Colibel Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Spoonatects Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

AutCuddly Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

Freeman This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

bkoganbing This particular entry in the Carry On series was a bit more sentimental than most. The British educational system gets a good going over in this film however.At first glance this looks like the British version of The Blackboard Jungle, but at Maudlin Street school headmaster Ted Ray is actually a beloved figure and the kids don't want to see him leave. When they find out that Leslie Phillips is over from the Ministry of Education to make an evaluation this will make sure that Ray does not get the promotion he's looking for.Out come the practical jokes played on the entire faculty. When your faculty consists of Carry On regulars like Kenneth Williams, Kenneth Connor, Hattie Jacques, Joan Sims, and Charles Hawtrey you're guaranteed of some great reactions.Hawtrey looks truly ridiculous in that gown that went out with Mr. Chips. That itching powder at the teacher conference was classic as was a never to be forgotten version of Romeo&Juliet. Lots of laughs in this Carry On film.

ShadeGrenade The third film in the famous 'Carry On' series and the only one to star radio comic Ted Ray. He plays William 'Wakey' Wakefield, headmaster of Maudin School in London. The cane was still in use in British schools at this time, but Wakey does not believe in it. He has applied for a new job, his pupils don't want him to leave and begin a campaign of anarchy designed to make him ( and the other staff members ) look incompetent. Child psychologist Alistair Grigg ( Leslie Phillips ) and school inspector Felicity Wheeler ( Rosalind Knight ) visit about this time, and witness one disaster after another; the teachers getting drunk when alcohol from the science lab is put in the staff room kettle, music master Mr.Michael Bean ( Charles Hawtrey ) falling through a hole in a floor, gym mistress Miss Alcock's ( Joan Sims ) shorts splitting during strenuous exercise, the scenery collapses during the school play, and there's a surfeit of stunts involving itching powder, fake spiders and so on.While at times this feels more like a 'St.Trinians' movie than a 'Carry On', it delivers the goods in the laughter stakes. Norman Hudis was better at constructing story lines than his successor Talbot Rothwell, and Ted Ray is very good as the put-upon headmaster ( a role planned originally for Eric Barker ). The old gang of Kenneth Williams, Hattie Jacques, Kenneth Connor are fortunately still around. Strange to see Hawtrey as one of the masters when previously he'd been 'head naughty boy' in the Will Hay films. Two of the teachers find romance; Miss Wheeler with Connor's shy Gregory Adams, and Grigg with Miss Alcock. As soon as the old lecher claps eyes on the latter, he mutters her name thus: "All...cock!". Among the 'saboteurs' are a couple of future stars - Richard O'Sullivan ( whose character is called 'Robin', believe it or not! ) and Carol White ( of the groundbreaking B.B.C. play 'Cathy Come Home' ).Funniest moment? The shorts ripping scene. Thanks to Sims its better than it should be. And made funnier by the fact Phillips is standing behind her.I also love Williams' view on corporal punishment: "You bend a child double in order to give him an upright character?".Ray made no further 'Carry On' appearances; his place in the next entry - 'Carry On Constable' - was taken by a newcomer to the series - Sidney James.

zoe-butler51 A new school needs a headmaster and temporary headmaster William Wakefield, (ably played by Ted Ray) shows he deserves the job he so passionately wants. The trouble is the children at his current school wilfully sabotage his chances with flour bombs, itching powder and other booby traps in a series of hilarious set- pieces. This is where Carry On films shine. Unfortunately, the producers decided to work in a 'Mr Chips' style sentimental ending. I suppose they painted themselves into a corner because, strictly speaking, the children responsible for the chaos should have been very severely punished. Instead, when the headmaster realises their antisocial behaviour is because they did not want him to leave, he forgives them and stays on as headmaster. After all, what price ambition when you have the transient affection of a few mawkish school children with a funny way of showing that they 'care'? The name of the school is, 'Maudlin Street' so we can take it the scriptwriter wasn't fooled for a moment even if his characters were. Not a nice trick to play on an audience, even if it is very funny right up to the drippy ending. There were a lot of post war films that played the 'duty' trump card at the end. I suppose the pendulum has swung the other way, now. Well, we can but hope. So, how else could it have been ended? Well, for comparison, look at the first (and possibly best) of the series, "Carry on Sargeant'. Yes, it is sentimental but there's a difference. The retiring training sergeant (William Hartnel) would dearly love to go out on a high with the accolade for the best platoon but his hope is dashed when he is landed with the worst recruits in army history. Again, we have the hilarious set-pieces and again we have a twist at the end but here the soldiers realising the sergeant is retiring and deciding that they will do their damnedest to become the best platoon and give him the send-off he deserves. The conclusion of Carry on Sergeant is genuinely touching. The lads in 'Able Platoon' saw that their sergeant had a dream and helped him to fulfil it. The children of Maudlin Street didn't want to lose their easy going headmaster so they scuppered his chances. A better ending would have been if the children had done a little growing up and said, "Let's help him get his dream job," and shown that they really cared.

sol- The third Carry On film and arguably the best of the first three, this one is amusing from start and always full of laughs. The jokes are funnier than in the two previous entries, and Leslie Phillips is in particularly good form this time. It is still very silly, and in terms of the plot it is not all that much better than 'Carry On Sergeant' and 'Carry On Nurse', with the practical jokes becoming a bit tiresome towards the end and a story that is very simplistic. Still, the film comes highly recommended from me, as everything seems to fit together rather well, including appropriately used music. It is not a perfect film, but definitely a bit of a delight to watch.