Carry On Abroad

"The holiday of a laughtime!"

1972 1h 28m EN

😐

6.3

MID

⭐

6.5

IMDB

★6.3TMDB · 92★6.5IMDB · 4,613

Comedy

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A group of holidaymakers head for the Spanish resort of Elsbels for a 4-day visit. When they get there, they find the Hotel still hasn't been finished being built, and the weather is awful. And there is something strange about the staff—they all look very similar. To top it all off, the weather seems to be having an adverse affect on the Hotel's foundations.

“The holiday of a laughtime!”

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Cast

Sidney James
Vic Flange
Kenneth Williams
Mr. Stuart Farquhar
Charles Hawtrey
Mr. Eustace Tuttle
Joan Sims
Cora Flange
Bernard Bresslaw
Brother Bernard
Barbara Windsor
Sadie Tomkins
Kenneth Connor
Stanley Blunt
Peter Butterworth
Pepe

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Gerald Thomas
Writers: Talbot Rothwell
Languages: English
Countries: United Kingdom

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

88 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $0.3M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

54 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Carry On Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Directed by Gerald Thomas, shot by Alan Hume. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Alfred Roome shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Sidney James and Kenneth Williams and Charles Hawtrey carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "The holiday of a laughtime!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Gerald Thomas directs. Alan Hume behind the camera. Alfred Roome cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United Kingdom. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

188 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
2Shot for just $0.3M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
354 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
4Part of the "Carry On Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
5Directed by Gerald Thomas, shot by Alan Hume. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Editor Alfred Roome shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Sidney James and Kenneth Williams and Charles Hawtrey carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "The holiday of a laughtime!".
9IMDB entry: tt0069847 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Only 92 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.
11Classified under 22 themes, including "hotel", "spain", "holiday", "monk".

The technical file

Cinematography: Alan Hume
Editing: Alfred Roome
Costume design: Courtenay Elliott
Makeup / hair: Geoffrey Rodway
Runtime: 88 min · 1h 28m
Status: Released
Budget: $283,160
Original language: EN
IMDB: Carry On Abroad (1972)
IMDB rating: 6.5/10 · 4,613 votes
MPAA: Not Rated

Part of

Carry On Collection

This is classic British comedy at it's best! This collection contains all 31 hilarious Carry On movies. Starring: Kenneth Williams Charles Hawtrey Jim Dale Joan Sims Barbara Windsor Hattie Jacques Windsor Davies Valerie Leon Peter Butterworth Bernard Bresslaw Terry Scott Bill Maynard Phil Silvers Patsy Rowlands and Frankie Howerd.

Also by

Gerald Thomas

Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2015-08-10
★ 7/10
Package Holiday Piffery. The 24th film in the Carry On series finds the cast partaking in a package holiday to Els Bels. Once arriving they find their hotel still under construction and nobody much likes the company they are in! This is actually one film that boasted the most regular Carry On cast members, something which carries the pic up above and through some choppy waters. Leaning heavily towards the more bawdy side of the franchise, it obviously couldn't appeal to everyone. This is the 1970s in Britain and it was becoming a place of decadent sexuality, which sees the makers earnest in their attempts to capture the zeitgeist of the time. Also one tends to think they had to be aware of the more openly sexual nature of some other comedy films of the era, thus they had to compete. This is great fun for series fans, an absolute ramshackle holiday experience, the very definition of a cheap deal that "WAS" too good to be true. The makers bombard us purposely with stereotypes - the Brits abroad crassness, the bad food and excessive drinking, the undersexed and the oversexed clientèle, bad weather, nudity, a raucous set to at a red light establishment, sexual stimulants and on it goes - no sand pebble is left unturned. Cast are great, reliable sorts with such cheeky material to work from. Peter Buterworth takes the leading honours as the hotel manager trying to convince everyone this hotel from hell is a paradise! and he is well supported by June Whitfield who makes of her more expansive ventures into the series. The double entendre's flow, the chaotic scenes stack up and the corn is well and truly laid on a plate. Suffice to say this is not about pathos or intelligent meanings! The finale is two-fold and great for fans, the drunken party on the last night at the hotel literally is crash bang and wallop, while the collective character closure at Sid and Joan's English bar has a warmness to it that fans can relate to. Charles Hawtrey, the legendary skeleton on legs, left the series here, playing an alcoholic rogue, the makers accepting his real life issues and incorporating it into his farewell performance for some poignant reflection. 7/10
CinemaSerf2023-05-28
★ 6/10
So this time, our gang of double-entendre specialists head to the resort of "Elsbels" on the Costa somewhere for a long weekend. Of course the hotel isn't finished, and that's not the only thing that isn't. Though at times it is quite amusing, for the most part the script just plays to the talent and they are not really on best form. We are frequently left with some overly contrived stereotypes and a humour that is just a bit too coarse. Not that there isn't smut a-plenty in the others of this franchise, but that is usually a little more subtle. To be fair, it doesn't hang about - the gags come thick and fast, and are delivered by a well-oiled machine that knows exactly what it is doing. Sadly, though, it has aged badly and though I reckon the female characters fare slightly better than the men on the humour front, nobody here can say this is their finest work - not even the donkey.