The
lowdown: 'Carry on Columbus' was an ill-fated attempt
to revive the popular series of Carry On films, some
14 years after 'Carry on
Emmannuelle'. However, most of the regulars from the original films had
long since passed
on, and it was up to a new
team to ... well, carry on the tradition. Sadly, it failed to live up to
its predecessors, even
though the producers had
assembled some of Britain's finest comedy actors of the time. With a cast
that included
Jim Dale, Nigel Planer,
Rik Mayall, Leslie Phillips and Julian Clary, one must ask - how could
it go so wrong? Quite
simply, the script was not
up to the task. It featured the coarse humour, innuendo and nudge-nudge-wink-wink
style
of humour that its many
predecessors were famous - or perhaps infamous - for, but it just was not
very good. It is,
however, notable for being
Jon Pertwee's second-last film.
The
plot: The story begins in Turkey in 1492, where the Sultan
is brought a message stating that a mapmaker in
Lisbon named Christopher
Columbus claims to have found a sea route to the Far East. The Sultan
has for many
years profited from charging
traders exorbitant taxes for using the existing trade route through Turkey,
and realises
that if there is indeed
a sea route, traders will no longer have to go through Turkey, leading
to his ruin. He sends a
beautiful female spy named
Fatima to disrupt Columbus's plans to map the new route. Meanwhile, Columbus
has
convinced the King and Queen
of Spain to finance his expedition to find the sea route to the Indies,
and he sets sail
with a motley crew. However,
things are not quite what Columbus expected when the expedition arrives
in the New
World. Jon Pertwee has a
blink-and-you-miss-it cameo as the aged Duke of Costa Brava, who is set
to marry the
young daughter of Countess
Esmeralda.
Who
connections: Aside from Jon Pertwee's tragically brief
cameo, fans will have fun spotting the actors who have
appeared in Doctor Who.
The new series is represented by Bernard Cribbins, Richard Wilson and Maureen
Lipman,
while actors from classic
Who include Alexei Sayle (Revelation of the Daleks), Martin Clunes (Snakedance),
Lynda
Baron (Enlightment), Peter
Gilmore (Frontios) and Don Henderson (Delta and the Bannermen).
Video clip:
The Duke of Costa Brava
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