Carry On Cleo (1964)
Two Britons—inventor Hengist Pod, and Horse, a brave and cunning fighter—are captured and enslaved by invading Romans and taken to Rome. One of their first encounters in Rome leaves Hengist being mistaken for a fighter, and gets drafted into the Royal Guard to protect Cleopatra.
- Gerald Thomas
- Talbot Rothwell
Rating: 6.5/10 by 90 users
Alternative Title:
Cleo, Liebe und Antike - DE
Folytassa Cleo - HU
Os Apuros de Cleópatra - BR
Так держать Клео! - RU
Så, så, Cleopatra! - DK
Ist ja irre - Caesar liebt Kleopatra - DE
Country:
United Kingdom
Language:
English
Runtime: 01 hour 34 minutes
Budget: $0
Revenue: $0
Plot Keyword: egypt, roman empire, narration, parody, cleopatra, spoof, slave auction, carry on, britain, slave, ancient egypt, cavemen, 1st century
A pretty paranoid Caesar (Kenneth Williams) is anything but the hero of legend. Luckily, he has the brave "Hengist" (Kenneth Connor) to protect him. He is a captured Briton who has sworn to protect his master - except, well, it's a bit of mistaken identity and he's really just an useless inventor who is even more yellow than his boss. Conspiracies abound at the court of the eponymous and flirtatious, milk-bathing, queen (Amanda Barrie) and with Mark Antony (Sid James), Agrippa (Francis De Wolff) and Seneca (Charles Hawtrey) all plotting away to stay alive, take control of the empire, seduce anyone/everyone - it's an ideal courtly scenario for the gang to get up to some high jinx. "Infamy, infamy - the've all got it infamy!" has got to be one of the most famous lines in the English language and this joyful depiction of all things phnaa phnaa works well for ninety minutes. It looks good, there's some effort gone into the quite witty and clever writing, the costumes and the sets (clearly made of polystyrene). The ensemble effort delivered by the team, aided as always by the sparingly used but on-form Joan Sims as the put upon Calpurnia, reminded me of why, at times, this series of films was worth watching. Amongst the best, I'd say.
