Carry On Spying

"Cloak And Dagger Operations Exposed. Secret Agent Charlie Bind O.O.O.H! Takes The Lid Off The Funniest Spy Story Of The Year!"

1964 1h 27m EN

😐

6.3

MID

★6.3TMDB · 70

Comedy

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Carry On favourite Barbara Windsor makes her debut in this outrageous send-up of the James Bond movies. Fearless agent Desmond Simpkins and Charlie Bind, aided and abetted by the comely Agent Honeybutt and Agent Crump, battle against the evil powers of international bad guys STENCH and their three cronies.

“Cloak And Dagger Operations Exposed. Secret Agent Charlie Bind O.O.O.H! Takes The Lid Off The Funniest Spy Story Of The Year!”

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Cast

Kenneth Williams
Agent Desmond Simpkins
Barbara Windsor
Agent Daphne Honeybutt
Bernard Cribbins
Agent Harold Crump
Charles Hawtrey
Agent Charlie Bind
Eric Barker
The Chief
Dilys Laye
Lila
Jim Dale
Agent Carstairs
Richard Wattis
Cobley

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Gerald Thomas
Writers: Talbot Rothwell, Sid Colin
Languages: English, German
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

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

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

62 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, German.

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

Original score by Eric Rogers. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

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

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Kenneth Williams and Barbara Windsor and Bernard Cribbins carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Gerald Thomas directs. Alan Hume behind the camera. Eric Rogers scores. Archie Ludski cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United Kingdom. Dialogue in English, German.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

187 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
262 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
3Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, German.
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.
6Original score by Eric Rogers. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Archie Ludski shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Kenneth Williams and Barbara Windsor and Bernard Cribbins carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "Cloak And Dagger Operations Exposed. Secret Agent Charlie Bind O.O.O.H! Takes The Lid Off The Funniest Spy Story Of The Year!".
10IMDB entry: tt0057920 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Only 70 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.
12Classified under 17 themes, including "undercover agent", "espionage", "spy", "guard".

The technical file

Cinematography: Alan Hume
Original score: Eric Rogers
Editing: Archie Ludski
Costume design: Yvonne Caffin
Makeup / hair: Biddy Chrystal
Runtime: 87 min · 1h 27m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Original language: EN
IMDB: Carry On Spying (1964)

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

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Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2015-07-01
★ 9/10
I expected you to be a man... or a woman. The 9th in the Carry On series, and the last to be filmed in black and white, is one of the best. It finds the gang kind of biting the hand that feeds them, Pinewood. The home of James Bond was also the home of the Carry On mob, so with Peter Rogers, Gerald Thomas and Talbot Rothwell spying an opportunity to spoof 007, they did so, whilst also revelling in the chance for some film noir dalliances, notably The Third Man. The cast is this time headed up by Kenneth Williams, Barbara Windsor (making her Carry On debut), Bernard Cribbins and Charles Hawtrey. They are four less than stellar operatives for British Intelligence tasked with retrieving a top secret formula that has been stolen by STENCH. During their mission they are helped by Carstairs (Jim Dale), and just who or what is the mysterious organisation known as SNOG? Are they friends or in league with the evil Dr. Crow? Though dotted throughout with some written innuendo, "Spying" is still in touch with the more genial comedy that was evident in the early years - particularly the black and whites. This is good honest comedy, with visual exuberance and witty repartee the order of the day. Watching it now you find it holds up very well, sure it's a bit fruity and nutty, but a freshness exists here and it lets some damn fine actors loose to show their respective skills. It also looks terrific, the noir photography by Alan Hume sparkling. A prime Carry On movie for those who prefer their Carry On's more knowingly jolly than the later bawdy entries. 9/10
CinemaSerf2024-04-25
★ 6/10
The world is at the mercy of "STENCH" - a criminal entity set up to rid the world of something or other. Scraping the bottom of his agency barrel, the chief of MI6 must depend on the hapless "Simkins" (Kenneth Williams) to retrieve the situation and so together with his triplet of inexperienced trainees, they have to thwart the evil intentions of the menacing "Dr. Crow" (think of a larger version of Rosa Klebb). As you'd expect, the rest of this parodies just about everything from the "Man from U.N.C.L.E." to "007" via "The Third Man" - we even have some zithering! Along the way, a bit of romance blossoms as "Crump" (Bernard Cribbins) falls head over heels for "Honeybutt" (a first outing for Barbara Windsor) - she has a photographic memory too! Finally, a denouement in Vienna is going to test the mettle of the team as the formula for "Hydroformulin" is about to fall into the wrong hands! It's all fairly standard "Carry On" fayre this and I thought it was refreshing not to have the phnaa phnaa humour of Sid James for a change. It's far too long, and the jokes recycle themselves once too often, but everyone has a go and look like they are having fun, so that helps too. Not the best of the franchise, but the writing is OK and it passes the time fine if forgettably.