Carry On Nurse (1958)

The immense success of the first Carry On film surprised most of the people involved. Once it became clear that their first full-fledged comedy film was a hit, Peter Rogers and Gerald Thomas set about planning a further project.

Carry On Nurse once again used a familiar setting; the jokes were corny, and the emphasis was on lavatorial humour.

Journalist Ted York (Terence Longdon) is hurried to Haven Hospital with appendicitis, experiencing a whirlwind of events in the hub of chaos, which is the men’s surgical ward.

The nurses struggle to repel the advances of their charges while meeting the demands of their martinet Matron (Hattie Jacques).

Matron’s inspections, often thwarted by clumsy Student Nurse Dawson (Joan Sims), create hilarious moments.

The patients’ individual pursuits range from nuclear physics to studying racing form.

But these are all eventually forgotten in the collective pursuit of an unofficial operation on the bunion of new patient Jack Bell (Leslie Phillips), a dashing, jaunty bachelor anxious for a speedy discharge so that he can enjoy a gay weekend.

This operation, performed in a general state of intoxication, is not a success since all concerned succumb to laughing gas.

The combination of a cheery community of male bonding and lustful dreams, the man in the street battling against authority (this time the stern figure of Matron), regular chats with jolly rogue Leslie Phillips and nurses such as the gorgeous Shirley Eaton is almost enough to break your leg for and get in.

However, it falls to Connor, Hawtrey and a maniacally anxious Williams to bombard the medical profession with camp innuendo, pathetic whining, one-upmanship and childish play.

The Carry On regulars again roll out the stereotypes: Hawtrey minces and giggles from his hospital bed while locked into his radio headphones for most of the film, Connor stumbles and bumbles as unwilling and sexually uneasy boxer Bernie Bishop (who has a broken hand), and Williams plays his big-headed bookworm with sardonic relish.

Williams throws himself energetically into a battle of wills with frosty Hattie Jacques.

The most famous scene features Nurse Dawson getting her own back on “The Colonel” (Wilfrid Hyde-White) by taking his temperature with a daffodil instead of a rectal thermometer.

Made for £71,000, Carry On Nurse was a major success in England and, amazingly, America (where it ran for two years in a single Los Angeles cinema alone). The film became Britain’s highest-grossing movie in 1959, attracting 12 million viewers.

Bernie Bishop
Kenneth Connor
Oliver Reckitt
Kenneth Williams
Mr Hinton
Charles Hawtrey
Ted York
Terence Longdon
Percy Hickson
Bill Owen
Jack Bell
Leslie Phillips
Matron
Hattie Jacques
Bert Able
Cyril Chamberlain
Henry Bray
Brian Oulton
The Colonel
Wilfrid Hyde-White
Sister
Joan Hickson
Staff Nurse Dorothy Denton
Shirley Eaton
Student Nurse Stella Dawson
Joan Sims
Nurse Georgie Axwell
Susan Stephen
Nurse Stella Dawson
Joan Sims
Nurse F. James
Susan Beaumont
Nurse Helen Lloyd
Ann Firbank
Nurse Nightingale
Rosalind Knight
Nurse Rose Harper
Marita Stanton
Jill Thompson
Jill Ireland
Madge Hickson
Irene Handl
Alec Lawrence
Ed Devereaux
Janie Bishop
Susan Shaw
Ginger
Michael Medwin
Mick
Harry Locke
Meg
June Whitfield
Norm
Norman Rossington

Director
Gerald Thomas

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