Carry On Emmannuelle

The beautiful and sex-starved Emmannuelle Prevert just cannot inflame her husband's ardour. In frustration she seduces a string of VIPs, including the Prime Minister and the American Ambassador. A jealous lover gives a list of all her conquests to the national press and a scandal ensues. But will she ever manage to get her own husband into bed?

This is the last film Kenneth Williams did for the Carry On gang before he died.

In my opinion I must admit it is quite good but not as good as the classic the last two films eg Behind & England. Does anyone else like this film?

The only Carry On I've never seen, as it was not included in the box-set I bought a while back. Perhaps I could download and watch as "a treat", but I heard it's a pile of crap, worse than Behind and as bad as England.

Emannuelle in mainly sad. Most of the surviving members of the regular cast are there, which gives it an edge over the horribly misjudged England, but they all just too old to have the spark the film needs. Only Kenneth Williams seems to be giving it everything, but the script just isn't funny enough and Kenny's French accent gets annoying.

It is good but not great. Still watchable however.

Carry On Emmannuelle should never have been made, they were just milking the franchise. I actually quite liked Carry On England but I do not think it should have been a Carry On film, basically just a stand alone film.

Quote: Longingfortheoldclassics @ August 22 2013, 4:34 PM BST

Carry on Emmannuelle should never have been made, they were just milking the franchise. I actually quite liked carry on England but I do not think it should have been a carry on film, basically just a stand alone film.

View original

I agree. Very keen on most of the Carry On films but I see them mainly as 1960s style comedy, ie nudge nudge wink wink. Those involved were able to keep that going in the early 1970s. By the late 1970s, they had been around a long time, were older, and considered a bit old hat.

At that time, culture was becoming more explicit. Plus alternative comedy was on the up so that was another new trend. Not only was the team badly suited to the new era but Emmannuelle wasn't British. Because it had moved too far away from this country's seaside postcards, the film didn't convince.

Incidentally, Emmannuelle actually was on at my local cinema. It was among the X certificate films I saw under the age of 18. While there was a huge amount of media outrage, it was arty more than anything else. Nearly all of the controversial bits were removed by British censors.

Quote: Horseradish @ August 22 2013, 5:33 PM BST

I agree. Very keen on most of the Carry On films but I see them mainly as 1960s style comedy, ie nudge nudge wink wink. Those involved were able to keep that going in the early 1970s. By the late 1970s, they had been around a long time, were older, and considered a bit old hat.

At that time, culture was becoming more explicit. Plus alternative comedy was also on the up so that was another new trend. Not only were the team quite badly suited to the new era but Emmannuelle was hardly British. The Carry Ons were just too far from this country's seaside postcards. The film didn't convince.

Incidentally, Emmannuelle actual was on at my local cinema. It was among the X certificate films I saw under the age of 18. While there was a huge amount of media outrage, it was arty more than anything else. Nearly all of the controversial bits were removed by British censors.

View original

It reminded me of trying to be more like the Confessions films with Robin Askwith and I never liked them.

Quote: Horseradish @ August 22 2013, 5:33 PM BST

At that time, culture was becoming more explicit. Plus alternative comedy was on the up so that was another new trend. Not only was the team badly suited to the new era but Emmannuelle wasn't British. Because it had moved too far away from this country's seaside postcards, the film didn't convince.

View original

I'm not sure that alternative comedy was on the radar in 1978, when Cary on Emmannuelle was released. The Comedy Store didn't open in London until the following year, and (feel free to shoot me down in flames here) one of the things the alternative comics were reacting against was the sexist excesses of the likes of the Confessions of and Adventures of films. The stars of the alternative scene all seemed largely to be quite keen on the classic Carry Ons and were certainly happy to appear in Carry on Columbus - not that it helped the film much!

Quote: Ian Fryer @ August 23 2013, 10:52 AM BST

I'm not sure that alternative comedy was on the radar in 1978, when Cary on Emmannuelle was released. The Comedy Store didn't open in London until the following year, and (feel free to shoot me down in flames here) one of the things the alternative comics were reacting against was the sexist excesses of the likes of the Confessions of and Adventures of films. The stars of the alternative scene all seemed largely to be quite keen on the classic Carry Ons and were certainly happy to appear in Carry on Columbus - not that it helped the film much!

View original

Ian, you are right on timing. "On the up" could have been better phrased. Perhaps "in the offing". Things were happening even if they weren't yet well known. Not The Nine O'Clock News started in 1979 too.

I appreciate the alternatives reacted against "Confessions" etc. I was trying to summarise two distinct trends, one that had emerged and one that was about to arrive. The Carry Ons fell between the two.

The Carry Ons are actually a fascinating reflection of trends in the British film industry due to the various financing, cultural and legislative issues that were faced at the time, both by audiences and producers.

Emmannuelle and England fall into the category of the sexploitation comedy, on which I can heartily recommend the following book, if you're really interested in where the franchise went and why.

https://www.comedy.co.uk/shop/item/3468/keeping_the_british_end_up_four_decades_of_saucy_cinema_book/

I can't stand the whole Carry On franchise so you can understand my dislike for this film when I say that I thought it was the absolute worst. Would be in my bottom five films of all time. Sitting right next to Passenger 57

Oh dear, didn't laugh once, and found it a bit weird seeing KW with French accent and sex mad wife played by the gorgeous Suzanne Danielle, who fortunately flashed enough flesh to keep me watching.

Rubbish otherwise.

Quote: george roper @ 20th August 2013, 10:57 PM

This is the last film Kenneth Williams did for the Carry On gang before he died.

View original

His output declined after he died.