Carry On Up the Khyber

Carry On Up the Khyber
Original UK quad poster by Renato Fratini
Directed by Gerald Thomas
Produced by Peter Rogers
Written by Talbot Rothwell
Starring Sid James
Kenneth Williams
Charles Hawtrey
Roy Castle
Joan Sims
Angela Douglas
Terry Scott
Bernard Bresslaw
Peter Butterworth
Julian Holloway
Cardew Robinson
Music by Eric Rogers
Cinematography Ernest Steward
Edited by Alfred Roome
Distributed by The Rank Organisation
Release date
  • September 1968 (1968-09)
Running time
 88 minutes[1][2]
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Budget £260,000

Carry On Up the Khyber is a British comedy and the sixteenth in the series of Carry On films to be made, released in 1968.[3] It stars Carry On regulars Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims, Bernard Bresslaw and Peter Butterworth. Roy Castle makes his only Carry On appearance in the romantic male lead part usually played by Jim Dale.[4] Angela Douglas makes her fourth and final appearance in the series. Terry Scott returned to the series after his minor role in the first film of the series, Carry On Sergeant a decade earlier. The film is, in part, a spoof of Kiplingesque movies and television series about life in the British Raj, both contemporary and from earlier, Hollywood, periods. The title is a play on words in the risqué Carry On tradition, with "Khyber" (short for "Khyber Pass") being rhyming slang, in Received Pronunciation, for "arse".

Plot

Sir Sidney Ruff-Diamond (Sid James) is Queen Victoria's Governor in the British India province of Khalabar near the Khyber Pass. The province is defended by the feared 3rd Foot and Mouth Regiment (The Devils in Skirts), who are said to not wear anything under their kilts. When Private Widdle (Charles Hawtrey) is found wearing underpants after an encounter with the warlord Bungdit Din (Bernard Bresslaw), chief of the warlike Burpa tribe, the Khasi of Khalabar (Kenneth Williams) plans to use this information to incite an anti-British rebellion. He aims to dispel the "tough" image of the Devils in Skirts by revealing that contrary to popular belief, they do indeed wear underpants under their kilts.

A diplomatic operation ensues on the part of the British, who fail spectacularly to prove that the incident was an aberration. The Governor's wife (Joan Sims), in the hope of luring the Khasi into bed with her, takes a photograph of an inspection in which many of the soldiers present are found wearing underpants, and takes it to him. With this hard evidence in hand, the Khasi would be able to muster a ferocious Afghan invasion force, storm the Khyber Pass and reclaim India from British rule; but Lady Ruff-Diamond insists that he sleep with her before she parts with the photograph. He delays on account of her unattractiveness, eventually taking her away with him to Bungdit Din's palace.

Meanwhile, the Khasi's daughter, Princess Jelhi (Angela Douglas), reveals to the British Captain Keene (Roy Castle), with whom she has fallen in love, that the Governor's wife has eloped, and a team is dispatched to return her and the photo to British hands. Disguised as Afghan generals, the interlopers are brought into the palace and, at the Khasi's suggestion, are introduced to Bungdit Din's sultry concubines. Whilst enjoying the women in the harem, they are unmasked amid a farcical orgy scene, imprisoned, and scheduled to be executed at sunset along with the Governor's wife. The Khasi's daughter aids their escape in disguise as dancing girls, but during the entertaining of the Afghan generals, the Khasi, contemptuous of an annoying fakir's performance, demands that he see the dancing girls instead. After their disguises are seen through, the British and the Princess flee, but Lady Ruff-Diamond drops the photograph on leaving the palace through the gardens. The group returns to the Khyber Pass to find its guards massacred and their weapons comically mutilated, in a rare moment of (albeit tainted) poignancy. All attempts to hold off the advancing hordes fail miserably, and a hasty retreat is beaten to the Residency.

The Governor, meanwhile, has been entertaining, in numerical order, the Khasi's fifty-one wives, each one of them wishing to "right the wrong" that his own wife and the Khasi himself have supposedly committed against him (though no such wrong took place). After a browbeating from his wife, Sir Sidney calls a crisis meeting regarding the invasion, in which he resolves to "do nothing". A black tie dinner is arranged for that evening.

Dinner takes place during a prolonged penultimate scene, with contrapuntal snippets of the Khasi's army demolishing the Residency's exterior, and the officers and ladies ignoring the devastation as they dine. Shells shaking the building and plaster falling into the soup do not interrupt dinner, even when the fakir's severed - but still talking - head is served, courtesy of the Khasi. Only Brother Belcher fails to display a stiff upper lip, and panics like a normal person. Finally, at Captain Keene's suggestion, the gentlemen walk outside to be greeted by a bloody battle being waged in the courtyard. Still dressed in black tie, Sir Sidney orders the Regiment to form a line and lift their kilts, this time exposing their (implied) lack of underwear. The invading army is terrified, and retreats at once. The gentlemen walk back inside to resume dinner, whilst Brother Belcher acknowledges the defaced British flag flying.

A plaque in Llanberis, Wales, commemorates the filming nearby

The regiment

The 3rd Foot and Mouth Regiment is the fictional Highland infantry regiment of the British Army portrayed in the film. It is a regiment of Highlanders, known locally as "the Devils in Skirts" for their tradition of not wearing anything under the kilt. The detachment at Khalabar is under the command of Captain Keene (played by Roy Castle), with Sergeant-Major MacNutt (played by Terry Scott) as his Second-in-Command.

The regimental tartans and bonnet badges designed for the Highland regiment in the 1960 film Tunes of Glory were reused by Pinewood's wardrobe department to kit out Carry On Up the Khyber's 3rd Foot and Mouth Regiment.

Filming and locations

  • Filming dates – 8 April-31 May 1968

Interiors:

Exteriors:

  • Scenes on the North West Frontier were filmed beneath the summit of Snowdon in North Wales.[5] The lower part of the Watkin Path was used as the Khyber Pass with garrison and border gate.[6] In September 2005, a plaque was unveiled in Snowdonia to mark the spot of where the film was shot.[7]
  • Governor Sir Sidney Ruff-Diamond's residence was actually Heatherden Hall, on whose estate the studios are based.

Cast

Production crew

Reception

The film was the second most popular movie at the UK box office in 1969.[8]

Carry On... Up the Khyber is frequently cited as the finest entry in the series.[9][10][11][12] Colin McCabe, Professor of English at the University of Exeter, labelled this film (together with Carry On Cleo) as one of the best films of all time.[13]

In 1999, it was placed 99th on the BFI's list of greatest British films ever made.

Adam Curtis's 2015 documentary film Bitter Lake, exploring the recent history of Afghanistan, includes scenes from this film.

References

  1. ↑ Ross 1998, p. 77
  2. ↑ Rigelsford 1996, p. 163
  3. ↑ "Carry On... Up the Khyber (1968)". BFI.
  4. ↑ "BFI Screenonline: Carry On... Up the Khyber (1968)". screenonline.org.uk.
  5. ↑ Wales hosts Hollywood blockbusters
  6. ↑ "Where was 'Carry On Up The Khyber' filmed? - British Film Locations". British Film Locations.
  7. ↑ "Carry On Khyber plaque unveiled". BBC News. 30 September 2005. Retrieved 13 November 2010.
  8. ↑ "The World's Top Twenty Films." Sunday Times [London, England] 27 Sept. 1970: 27. The Sunday Times Digital Archive. accessed 5 Apr. 2014
  9. ↑ Burton, A., Chibnall, S. (2013) Historical Dictionary of British Cinema, Scarecrow Press
  10. ↑ Luxford, A. (2002) Albert J. Luxford, the Gimmick Man, McFarland
  11. ↑ Campbell, M. (2016) Carry On Films: An Introduction to the British Comedy Phenomenon, Oldcastle Books
  12. ↑ Hume, A., Owen, G. (2004) A Life Through the Lens: Memoirs of a Film Cameraman, McFarland
  13. ↑ McCabe, Colin (29 January 1999). "Why Carry On Cleo and Carry On Up the Khyber are two of the best films ever". The Guardian.

Bibliography

  • Davidson, Andy (2012). Carry On Confidential. London: Miwk. ISBN 978-1908630018.
  • Sheridan, Simon (2011). Keeping the British End Up – Four Decades of Saucy Cinema. London: Titan Books. ISBN 978-0857682796.
  • Webber, Richard (2009). 50 Years of Carry On. London: Arrow. ISBN 978-0099490074.
  • Hudis, Norman (2008). No Laughing Matter. London: Apex. ISBN 978-1906358150.
  • Keeping the British End Up: Four Decades of Saucy Cinema by Simon Sheridan (third edition) (2007) (Reynolds & Hearn Books)
  • Ross, Robert (1998) [1996]. The Carry On Companion. London: Batsford. ISBN 0-7134-8439-X.
  • Bright, Morris; Ross, Robert (2000). Mr Carry On – The Life & Work of Peter Rogers. London: BBC Books. ISBN 978-0563551836.
  • Rigelsford, Adrian (1996). Carry On Laughing – a celebration. London: Virgin. ISBN 1-85227-554-5.
  • Hibbin, Sally & Nina (1988). What a Carry On. London: Hamlyn. ISBN 978-0600558194.
  • Eastaugh, Kenneth (1978). The Carry On Book. London: David & Charles. ISBN 978-0715374030.
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