Carry On at Your Convenience

Carry on at Your Convenience
Original UK quad poster by Renato Fratini
Directed byGerald Thomas
Written byTalbot Rothwell
Produced byPeter Rogers
StarringSid James
Kenneth Williams
Charles Hawtrey
Joan Sims
Hattie Jacques
Bernard Bresslaw
Kenneth Cope
CinematographyErnest Steward
Edited byAlfred Roome
Music byEric Rogers
Distributed byRank Organisation
Release date
  • 10 December 1971 (1971-12-10)
Running time
86 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget£218,805[1]

Carry On at Your Convenience (also known as Carry On Round the Bend outside the UK) is a 1971 British comedy film, directed by Gerald Thomas and starring regulars Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims, Hattie Jacques and Bernard Bresslaw and Kenneth Cope in the first of his two Carry On appearances.[2] It was written by Talbot Rothwell and produced by Peter Rogers.

It was the 22nd release in the series of 31 Carry On films (1958–1992) and the first box office failure of the series. This failure has been attributed[3] to the film's attempt at exploring the political themes of the trade union movement, crucially portraying the union activists as idle, pedantic buffoons which, apparently, alienated the traditional working-class audience of the series. The film did not return full production costs until 1976 after several international and television sales.[4] It was followed by Carry On Matron in 1972.

  1. ^ Chapman, J. (2022). The Money Behind the Screen: A History of British Film Finance, 1945-1985. Edinburgh University Press, p. 246.
  2. ^ "Carry On at Your Convenience". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 8 July 2024.
  3. ^ Turner, Alwyn W. (2009). Crisis? What crisis? Britain in the 1970s (Paperb. ed. 1. publ ed.). London: Aurum Press. pp. 78–79. ISBN 978-1-84513-425-9.
  4. ^ Ross, Robert. The Carry On Companion, B.T. Batsford: London, 1996. ISBN 0-7134-7967-1 p 98