"Actor: Kenneth Connor"

• Carry On Sergeant | DVD | (27/08/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  The first of the Carry On movies, 1958's Sergeant is rather different from its successors, much more a film of its time (the latter days of National Service) and rather less a bawdy picture postcard. Sergeant Grimshaw (William Hartnell long before Doctor Who) is about to retire and hopes that he can get his last platoon into shape as Champion Platoon of its intake. Unfortunately, the new recruits include the clumsy Golightly (Charles Hawtrey), the barrack-room lawyer Bailey (Kenneth Williams) and the hypochondriac Horace Strong (Kenneth Connor). Love interest is provided by Bob Monkhouse and Shirley Eaton--newlyweds separated by the call-up and reunited by her taking a job in the canteen--and by the pursuit of Horace by Dora Bryan's Nora. The film relies heavily on a mixture of slapstick and paradoxical revelations of character complexity--the obnoxious Bailey nonetheless takes the trouble to coach the incorrigibly dense Herbert (Norman Rossington); the series' later obsession with low comedy only really emerges in the scenes between Horace and the medic Captain Clark (Hattie Jacques). The platoon's eventual coming together as other than total incompetents is predictable, but likable.On the DVD: The DVD has no frills whatever except for a widescreen picture and chapter selections; it has been cleaned up however so that we get a remarkably crisp mono picture and mono sound, which brings out the quality of the military-band score by Bruce Montgomery, who was also the writer Edmund Crispin. --Roz Kaveney

• Carry On Cabby | DVD | (29/01/2007) from £7.44   |  Saving you £8.55 (114.92%)   |  RRP £15.99

  The seventh entry in the Carry On series and the first not to feature Kenneth Williams. Charlie (Sid James) owner of the Speedee Cabs company finds he has some serious competition when his wife Peggy (Hattie Jacques) sets up a rival firm consisting only of glamorous female drivers. Cabbies driven to distraction include Charles Hawtrey Kenneth Connor and Jim Dale (in his first Carry On appearance).

• Ragtime | Blu Ray | (16/11/2021) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Carry on | DVD | (20/11/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £199.99

  This box set features a veritable campsite of bawdy comedic treats from the Carry On crew! Includes: 1. Carry On Abroad (1972) 2. Carry On Again Doctor (1972) 3. Carry On Doctor (1967) 4. Carry On Don't Lose Your Head (1966) 5. Carry On England (1976) 6. Carry On Follow That Camel (1967) 7. Carry On Matron (1972) 8. Carry On at Your Convenience (1971) 9. Carry On Behind (1975) 10. Carry On Camping (1969) 11. Carry On Dick (1974) 12. Carry On Emmanuelle (1978) 13. Carry On Girls (1973) 14. Carry On Henry (1971) 15. Carry On Holiday 16. Carry On Loving (1970) 17. Carry On Up The Jungle (1970) 18. Carry On up the Khyber (1968) 19. Carry On Sergeant (1958) 20. Carry On Nurse (1959) 21. Carry On Teacher (1959) 22. Carry On Constable (1960) 23. Carry On Regardless (1961) 24. Carry On Cruising (1962) 25. Carry On Cabby (1963) 26. Carry On Jack (1963) 27. Carry On Spying (1964) 28. Carry On Cleo (1964) 29. Carry On Cowboy (1965) 30. Carry On Screaming! (1966)

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

  By way of an experiment, a mixed-sex anti-aircraft battery is set up during World War II. The result is Carry On England, and the sex is indeed pretty mixed, although the drafting in of Patrick Mower and Judy Geeson rather demonstrates the need for at least some of the cast to be attractive in order to make this premise feasible. For the most part, of course, it's tits-out sex-comedy slapstick all the way, but there's a nicely ambivalent performance from Kenneth Connor, who portrays the wartime British officer class as being pretty much bonkers, a telling interpretation which Stephen Fry was to perfect years later in Blackadder Goes Forth. The location is of course typically Carry On cheap-and-cheerful, but its inevitable drabness, together with the indistinguishable khaki uniforms, tends to put a bit of a damper on the adult-panto atmosphere which the best Carry Ons deliver. The cast commendably manage to transcend this, though, so there's still plenty of fun to be had. On the DVD: The feature is presented in 1.77:1 aspect ratio, but the disc has no added features. --Roger Thomas

• Carry on | DVD | (01/09/2008) from £17.53   |  Saving you £-4.54 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  This Carry On collection includes the following films: Carry On Girls: You might think that a beauty contest would be the perfect place for the Carry On team to discover new heights of hilarity and new depths of depravity - well you'd be right! Sidney Fiddler brings a beauty contest to a quiet seaside resort. His problems start with two curvaceous Hells Angels Miss Easy Rider and Miss Dawn Brakes. There's Major Bumble Bernard Bresslaw as Britain's first drag beauty queen and last but not least Mrs Angel Prodworthy who is fighting on behalf of Women's Lib. Carry On Dick: Notorious outlaw Dick Turpin (More commonly referred to as Big Dick) is running rings around King George's Bow Street runners. Can the half-witted Captain Desmond Fancey Sir Roger Daley and Sergeant Jock Strapp succeed in bringing the wily rogue to justice? Sid James and the rest of the 'Carry On' gang are having a ball and everyone is invited merry England was never merrier. Carry On England: Make love not war! The Carry On team are part of an experimental mixed anti-aircraft battery during World War II. The Luftwaffe never had it so easy! Recruits ready (Jack Douglas) Willing (Judy Geeson) and Able (Patrick Mower) join forces to strike terror into the heart of the enemy and run rings round their pompous captain S. Melly (Kenneth Connor). Discover where Churchill's famous Victory sign originated from in this classic khaki caper: patriotism has never been funnier! Carry On Behind: Archaelogists Professors Anna Vooshka (Elke Sommer) and Roland Crump (Kenneth Williams) are desparate to begin poking round the remains of a Roman encampment. Unfortunately the local caravan site has been built over the historic site. Holiday pals Ernie Bragg (Jack Douglas) and Fred Ramsden (Windsor Davies) have their sites set on the local beauty spots - campers Sandra (Carol Hawkins) and Carol (Sherrie Hewson)! All the usual Carry On crew are at hand to fuel the 'in-tents' humour!

• Gerry Anderson's Four Feather Falls - The Complete Series | DVD | (09/05/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Unseen for forty years! This charming puppet series was Gerry Anderson's first Supermarionation series - a process which uses electronic lip-synch and eye movement a technique he was later to perfect on shows like 'Supercar' and 'Thunderbirds'. When Sheriff Tex Tucker saves a young Indian boy his father - a great Indian chief - gives him the gift of four magic feathers. Two of them allow the Sheriff's companions (Dusty the dog and Rocky the horse) to talk three allowed his

• 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 Henry | DVD | (27/08/2001) from £13.97   |  Saving you £-3.98 (-39.80%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Shot in the bright postal colours of a seaside postcard, Carry on Henry applies the usual Carry On sniggering to the married life of Henry VIII. Talbot Rothwell's script is standard bedroom farce and full of jokes about choppers, while the threat of beheading and the actuality of torture are constantly present but only as the terrible things that happen to cartoon characters who will be back next time. Sid James turns in one of his better performances as the endlessly lecherous and fickle Henry, married to Joan Sims and lusting after Barbara Windsor. There is a genuine sexual chemistry between James and Windsor which at times almost breaks open the farce formula. The usual regulars--Kenneth Williams as Thomas Cromwell, Terry Scott as Cardinal Wolsey, Charles Hawtrey as Sir Roger--do their usual turns; Williams is more subdued than usual, while Hawtrey hugely enjoys playing the Queen's secret lover. This was not one of the high points of the series, but it has its own curious charm. On the DVD: The DVD has no extras whatever, but is a good clean print in 1.77:1 ratio with crisp mono sound. --Roz Kaveney

• Carry On Emmannuelle | DVD | (18/03/2002) from £9.66   |  Saving you £0.33 (3.42%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Made in 1978, Carry On Emmannuelle was really the last gasp of the most fondly regarded series of British comedy films. In most respects, it hardly does justice to the many truly funny and brilliantly played previous scripts. But it does feature a curiously vulnerable, even touching, performance from Kenneth Williams as a French diplomat with a wife of insatiable physical appetites. In theory, of course, it aims to be a pastiche of the hugely popular Emmanuelle, which had marked the transition of soft-core erotic cinema into the art house. But it's too crudely scripted and lacking in the belly laugh inducing innuendo of the best Carry On films to succeed on that level. "Are you hungry, Loins?" Emmannuelle asks the chauffeur. "I think I could manage a little nibble," he replies. You get the idea. In the title role, Suzanne Danielle, who would go on to be the best of the Princess Diana impersonators, isn't a good enough comic actress to raise such lines above the ordinary. And the few stalwarts who returned for this outing--Joan Sims, Kenneth Connor and Peter Butterworth--just about emerge with their dignity intact. This was a Carry On too far. But fans will want it for their collection because it shows Kenneth Williams at his most professionally committed--his diaries reveal his real thoughts on the matter--and to remind themselves of the high quality of so much of the work which had gone before.On the DVD: presented in 4:3 format and with a standard mono soundtrack, this release of Carry On Emmannuelle starts off with a print of such ropey quality that you seem to be watching through a dust storm. The sound quality is little better, although on both counts things improve as the film progresses. The lack of extras is disappointing, adding to the rather sad, low-budget feel of the film itself. --Piers Ford

• Gerry Anderson - the Monochrome Years | DVD | (09/10/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £99.99

  Gerry Anderson is a British producer who was to British TV in the 60's what Walt Disney was to U.S. TV in the 50's - THE purveyor of children's television. As the children of the 60's grew up so did Gerry's programming with more adult puppet shows and live-action dramas to appeal to his maturing audience. The list of shows which Anderson has produced is quite staggering encompassing something that will resonate with almost everyone. His credits range from Thunderbirds to Space 1999; Captain Scarlet to Stingray; Joe 90 and the Terrahawks. Gerry Anderson is truly a bastion of children's television and his works are celebrated here on this monolith of a box set. Includes: 1. Torchy The Battery Boy (Series 1) 2. Four Feather Falls 3. Supercar 4. Fireball XL5

• Carry On - Complete | DVD | (14/03/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £99.99

  The Carry on Collection is a rigid boxset which is made up of 3 separate digistacks - which includes some of the very best carry on Films. Carry on Holiday CollectionCarry on CampingCarry on AbroadCarry on Follow that CamelCarry on GirlsCarry on BehindCarry on at Your ConvenienceCarry on Doctors and Nurses CollectionCarry on DoctorCarry on Matroncarry on Again DoctorThat's Carry OnCarry on LovingCarry on EmmanuelleCarry on History CollectionCarry on Don't Lose Your HeadCarry on DickCarry on up the JungleCarry on HenryCarry on EnglandCarry on Up the Khyber

• Harry Enfield's Norbert Smith, A Life | DVD | (16/07/2018) from £7.75   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  A mock-reverent look at the life and career of a venerable old actor... a marvellous jape. People Magazine First time on DVD Harry Enfield's mockumentary, first shown on Channel 4 in 1989, is a hilarious send-up of biopics and British cinema. Melvyn Bragg (as himself) arrives at the country residence of Sir Norbert Smith (Enfield) in the week of his 80th birthday, to reminisce about a distinguished acting career that ranged from a whimsical Hamlet to a coveted role as the face of Sudso washing powder. Sir Norbert's patchy recollections, addled by drink, are accompanied by jovial clips from the thespian knight's greatest hits from comedy capers Oh, Mr Bankrobber!, Passport to Puddlewitch and Whimsy Galore! to the shocking tale of 1930s juvenile delinquency Rebel Without a Tie. He bravely serves the war effort by scuttling off to Hollywood to make atrocious musicals about London and the Blitz, and leads the cast of British Western They Called Him Stranger and Rover Returns Home, a very English take on the Lassie series. It's Grim Up North reprises the unremitting misery of 1960s social realism; while the WWII epic Dogs of Death finds Norbert joining an all-star cast determinedly drinking their way through the film's considerable budget. In his final role he gamely plays Nelson Mandela (as Alec Guinness was unavailable). Conversations with Sir Norbert's equally frazzled contemporaries complete the portrait of the great man as a dizzying array of famous actors and productions are gently lampooned. The cast includes Josie Lawrence (Whose Line Is It Anyway?), self-parodying Carry On regulars Jack Douglas, Barbara Windsor and Kenneth Connor, and Renée Asherson as Lady Norbert.