Best movie of this year hands down!

Just what I expected

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

This particular entry in the Carry On series was a bit more sentimental than most. The British educational system gets a good going over in this film however.At first glance this looks like the British version of The Blackboard Jungle, but at Maudlin Street school headmaster Ted Ray is actually a beloved figure and the kids don't want to see him leave. When they find out that Leslie Phillips is over from the Ministry of Education to make an evaluation this will make sure that Ray does not get the promotion he's looking for.Out come the practical jokes played on the entire faculty. When your faculty consists of Carry On regulars like Kenneth Williams, Kenneth Connor, Hattie Jacques, Joan Sims, and Charles Hawtrey you're guaranteed of some great reactions.Hawtrey looks truly ridiculous in that gown that went out with Mr. Chips. That itching powder at the teacher conference was classic as was a never to be forgotten version of Romeo&Juliet. Lots of laughs in this Carry On film.

The third film in the famous 'Carry On' series and the only one to star radio comic Ted Ray. He plays William 'Wakey' Wakefield, headmaster of Maudin School in London. The cane was still in use in British schools at this time, but Wakey does not believe in it. He has applied for a new job, his pupils don't want him to leave and begin a campaign of anarchy designed to make him ( and the other staff members ) look incompetent. Child psychologist Alistair Grigg ( Leslie Phillips ) and school inspector Felicity Wheeler ( Rosalind Knight ) visit about this time, and witness one disaster after another; the teachers getting drunk when alcohol from the science lab is put in the staff room kettle, music master Mr.Michael Bean ( Charles Hawtrey ) falling through a hole in a floor, gym mistress Miss Alcock's ( Joan Sims ) shorts splitting during strenuous exercise, the scenery collapses during the school play, and there's a surfeit of stunts involving itching powder, fake spiders and so on.While at times this feels more like a 'St.Trinians' movie than a 'Carry On', it delivers the goods in the laughter stakes. Norman Hudis was better at constructing story lines than his successor Talbot Rothwell, and Ted Ray is very good as the put-upon headmaster ( a role planned originally for Eric Barker ). The old gang of Kenneth Williams, Hattie Jacques, Kenneth Connor are fortunately still around. Strange to see Hawtrey as one of the masters when previously he'd been 'head naughty boy' in the Will Hay films. Two of the teachers find romance; Miss Wheeler with Connor's shy Gregory Adams, and Grigg with Miss Alcock. As soon as the old lecher claps eyes on the latter, he mutters her name thus: "All...cock!". Among the 'saboteurs' are a couple of future stars - Richard O'Sullivan ( whose character is called 'Robin', believe it or not! ) and Carol White ( of the groundbreaking B.B.C. play 'Cathy Come Home' ).Funniest moment? The shorts ripping scene. Thanks to Sims its better than it should be. And made funnier by the fact Phillips is standing behind her.I also love Williams' view on corporal punishment: "You bend a child double in order to give him an upright character?".Ray made no further 'Carry On' appearances; his place in the next entry - 'Carry On Constable' - was taken by a newcomer to the series - Sidney James.

This is not among the best of the Carry Ons, the story is rather basic, Ted Ray is on the dull side for my liking and there is a sense of sentimentality that gets cloying after a while. However, it does look great, has a quirky score, is well directed and with the script, pranks and staff-room infighting as snappy and as good as they are there is very rare a dull moment. Likewise with the cast, Kenneth Connor and Kenneth Williams are both delightful, Leslie Phillips gives one of his better Carry On performances while Joan Sims is superb. Overall, a gentle and entertaining entry, without being one of the best. 8/10 Bethany Cox

The third film in this Carry On series was funnier than the previous two, or I am now getting the hang of who "the core" cast members may be.The plot seemed simple enough, then took a very different twist just toward the end.Humor-wise, the staff getting drunk was pretty good and that class discussion with Williams did have me laughing and rewinding back ("the girl who lives just down the road from us!")With still no idea what to expect from the rest of these Carry Ons, it seems to me after three films that there is to be two romances in each films. I suspect that will change eventually.Best thing I have seen thus far of Carry On was when everyone was hugging at the end of "Teacher" because the headmaster wouldn't be leaving and Williams, Jacques and Hawtrey all hug, each man giving her a kiss in between them. They all stepped away and Jacques moved to the back.The two men then came forward again for a very passionate embrace and upon realizing Jacques wasn't with them, they separated and Hawtrey gave Williams such a slap. Nice fun and a nice perspective on school and education in film, especially this close to "Blackboard Jungle".