A classic Carry On movie features in the May screenings from Cambridge Film Festival at Home.
As part of its ongoing ‘A Film I Love…’ series, CFF at Home is set to showcase Carry On Screaming! starring Kenneth Williams, Jim Dale, Harry H. Corbett, Joan Sims, Charles Hawtrey, Angela Douglas and Fenella Fielding.
Cambridge Film Festival at Home (Image: Cambridge Film Festival)
From 6pm on Friday, May 7 to midnight on Sunday, May 9, Andrew Collins, Radio Times' film editor and host of Classic FM’s Saturday Night at the Movies, presents the hilarious 1966 parody of the Hammer Horror films.
During his passionate and articulate homage to the film prior to its screening, Andrew explains why Carry On Screaming! is not only his favourite Carry On movie but also a ‘Film He Loves’.
In the comedy classic, the sinister Dr Orlando Watt (Kenneth Williams) has an evil scheme going, assisted by his seductive sister Valeria Watt (Fenella Fielding), butler Sockett (Bernard Bresslaw) and Oddbod.
Dr Watt is kidnapping beautiful young women and turning them into mannequins to sell. Enter Detective Sergeant Sidney Bung (Harry H. Corbett) to investigate.
A Film I Love... (Image: Cambridge Film Festival)
The movie features one of Kenneth Williams' most quotable lines from the Carry On movies: "Frying tonight!"
Empire magazine has said of Screaming that it "is most certainly a Carry On film, with its pungent innuendo and sheepish sexism, but its exploration of a genre — in this case, the lurid fillips of Hammer Horror — reveal genuine skill and appreciation… between its bouts of bawdy humour, it is actually scary…" But, at the end of the day, "It is still a comedy and a very funny one at that".
Andrew Collins began his media career in the mid-80s, laying out pages for the NME, eventually becoming a regular writer for the weekly music paper and then features editor.
He has since worked for Select, Empire and Q, and has been the film editor for Radio Times since 1999.
As a scriptwriter, he has worked for EastEnders and Not Going Out, sharing a Royal Television Society award with Lee Mack, and co-wrote Grass for BBC2 with star Simon Day.
Cambridge Film Festival has launched its Rewind season. (Image: Cambridge Film Festival)
Between May 21 and May 27, CFF at Home presents two further films as part of the retrospective Rewind season.
Director Wim Wenders attended Cambridge Film Festival 8 to present the outstanding road movie Paris, Texas in 1984, just weeks after it had won the Palme d’Or at Cannes.
Paris, Texas can be watched as part of Cambridge Film Festival at Home's ‘Rewind’ season. (Image: Supplied by Cambridge Film Festival)
Travis Henderson (Harry Dean Stanton) walks out of the desert after four years, to the amazement of his brother, Walt (Dean Stockwell).
Reunited with Hunter, his seven-year-old son, Travis decides that they should search for his ex-wife (Nastassja Kinski) so that they can be a family once again.
Paris, Texas by director Wim Wenders can be watched as part of Cambridge Film Festival at Home's ‘Rewind’ season. (Image: Supplied by Cambridge Film Festival)
The Rewind season ahead of the festival’s 40th anniversary in October will also include Letters of Baghdad.
Directors Zeva Oelbaum and Sabine Krayenbuhl presented their enthralling documentary to two packed screenings at CFF 36 in 2016.
Letters from Baghdad can be watched as part of Cambridge Film Festival at Home's ‘Rewind’ season. (Image: Supplied by Cambridge Film Festival)
It is the story of a true original, Gertrude Bell, sometimes called the ‘female’ Lawrence of Arabia.
Voiced and executive produced by Academy Award-winning actor Tilda Swinton, the documentary tells the dramatic story of this British spy, explorer and political powerhouse.
Bell travelled widely in Arabia before being recruited by British military intelligence to help draw the borders of Iraq after WWI.
The film poster for Letters from Baghdad (Image: Supplied by Cambridge Film Festival)
Using never-seen-before footage of the region, the film chronicles Bell’s extraordinary journey into both the uncharted Arabian desert and the inner sanctum of British male colonial power.
It is a unique look at both a remarkable woman and the tangled history of Iraq. The film takes us into a past that is eerily current.
Each film can be viewed via the CFF at Home screening room.
They have been carefully chosen so that film lovers continue to have an opportunity to watch interesting, unique and alternative cinema.
Both CFF at Home strands offer a 'Pay What You Can Afford' pricing structure via the festival’s website.
Visit www.cambridgefilmfestival.org.uk for more.
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