Carry On Henry

Infobox Film | name = Carry on Henry


caption = "Carry On Henry" (DVD)
director = Gerald Thomas
producer = Peter Rogers
writer = Talbot Rothwell
starring = Sid James
Kenneth Williams
Joan Sims
Charles Hawtrey
Terry Scott
Barbara Windsor
Kenneth Connor
Peter Gilmore
Derek Francis
Bill Maynard
music = Eric Rogers
cinematography =
editing =
distributor = Rank
released = February 1971
runtime = 89 minutes
language = English
country = flagicon|United Kingdom United Kingdom
budget = £223,000
preceded_by = Carry On Loving
followed_by = Carry On at Your Convenience
imdb_id =

"Carry On Henry" is the 21st of the Carry On series and was released in 1971. It tells a fictionalised story involving Sid James as Henry VIII, who chases after Barbara Windsor's character Bettina. The original alternative title was to be "Anne of a Thousand Lays" a pun on the Richard Burton film "Anne of the Thousand Days" and Sid James wears the exact same cloak that Burton wore that film.

Plot Summary

Sid James plays Henry VIII as a lovable rogue who is surrounded by scheming courtiers. Peter Rogers originally planned on using Harry Secombe in the title role, and in the first draft of the screenplay Henry was going to be an avid composer of madrigals, but the idea was shelved and Sid James took the title role. The film opens with Henry's current wife, played by Patsy Rowlands, being beheaded. Henry quickly marries Marie of Normandy (Joan Sims) a marriage organised at the behest of bumbling Cardinal Wolsey (Terry Scott) as Marie is the King of France's cousin. Eager to get on with the wedding night frolics Henry is dismayed to find she reeks of garlic. He can't bear to be near her, so understandably Marie gets frustrated and she soon receives amorous advances from Sir Roger de Lodgerley played by Charles Hawtrey who, while still in his camp persona, is playing against type as a ladies man.

Henry is keen to be rid of Marie as he has met the lovely Bettina (Barbara Windsor, in her favourite "Carry On" role), who is the daughter of the Earl of Bristol (Peter Butterworth, in a one-scene cameo), a punning reference to Bristols. Henry variously attempts to free himself of Marie. Cromwell (Kenneth Williams) assists by organising Lord Hampton of Wick (Kenneth Connor) to kidnap the King in a staged plot, however both Cromwell and Lord Hampton also secretly plot to bring the king to harm as part of this escapade. The false kidnapping fails. Discovering Marie's infidelity with de Lodgerley, Henry seizes on this opportunity to be free of her, all he needs is a confession from de Lodgerley. He orders Cromwell to extract a confession using any means necessary. This leads to a running joke between Kenneth Williams and Charles Hawtrey in the torture chamber as Henry keeps changing his mind about the confession due to political necessities requiring multiple changes and retractions of the original confession. Wolsey is baffled by all the intrigue, and Cromwell is driven to treason by all of Henry's unreasonable demands.

Business Data

*Filming dates - 12 October 1970 - 27 November 1970
*The budget for the film (£233,000) was higher than any previous Carry On film.

External links

*imdb title|id=0066894
* [http://www.thewhippitinn.com/carry_on_film_locations/carry_on_henry/"Carry On Henry Location Guide" at The Whippit Inn]