Search results
Carry on Sergeant: Directed by Gerald Thomas. With William Hartnell, Shirley Eaton, Eric Barker, Dora Bryan. Sergeant Grimshawe wants to retire in the flush of success by winning the Star Squad prize with his very last platoon of newly called-up National Servicemen.
- (2.9K)
- Comedy, War
- Gerald Thomas
- 1958-09-19
Sergeant Grimshawe: Shirley Eaton ... Mary Sage: Eric Barker ... Captain Potts: Dora Bryan ... Norah: Bill Owen ... Corporal Bill Copping: Charles Hawtrey ... Peter Golightly: Kenneth Connor ... Horace Strong: Kenneth Williams ... James Bailey: Terence Longdon ... Miles Heywood: Norman Rossington ... Herbert Brown: Gerald Campion ... Andy ...
The new recruits are assigned to Sergeant Grimshaw (William Hartnell). Grimshaw will soon be retiring from the army and takes on a £50 bet with Sergeant O'Brien ( Terry Scott ) that his last bunch of squaddies will be his first champion platoon .
- £73,000
- Bruce Montgomery
- 31 August 1958
- Peter Rogers, Kenneth Myers
People also ask
What happened to sergeant Grimshawe?
Is Sergeant Grimshawe a champion platoon leader?
Is Carry On Sergeant a comedy?
Sergeant Grimshaw is close to retirement. His last group of National Service recruits are about to join. They include newlywed Charlie Sage, separated from his bride by being called up on his wedding day. Grimshaw has bet his fellow officers that he can get his men through training with the highest honours and win the Star Squad prize.
- Overview
- Synopsis
- Plot
- Cast
- Production and release
- Box office and reception
- References
- External links
"Your rank?"
"That's a matter of opinion."
Sergeant is a 1958 British comedy film directed by Gerald Thomas and produced by Peter Rogers. It is the first in the Carry On film series.
The film's plot is based around army life, it stars Bob Monkhouse, Eric Barker and William Hartnell. Also present are future Carry On regulars Kenneth Williams, Hattie Jacques, Kenneth Connor and Charles Hawtrey. Terry Scott also makes a small appearance.
A bunch of new recruits are called up for national service, their Sergeant, Sergeant Grimshaw, has a £50 bet with the other sergeants that his last squad before he retires from the army will be the champion squad that year. However it becomes quickly apparent to him that he has his work cut out. It's up to Grimshaw to put these no-hopers through th...
Newlyweds Charlie and Mary Sage are celebrating at their wedding breakfast when he receives his call-up papers. While he travels to Heathercrest National Service Depot he meets fellow new recruit Horace Strong, a terminal hypochondriac who is devastated at having been declared fit.
The new recruits are assigned to Sergeant Grimshaw. Grimshaw is retiring from the army and takes on a £50 bet with Sergeant O'Brien that his last bunch of squaddies will be his first champion platoon.
With beady-eyed inspection from Captain Potts and disgruntled support from Corporal Copping, Grimshaw decides to use some psychology and treat his charges kindly rather than simply shouting at them. But basic training does not start well and he struggles to take his platoon through it. They include failure Herbert Brown, upper-class cad Miles Heywood, rock 'n' roller Andy Galloway, delicate flower Peter Golightly and supercilious university graduate James Bailey. His attempts seem doomed.
Mary is determined to spend her wedding night with her husband and smuggles herself into the depot to get a job in the NAAFI, a situation Charlie is eventually able to legitimise. Strong spends most of his time complaining to the Medical Officer, Captain Clark . It is only the adoration of doe-eyed NAAFI girl Norah, which he initially rejects, that makes him realise his potential and inspires him to become a real soldier.
•William Hartnell as Sergeant Grimshaw
•Bob Monkhouse as Private Charlie Sage
•Shirley Eaton as Mary Sage
•Eric Barker as Captain Potts
•Dora Bryan as Norah
•Bill Owen as Corporal Copping
The origins of Sergeant started in 1955 when Sydney Box asked R.F. Delderfield to write a screenplay based around the National Service in the U.K. The project was ultimately shelved until 1957 when Delderfield decided to write the screenplay with the working title of The Bull Boys. The film was planned to show the virtues of the National Service, giving the young men “pride in their regiment and uniform.
Also in 1957 the War Office issued a White Paper recommending the end of National service. Box went to his brother-in-law Peter Rogers who was then the head of Beaconsfield Film Studios, and the pair agreed that due to the success of the 1956 film Private's Progress and the T.V series The Army Game that a film lampooning National service was the best route.
Stuart Levy the co-producer of Anglo-Amalgamated wasn't keen on the title of The Bull Boys. Inspired by the success of another studio's 1957 film Carry On Admiral, suggested the new title of the film.
had not been conceived as the start of a film series it was only after the film's surprising success did the producer Peter Rogers and the director Gerald Thomas set about planning a further project. After reusing the Carry On prefix and some cast members in their next project Carry On Nurse (1959) and having success with that film, the Carry On series of films evolved.
The term "Carry on" is typically issued by an officer to an NCO when handing over control of a parade or inspection.
Filming mostly took place on Stage B, Pinewood Studios, Buckinghamshire, with the exterior shots of the army camp being shot at Stoughton Barracks
•Budget – £74,000 (estimated) (£1.5M today)
•Gross – £500,000 (UK) (£10.7M today)
The film was the third most successful movie at the British box office in 1958.
Kinematograph Weekly listed it as being "in the money" at the British box office in 1958.
summarised Sergeant as a "Corny but mostly very funny Army farce that will click in U.K. provinces, and is not designed for any other type of audience" adding, "A bunch of talented character comedians have been handed these situations and, in their respective styles, they wring a lot more out of them and the dialogue than the writers provide."
The Monthly Film Bulletin called it "a traditionally English mixture of old farcical situations, well-worn jokes, and comic postcard characters. Charles Hawtrey, as a weedy incompetent, and Kenneth Williams, as a condescending intellectual, provide some genuine laughs. The rest of the humour is either overdone or half-baked".
British comedy film about National Service starring William Hartnell, Bob Monkhouse and Eric Barker; it is the first in the series of Carry On films. [1] The film stars the following Doctor Who alumni [1][2]: William Hartnell: Sergeant Grimshaw; Gerard Campion: Andy Galloway
Feb 22, 2015 · For six years Sergeant Grimshawe has been a training sergeant, but never the leader of a champion platoon. He accepts a bet from another sergeant that in the next intake, his last before retirement, his squad will pass out top.
