Carry On Loving


Carry On Loving is a 1970 British comedy film, the 20th release in the series of 31 Carry On films. It features series regulars Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims, Hattie Jacques, Terry Scott and Bernard Bresslaw alongside newcomers Richard O'Callaghan and Imogen Hassall. The dialogue veers toward open bawdiness rather than the evasive innuendo characteristic of the earlier films in the series. There are fictitious locations named for their sexual innuendo, including 'Much-Snogging-On-The-Green', 'Rogerham Mansions' and 'Dunham Road'.

Plot

Various events involve a dating agency run by Sid Bliss and his longtime girlfriend Sophie Plummett. Their "Wedded Bliss" agency purports to bring together lonely hearts using computer-matching technology, but couples are actually paired up by Sophie. Bliss consistently avoids marrying Sophie, enthusiastically pursuing Esme Crowfoot, a seamstress and client who consistently rejects his advances.
Percival Snooper becomes a client to find a wife for business reasons: as a confirmed bachelor, he is inept at his job as a marriage counsellor due to lack of personal experience. James Bedsop is a private detective whom Sophie hires to spy on Sid's after-hours activities when he supposedly "vets" the female clients, including Esme.
Timid Bertram Muffet winds up with model Sally Martin after the agency muddles his directions to a blind date. Client Terry Philpott suffers several failures in his dealings with the agency including a disastrous meeting with prim, sheltered Jenny Grubb. Jenny moves in with Sally, undergoes a makeover, and becomes a model. Terry later finds romance with the "new" Jenny.
Percival's association with Sophie provokes his jealous housekeeper, dowdy Miss Dempsey, to reveal her seductive side. Esme's estranged lover, volatile wrestler Gripper Burke, returns to cause havoc over an instance of mistaken identity.
Peter Butterworth appears in a one-minute cameo as a Bluebeard-esque character jokingly referred to as Dr. Crippen. He approaches Sid Bliss to find his third wife. His first wife died eating poisoned mushrooms, the second suffered a fractured skull because "she wouldn't eat the mushrooms."

Cast

Interiors:
Exteriors:
It was the fourth-most popular film at the British box office in 1971.
David Parkinson contributed a retrospective review for Radio Times. Awarding the film 2 out of 5 stars Parkinson said it was a patchy entry in the series which spent too much time with the other clients of the bureau at the expense of the proprietors and the characters played by Joan Sims and Kenneth Williams.