Follow That Camel

1967 1h 35m EN

😐

5.9

MID

★5.9TMDB · 57

Comedy

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Bertram Oliphant 'Bo' West wants to clear his unjustly smeared reputation, so he joins the Foreign Legion—with Simpson his manservant in tow. But the fort they get posted to is full of eccentric legionnaires, and there's trouble brewing with the locals too. Unbeknown to Bo, his lady love has followed him in disguise.

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Phil Silvers
Sergeant Ernie Nocker
Kenneth Williams
Commandant Maximilian Burger
Jim Dale
Bo West
Charles Hawtrey
Captain Gerrard Le Pice
Joan Sims
Zig-Zig
Angela Douglas
Lady Jane Ponsonby
Peter Butterworth
Simpson
Bernard Bresslaw
Sheikh Abdul Abulbul

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 / 7

ERA

Did you know

59 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 7

CINEMA

Did you know

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

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 7

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#03

4 / 7

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#04

5 / 7

CAST

Did you know

Phil Silvers and Kenneth Williams and Jim Dale carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 7

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0061680 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 7

WILD

Did you know

Only 57 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

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

159 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
2Part of the "Carry On Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
3Directed by Gerald Thomas, shot by Alan Hume. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Editor Alfred Roome shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
5Phil Silvers and Kenneth Williams and Jim Dale carry the top of the cast.
6IMDB entry: tt0061680 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
7Only 57 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.
8Classified under 9 themes, including "foreign legion", "camel", "parody", "sahara desert".

The technical file

Cinematography: Alan Hume
Editing: Alfred Roome
Costume design: Emma Selby-Walker
Makeup / hair: Stella Rivers
Runtime: 95 min · 1h 35m
Status: Released
Original language: EN
IMDB: Follow That Camel (1967)

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 Chard2015-07-12
★ 7/10
Mustapha Leek! Originally released under the title Follow That Camel, Carry On Follow That Camel is the 14th entry in the long running series. Story plays out as a historical parody of the Beau Geste type of movies, thrusting Jim Dale and Peter Butterworth into the French Foreign Legion. There they are at the mercy of Commandant Maximilian Burger (Kenny Williams) and Sergeant Nocker (Phil Silvers brought in to try and boost American ticket sales). Japery is prominent as the not so intrepid Legionnaires get involved with an angry army of Bedouins led by Sheikh Abdul Abulbul (Bernard Bresslaw). Joan Sims has a minor role as a big cleavage landlady, while it's Angela Douglas snagging the main gal role as Lady Jane Ponsonby, with a running gag of her sexual innocence being mined for all it's worth. It's actually a better film than the iffy reputation afforded it. True, missing big hitters like Sid James and Hattie Jacques is felt, but Silvers is ebullient playing a Bilko character, while it's nice to see the excellent Jim Dale bag the English lead and not letting anyone down. It sits somewhere in the middle scale of Carry On films, neither too bawdy nor like the genial black and whites. But plenty of laughs to be had and it's a good production, the Camber Sands locations surprisingly passing muster as the Legionnaires desert hell. Well constructed battle sequences for the finale as well. 7/10
CinemaSerf2023-07-26
★ 5/10
This time, it's "Beau Geste" and the Foreign Legion that get's the "Carry On" treatment as Jim Dale arrives at a desert fortress under the strict command of "Burger" (Kenneth Williams) ably abetted by Phil Silvers' "Sgt. Nocker". Clearly, someone thought that importing him into this might breathe some fresh air into the franchise. Sadly, for me at any rate, it doesn't. He just overwhelms the whole thing with this rather brash and unsubtle humour and coupled with the over-use of the annoying Dale this just ends up being a rather messy desert-meleé that sees the troop getting lost before getting found and then combatting the evil Sheikh "Abdul Abulbul" (Bernard Bresslaw) to secure the "Nooki" oasis. Joan Sims and Charles Hawtrey are here alright, but neither really gets much opportunity to gatecrash the "Bilko"-ing of the film and it sort of reminded me of that old adage about something not being broke... It's a shame, though - this subject matter could have provided quite a rich seam for their style of comedy had it just concentrated on what it had been good at, kept it British - and not tried to internationalise itself.