for Shaw. Both ho

• Carry On - The Ultimate Carry On | DVD | (08/10/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £109.99

  Twelve classic titles in one box set

• Carry On Don't Lose Your Head | DVD | (27/08/2001) from £6.66   |  Saving you £3.33 (50.00%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Carry On Don't Lose Your Head parodies the adventures of the Scarlet Pimpernel, with crinkly, cackling Sid James as master of disguise the Black Fingernail and Jim Dale as his assistant Lord Darcy. He must rescue preposterously effete aristo Charles Hawtrey from the clutches of Kenneth Williams' fiendish Citizen Camembert and his sidekick Citizen Bidet (Peter Butterworth). The Black Fingernail is assisted in his efforts to thwart the birth of the burgeoning republic by the almost supernatural stupidity of his opponents, who fail to recognise the frankly undisguisable Sid James even when dressed as a flirty young woman. What with an executioner who is tricked into beheading himself in order to prove the efficacy of his own guillotine, it's all a little too easy. As usual, no groan-worthy pun is left unturned, nor unheralded by the soundtrack strains of a long whistle or wah-wah trumpet. This is pretty silly stuff even by Carry On standards, with most of the cast barely required to come out of first gear and an overlong climactic swordfight sequence hardly raising the dramatic stakes. Most of the humour here resides neither in the script nor the characterisation but in the endlessly watchable Williams' whooping, nasal delivery (occasionally lapsing into broad Cockney) and the jowl movements of the always-underrated Butterworth. On the DVD: There are no extra features except scene selection. The picture is 4:3 full screen ratio.--David Stubbs

• Carry On Camping | DVD | (01/10/1999) from £9.32   |  Saving you £10.67 (114.48%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Prepare for an onslaught of robust breezy humour when the Carry On team take to the great Outdoors.

• Second Chorus | DVD | (18/12/2006) from £4.50   |  Saving you £3.49 (77.56%)   |  RRP £7.99

  Trumpet players Danny (Fred Astaire) and Hank (Burgess Meredith) have been avoiding graduation for seven years so that they can continue playing with their college band. They hire pretty Ellen Miller (Paulette Goddard) as the band's agent and as she quickly increases their earning power the boys find themselves with flourishing musical careers. Ellen is one day hired as Artie Shaw's band manager and makes plans for Danny and Hank to audition for Shaw. Both however are keen rivals for Ellen's hand and the tension between them sees them attempting to foil eachother's chances as they audition for Shaw.

• Carry On Camping | UMD | (30/01/2006) from £20.23   |  Saving you £-10.24 (-102.50%)   |  RRP £9.99

• Second Chorus | DVD | (17/11/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £11.99

  Trumpet players Danny (Fred Astaire) and Hank (Burgess Meredith) have been avoiding graduation for seven years so that they can continue playing with their college band. They hire pretty Ellen Miller (Paulette Goddard) as the band's agent and as she quickly increases their earning power the boys find themselves with flourishing musical careers. Ellen is one day hired as Artie Shaw's band manager and makes plans for Danny and Hank to audition for Shaw. Both however are keen rivals for Ellen's hand and the tension between them sees them attempting to foil eachother's chances as they audition for Shaw.

• Second Chorus | DVD | (30/10/2006) from £10.78   |  Saving you £-2.79 (-34.90%)   |  RRP £7.99

  Trumpet playing college students Fred Astaire and Burgess Meredith vie for a place in Artie Shaw's band and for the heart of their lovely manager in this breezy oscar winning musical that features such notable hits as: Would you like to be the love of my life Poor Mr Chisolm I'm Yours