Carry On Nurse (1958)
 The immense success of the first Carry On film came as a
huge surprise to most of the people concerned.
Once it became
clear that their first fully-fledged comedy film was a hit, Peter
Rogers and Gerald Thomas set about planning a further project.
Carry On Nurse once again used a familiar setting, the
jokes were corny, and the emphasis was on lavatorial humour.
The nurses of a men's surgical ward at the Haven Hospital have
equal difficulty in resisting the advances of their charges and
meeting the demands of their martinet Matron.
Individual pursuits among the patients range from nuclear
physics to studying racing form, but these are eventually
forgotten in the collective pursuit of an unofficial operation on
the bunion of a new patient, anxious for a speedy discharge so
that he can enjoy a gay weekend.
This operation, performed in a general state of intoxication,
is not a success, since all concerned succumb to laughing gas.
The combination of a cheery community of male bonding and
lustful dreams, the man in the street battling against authority
(this time the stern figure of Matron Hattie Jacques), regular
chats with jolly rogue Leslie Phillips and nurses such as the
gorgeous Shirley Eaton is almost enough to break your leg for and
get in.
However, it falls to Connor, Hawtrey and a maniacally anxious
Williams to bombard the medical profession with camp innuendo,
pathetic whining, one-upmanship and childish play.
The Carry On regulars again roll out the stereotypes,
Hawtrey minces and giggles from his hospital bed while locked into
his radio headphones for most of the film, Connor stumbles and
bumbles as an unwilling and sexually uneasy boxer with a broken
hand and Williams plays his big-headed bookworm with sardonic
relish.
Williams throws himself energetically into a battle of wills
with frosty Hattie Jacques.
Carry On Nurse was a major success both in England and,
amazingly, America. The film became the highest grossing movie in
Britain for 1959.
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