CARRY ON GIRLS is probably the one CARRY ON film that cements this film series's reputation as the 'smutty postcards' of the film world. It's certainly the sauciest of all the CARRY ON films to date, using the excuse of a beauty contest to reveal the flesh of as many girls as possible, and indeed the fresh beauty of the starlets (in particular Valerie Leon, Margaret Nolan, and Wendy Richard (!)) puts everybody else, the regular team included, into the shade.

The story is some silly thing about scheming councillors (Sid James playing himself, and a delightfully stuffy Kenneth Connor) arranging a beauty contest only to have their efforts thwarted by the local women's lib, led by an enjoyable June Whitfield. In reality, though, what we get are endless innuendos, risqué sight gags, and plenty more besides. It's a film in which Peter Butterworth's groping old bloke is played for laughs, so what more can you say?

Yes, the format feels a little tired and stale by now, with Bernard Bresslaw's cross-dressing antics bringing to mind those of Kenneth Cope in CARRY ON MATRON and a general seen-it-all-before sense to the proceedings. But, for better or worse, CARRY ON GIRLS provides one of the most unforgettable set-pieces of all the franchise, and I'm talking about THAT eye-popping cat-fight between Barbara Windsor and Margaret Nolan. People always remember the exercise scene from CARRY ON CAMPING but this goes considerably further and once watched is difficult to erase from the memory banks.

Except for the absence of Kenneth Williams, I would recommend this film to new fans of the Carry On series, as it is typical of the brand of humor that is a thread of all their films. The seaside resort town of Fircombe needs a boost so Sidney Fiddler (the always good Sid James) comes up with the idea of a beauty contest. This does not sit well with some of the ladies of the town, especially June Whitfield's character Miss Prodworthy (the names are, of course, all intentional). The film basically goes into the contest, with silliness, comic misadventures and double entendres. Not perfect, and not their best, its fun to watch. Except for the aforementioned Mr. Williams and Hattie Jacques, the gang is all here. Enjoy!

Although it doesn't quite scale the dizzy heights of CARRY ON UP THE KHYBER and does suffer somewhat from an obviously farthing-scraping budget, GIRLS is still vintage stuff from the Carry On crew, with a fast-moving, pun-heavy script from the great Talbot Rothwell ("I want a nice warm room with hot and cold running chambermaids" - Sid James, one of his many classic lines), plenty of memorable characters including the dotty Miss Tewkes, the randy old Admiral, the punch-drunk bellboy...hang on, this is starting to sound like FAWLTY TOWERS! If the film has one insurmountable obstacle it's the casting of the ageing, dumpy and diminutive Barbara Windsor as a beauty queen. This isn't even believable in a comedy situation where Sid James is a babe magnet and the gormless Bernard Bresslaw gets jiggy with the statuesque Valerie Leon! The rest of the contestants (with the possible exception of future EASTENDER Wendy Richards) look the part, however, and Carry On regular Margaret Nolan is especially memorable as the busty Dawn Brakes, though the PC brigade would no doubt frown on the...er...physical humour the film derives from her buxom presence! There's also a short but priceless cameo from DAD'S ARMY's Private Godfrey, who has one of the film's funniest lines, and Jimmy Logan is hilarious, camping it up in a role that was evidently meant for either Kenneth Williams or Charles Hawtrey and winning the day with his sheer exuberance. There are some sequences that don't really fit the Carry On mould - the Windsor-Nolan cat-fight, for example, shows signs of desperation, and Kenneth Connor doesn't have enough screen time as the proudly dapper but eternally disgusted Frederick Bumble (a shame, as his performance is note-perfect throughout), but all things considered this is a fine example of seaside postcard humour, and much funnier than the cruder Carry On variations that followed.