Are You Being Served? (1977) User Reviews

Like The Show, Yet Not Enough In Other Ways.

[GuyCC · 7/10 · 9 October 2007]

I have to admit that I am a little surprised by the reviews and rating for this movie. I actually found it quite funny at times, but I grew up with the show. I think what ultimately pulls this film past an average outing is the facts that some of the one-liners genuinely are funny, and my own personal affinity of the characters.

That's not to say that there aren't a few issues with the film. While the cast doesn't have to be regulated to the store to be funny (Grace and Favour proved that years later), they didn't have to transport the same jokes. There were at least 2-3 scenarios taken directly from the more popular episodes. On one hand, it's not the most original, however funny it was the first time, on the other hand, one has to take into account that some people may have never seen the show, and this movie is their first exposure to it (And shame on you, if so).

The biggest problem is that the plot relies too heavily on the likability of the characters, and the one-liners they shoot out. There are several inconsistencies, the ending is startlingly abrupt (yet ends on the same note as any of the episodes on the show), and plot-wise, they don't do that much. The Grace Brothers staff never gets out to explore their surroundings to add to some new situations and jokes. Again, the innuendos are funny, but the middle of the film drags in terms of things actually happening.

I don't think this film is worthy of its current "3" rating it has. It has it's moments, and the main cast shines in their personalities and silly hi-jinks (the supporting actors don't give the main cast much to work with, however). I think the biggest problem is that it's set up like an extended version of the show, minus the laugh track. You can see the television show format in it, and I think that ultimately hurts the pacing.

Perhaps this would be better for fans-only of the show, or people who haven't seen the show at all. It's not one of the best "episodes" of the series, but it's better than it's been given credit for, outside of some obvious flaws.

Worth a viewing? It depends.

[UpYerArsPoetica · 6/10 · 16 February 2007]

If you're a fan of the BBC series, this movie is worth watching just as a curiosity – it's fun to see these much-beloved characters on holiday and up to their usual shenanigans – but honestly, there's not much artistic value in it as a stand-alone work, and if you weren't familiar with the characters, it wouldn't make much sense. The sets are low-budget, the special effects laughable, and, as noted previously, much of the dialog is lifted directly and without revision from various episodes. It seems to me that someone was just attempting to cash in on the popularity of the series without putting much effort or financing into it. Given the talent of the cast and the creative synergy that they shared, it could've been much more than it is.

As a fan of "Fawlty Towers" as well, I have to say that Andrew Sachs is a delight as Don Carlos Bernardo – fancy Manuel finally running his own hotel!

I like them better behind their store counters!

[Tereza · 5/10 · 27 December 1999]

As a fan of the wonderful Britcom, I searched and searched for a copy of this movie. When I finally found it, I was disappointed. I like the characters much better in the store -- they just don't do well outside of Grace Brothers. It was a bit dull that many of the jokes were pulled from the TV shows (e.g. the "Dear Sexy Knickers ..." note; Mrs. Slocombe making offensive noises while blowing up her air mattress, etc.) and the ending was an abrupt letdown. Still a worthwhile watch for any fan of the show, but don't expect a lot.

Film Not as Good as TV Series

[Space_Mafune · 6/10 · 4 April 2003]

This film is slightly disappointing as unlike the series, there's far more slapstick "Carry On" style hijinks and not as many jokes. Still I can't deny that it doesn't have it's moments especially after the notes get passed around. Still one really misses the series trademarks and the fact that the cast are only briefly at the store.

A must for fans of the TV series!

[hugh1971 · 19 December 2001]

OK, it's creaky, incredibly dated, and the sets (or was there just one set?!) are wobbly, but that's all part of the charm. It's also quite perceptive of the attitude of the British abroad, that still persists to this day. My friends and I always seem to end up quoting from this film when we go abroad!

The best scene has to be when the myopic Ernest Grainger, who's never been on a plane before, enters what he thinks is the lavatory (it's actually the cockpit). 'Oh, I'm sorry - will you be long?' he says to the pilot. 'About two hours' replies the pilot. 'Oh dear- I'll go to the other end' replies Mr Grainger. Absolutely priceless!

Like a worn-out recording of my favourite song

[jnorthup · 1/10 · 30 April 2006]

This film, based on the tremendously popular "Are You Being Served" British television show that ran from 1972-85 (and still endures on American public television), falls pitifully flat. It plays like one long episode of the television series, but without the spark that earned the series its large and affectionate following.

Had this film come at or near the end of the television series' original production run, we might have concluded that the writers and/or players had lost some creative energy. But it didn't. It was released in 1977, at the height of the show's popularity. After the film, the same people went back to create some of the most enjoyable and memorable episodes of the show--they were by no means washed up.

The plot plods doggedly through bits recycled from the television series, including some wince-inducing cultural slurs and too much toilet/fart humour. The writers even stoop to the "walk this way" gag, which is as old as time itself. Regular viewers of the TV show will tire at the cut-and-pastedness of the script; newcomers will sit puzzled by the running gags and in-jokes that one can only "get" from the TV show.

The actors, while masterful at playing to a live audience (which they did for the television series), seem off balance without the buoyance of audience response, often pausing for laughter that never comes.

The aural atmosphere is either dead and silent, containing only the players' voices, or filled in by a Muzakesque musical score entirely indifferent to the events on screen. The lighting also has an unnatural spotlight quality at times. Like makeup, good lighting should look like none at all.

That there is tremendous talent here, both in the players and the writers, has been well demonstrated before and after this film. But not during.

Good old British slapstick and innuendo

[voyageruk · 7/10 · 17 March 2006]

I watched this film last night on a free DVD given away with a national newspaper and i have to say my wife and i I ENJOYED IT! Yes,it has oodles of cheese and camp moments but it was fun.I love the funky,Are you being served? opening theme tune at the beginning and the movie feel picture quality.Yes,the script is dodgy but not as dodgy as the Costa Plonka in a studio with cheap sets and the pretty abrupt ending with young Mr Grace storming through the hotel wall in an armoured vehicle dressed like he has just stepped out of Dad's Army! I never really cared much for the series only having seen a few episodes so i wasn't affected by the repeat joke syndrome so i found the film really amusing.Menswear!

Not as good as the show, but not too terrible.

[jtbrennan84 · 5/10 · 11 February 2007]

Ever see some of those SNL sketches that are funny on the show but not nearly as good when a movie is made out of them? AYBS: The Movie is like that.

All your favorite clerks from Grace Bros. go on holiday together, but there's a lot missing from this movie. Just like with Grace & Favour, it suffers because it's not in the store. It's really hard to make these characters work and flow as well when they aren't in the store, IMO. I mean, the chemistry is great between the cast, as always, and there are some pretty funny moments in the movie, but it's just not as good.

The Arabic customers scene was similarly done before, and the ending really left a lot to be desired. Also, there was no laugh track. Not that you would expect there to be one in a movie, but not hearing that laugh every time someone does a joke just isn't the same.

If you like the show, it may be worth renting. It's good for what it is, but it's not a movie you're going to want to watch repeatedly.

Dear sexy knickers......are you free?

[ANGRYPILLS · 8/10 · 31 October 1999]

Intellectual it isn`t,just a good belly laugh start to finish.All the old jokes double entendres and inuendo filled camp humour that made the tv show so popular for more than a decade.Inman sugden thornton & co at their funniest.Cheeky irreverant and pollitically incorrect.Enjoy!

You've all done very well.

[BA_Harrison · 7/10 · 20 March 2020]

This big screen outing for the employees of Grace Bros. sees Mrs. Slocombe (Mollie Sugden) delivering her first pussy gag within the opening few minutes ("Would you mind holding my pussy?"), which is as it should be, the film giving fans of the TV series exactly what they expect. On the menu: bedroom farce (or should that be 'bed-tent' farce?), sexist humour, xenophobia, homophobic comedy, racial stereotypes, and some quality crumpet. Don't bother watching if you're a PC millennial - this will prove too upsetting for your delicate sensibilities - but those who can appreciate '70s comedy in all of its wonderful, unpolitically-correct glory should have a lot of fun as Grace Bros.' staff cause chaos on a Mediterranean holiday (while the department store is closed for redecoration).

Much like Carry On Abroad (1972), which saw the Carry On team embarking on a package holiday to Spain, Are You Being Served?: The Movie transports the TV show's regular characters to the Costa Plonka, where sun, sea, sangria and sex are the order of the day. Much hilarity ensues as the staff let their inhibitions go and try to satisfy the carnal desires that they've been suppressing for so long. The humour doesn't always work, especially with the lack of live audience laughter, but there are enough comedic gems throughout to keep avid fans of the show happy: a pair of chattering clockwork teeth find their way inside a mannequin's trunks with hilarious results, a hairy caterpillar gives Mr. Humphries (John Inman) a shock, Andrew Sachs adapts his Manuel routine for the role of hotel manager Don Carlos, and Mr. Humphries gets to dress in drag, not once, but twice (disguising himself as Mrs. Slocombe and a nun). Wendy Richards (as Miss Brahms) and Sugden get the funniest lines: "I wouldn't mind if he wasn't so bleedin' common", "We're having it continental style", and "I usually give my pussy an airing this time of night".

As for the crumpet... Miss Nicholson (Penny Irving), Mr. Grace's sexy secretary, is stunning, and Conchita (Karan David), the gorgeous hotel servant girl, could clack my castanets any day of the week (interestingly, both actresses appeared in Pete Walker's sleazy 1974 horror House of Whipcord, helping to make that film one of my favourite British horrors of the decade).

6.5/10, rounded up to 7 for IMDb.

Another failed attempt to translate a successful TV comedy to the big screen

[cathaven · 1/10 · 24 July 2002]

For some reason British sitcoms do not weather the translation to the big screen well. Many classic series have suffered from this problem ("Steptoe & Son", "Rising Damp", "Till Death Us Do Part" etc etc). None suffered worse than "Are You Being Served". Plagued by a weak Script, Sloppy directing & a cast who simply seemed to be embarrassed by the whole experience, it just plain isn't funny.

Very funny

[filmbuff69007 · 8/10 · 26 August 2001]

This is like a Carry on.with loads of laughs Mr Rumbold is absolutely hilarious.Its surprising that so little of the cast were used in carry ons they certainly could tell the same jokes with a twinkle in there eye.this is bawdy postcard humour at its best.

Mrs.Slocombe's pussy on the big screen!

[ShadeGrenade · 7/10 · 19 June 2012]

The 1977 film version of David Croft and Jeremy Lloyd's hit B.B.C. sitcom set in the fictional London department store of 'Grace Brothers' has acquired notoriety for all the wrong reasons. A poll a while back listed it as the worst ever film based on a television show ( what? Worse than 'Sex & The City 2'? Surely they jest? ). Some twit who shall henceforth remain nameless ( and deserves to be ) wrote on a blog devoted to old horror paperbacks: 'The 70's was a time when the film of 'Are You Being Served?' was regarded as the ultimate in hilarity'. It goes to show just how some will brazenly distort facts in order to make a cheap point. I was around then, and it was not regarded as the 'ultimate' in anything, just the latest in a long line of British sitcoms to make a fair-to-middling transfer to the big screen. Critics poured scorn on 'Served?' and the cinemas in which it played were barely full.

The cast are all present and correct; Mollie Sugden as bossy 'Mrs.Slocombe', John Inman as camp-as-a-row-of-tents 'Mr.Humphries', Arthur Borough as grumpy 'Mr.Grainger', Frank Thornton as urbane 'Captain Peacock', Wendy Richard as sexy 'Miss Brahms', Trevor Bannister as randy 'Mr.Lucas', Arthur English as 'Mr.Harmon' the janitor, Nicholas Smith as pompous 'Mr.Rumbold', and, last but by no means least, Harold Bennett as 'Young Mr.Grace', who despite being of pensionable age is still going round lusting after pretty girls. The film has the gang off to the Costa Plonka ( groan! ) where, after encountering the usual stereotypes - including Andrew Sachs as the hotel manager - they become involved in a revolution in a scene reminiscent of the climax of 'Carry On Up The Khyber', only to be saved from annihilation by Young Mr.Grace at the controls of a tank. What can one say? Its cheaply made and full of corny - even for those days - jokes and is on the whole pretty appalling, yet somehow manages in its own cock-eyed way to be rather endearing. The original theme tune has been wisely retained, and overall 'Served?' has the feel of a long episode rather than a film. There's something very British about it - and that's no bad thing.

Sadly, Borough died a year later, making this one of his final appearances as 'Grainger'. Bob Kellett also directed the film of 'Up Pompeii' which made 'Served?' look like 'The Importance Of Being Ernest' by comparison.

It is a sad man who does not laugh when 'The Emir' ( Derek Griffiths ) has his inside leg measured with a tape stuck to a balloon, which then deflates noisily ( like a colossal fart ), causing Mrs.Slocombe to remark: "Its supposed to be a sign of good manners in their country!".

Mildly Amusing, Rather Disappointing

[grendelkhan · 5/10 · 9 November 2014]

I first heard about the Are You Being Served? movie in a book about the series. Our local PBS station eventually procured it and broadcast the film. Well, to say I was disappointed would be putting it mildly. If you had never seen the series before, the film is somewhat amusing; but, rarely laugh-out-loud funny. You really do have to have some acquaintance with the characters to fully appreciate things. Meanwhile, if you have seen the series, most of the jokes are recycled. The same was true in the series; but, there is a big difference: timing. The live audience for the TV tapings gave a sharper timing to the jokes. Here, the actors have no one to react to, apart from each other. They don't pause to let the jokes take hold, since there is no laughter from the audience. It was often those pauses that really sold the jokes and built to the bigger laugh. The film was actually adapted from a successful stage version, which, again, had an audience to react to.

Meanwhile, what we are left with is rather clichéd farce. There is the multiple switching of tents, which leads to a series of unexpected (by the character) encounters with the wrong partners. It's old material and it isn't handled in a unique manner, so it falls flat.

One of the worst sins of the film is the complete lack of any location or outdoor shooting, apart from boarding the plane. If you are going to film a movie, take advantage of the opportunity. Instead, we have a studio shot on film, instead of videotape, without an audience.

It's not all bad. The actors are in good form and the characters get their little moments. Andrew Sachs is well used and the addition of the revolutionary provides plenty of fodder for the farce.

This was one of several British films adapted from popular TV shows. I have also seen the Rising Damp movie and Callan and have to say that the latter was the only one that really took advantage of the opportunity that a film version offered.

If you are a fan of the series, the film is worth a look, if only to see what else was done with the characters. Other than that, there isn't much to offer.

Great TV Series - bad TV movie

[euroman1970 · 23 July 2004]

I have seen "Are you being served" many times over since the early 90's. In fact, I could probably restate word for word every episode made over the 13 year run (1972 - 1985). While I loved every episode of the TV series, the movie did not provide the same level of satisfaction.

MOVIE PLOT: Grace Brothers store is being remodeled and the crew is offered a 2 week Holiday vacation in Costa Planka.

ACTING: If you are very familiar with the TV Series, you will notice right away that most of the jokes were taken directly from the various episodes. One joke per episode with laugh tracks worked very well. But when you combine 5 or 6 and remove laugh tracks, you quickly lose interest. It looked like they grabbed whatever material they had from the earlier TV series and just cramped it into a 90 minute movie in a different setting... You will also notice that the characters looked very distracted and from time to time it seemed like they weren't even paying attention to the surroundings. Pay attention how the hostess girl in the hotel repeats her line word for word within a minute when she is trying to cuddle up with Mr. Humphries. Looked like she was reading directly from the script. There were also many inconsistencies. At one point everyone wanted to run for the bathroom, but after Mrs. Slocombe used it, no one seemed to want to go anymore??? Have they forgotten? Another one is when they kept writing notes to each other at the dinner table. I can see how there could be one mixup, but 3 or 4? One of the very first episodes featured a similar mixup but it was done as a part of a bigger scheme. Not in a movie, though.

SET: Here is another failure. The set looked extremely cheap, it was very obvious that the whole movie was done inside a TV studio, the lighting and shadow was even worse than in a TV series. The general feel of the set was like a Soap Opera. They must have had a very little budget to do this movie. It would have worked much better if they did 3 separate episodes 30min each, with laugh tracks.

CONCLUSION: If you love the TV series, it is worth to watch this movie. It has its moments but for the most part there was nothing new that the 30 min. series offered.

Grace Brothers on the big screen

[studioAT · 6/10 · 26 July 2010]

This big screen outing of Are You Being Served is not as loved as the series is but it still features the original (and by far the best) cast at the top of their game and features lots of laugh out loud moments.

The film struggles to adapt with not having the laughter track behind and the jokes are left hanging because of it. Without it the piece doesn't flow as it could which is a shame because the jokes do come thick and fast.

Also some routines that have previously been used in the series are recycled but they are worth another viewing because they are so good.

Overall a good rarely seen film that is well worth a look for those who already know the series and for those just discovering it.

From a Die-Hard AYBS? Fan

[alecsaved · 2/10 · 27 December 2006]

The problems with this movie are many. First, there is no laugh track. Let's face it; half the comedy of watching Mr. Humphries come out of the lift dressed like a fairy prince is the audience howling with you. Now, even had the laugh track been present, it would be forced at best; it's simply not funny. Most of the one-liners and sight-gags are simply recycled from the episodes, but with inferior delivery and context. Next the plot suffers from being contrived, itself borrowed from 'Hurrah for the Holidays'. And the lighting and set pieces of Grace Brothers are unfamiliar and distracting.

A very disappointing piece that should be skipped. You may wish to see anything and everything that is AYBS?, but are not missing anything by passing this one up.

Editing this post after watching it another 10 times... it kind of grows on you I guess. I still give it an objective 2 stars for it's quality (or lack thereof) but for some weird reason we've watched it several times.

Not as good as the TV series

[Stevieboy666 · 6/10 · 30 August 2020]

The staff of Grace Brothers Department Store head off for a summer holiday in the amusingly named resort Costa Plonka in Spain, only to find themselves caught up in an armed rising. The TV series was classic, I was a young boy when it was first aired but remember it well. I'm not afraid to confess that I had an early crush on Wendy Richards (Miss Brahms). In addition to the great cast of regulars (John Inman arriving at the airport in a pink suit is pure camp) Andrew Sachs reprises his Manuel character, but as a Spanish hotel manager instead of a confused waiter. The humour is very much of its time, very saucy, also a bit racist (in this instance, there are some Germans also staying at the same hotel). The movie starts off at the store, feeling much like one of the TV episodes. Sadly when the story movie moves to Spain it is limited to the hotel set and it just feels very stretched, by the end the same old jokes have worn thin and the ending is very silly.

"Cash In" Syndrome?

[martin-217 · 4/10 · 29 May 2000]

Ignore the gargantuan ballot-stuffing--median 10.0 indeed!

For fans of the tv show this is somewhat amusing, but as a movie it's just shamefully inadequate. In terms of pedigree, this is truly the progenitor of all those later scenarios where five-minute SNL skits had to come out as full-length movies. In the 1990's this would have gone direct-to-video.

The regular cast all play as well as ever, but a surprising guest turn is Andrew Sachs who appears as the hotel manager... an amusing irony given his lasting fame as hotel lackey Manuel in "Fawlty Towers".

Sexist racist smut........brilliant!

[ianlouisiana · 8/10 · 25 July 2009]

From the days when "Artistic freedom" was more than just a meaningless phrase,"Are you being served" is deliciously low,grubby,cheap and very,very funny.It is of course a farce - a genre that is often attempted but seldom with as much success.First-rate comic actors do their familiar schtick,much-loved characters expand very satisfactorily to the big screen ,and,thirty years ago,moviegoers left the theatres with aching sides.How can that be a bad thing? Now we are living in a much more liberal society and are not allowed to laugh at anything that "They" don't think is funny and several po-faced Guardian readers appear to issue weekly dictats about what we watch on TV where sex of all persuasions is prevalent but we're not permitted to make jokes about it ,appalling violence is wrought 24/7 in our front rooms because it is "street" and we are "bourgeois" to complain about it,and language that would make a bargee blush is spouted by "stand up" comedians while their "sophisticated" audience, doubtless comprising of the rest of the readers of The Guardian,roll about in the aisles. Compared to all this,"are you being served" is,as those avatars of Englishness Mr Gilbert and Mr Sullivan once said,"a source of innocent merriment". Messrs Thornton,Inman,Bannister,mesdames Sugden and Richards,I salute you.In a world of fuel crises,Arthur Scargill,England failing to reach the World Cup finals and Scotland succeeding,the Sex Pistols and the Silver Jubilee.....you made me laugh like a drain.

Big screen outing for the popular TV series

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 26 April 2017]

ARE YOU BEING SERVED? is a 1977 big screen outing for the popular British TV sitcom of the same name. All of the same cast are back in a plot that sees the workers being packaged off for an ill-fated holiday on the 'Costa Plonka'. There's something endearingly low budget about the production which was entirely shot in a studio in Britain aside from one brief airport scene.

The film isn't as funny as the TV series and it's a bit odd not to have any canned laughter, but I found myself enjoying it regardless. The humour is more along the lines of CARRY ON ABROAD than anything else but the actors are all very good at line delivery and the likes of John Inman and Mollie Sugden rarely step out of line. The film is fairly smutty in places but not offensively so as in these modern times. Much of the humour relies on puns which for the most part are very amusing, and there's a bonus in having FAWLTY TOWERS star Andrew Sachs playing another Spaniard.

Really quite lame and not nearly as funny as the show

[MovieAddict2016 · 4/10 · 11 January 2005]

I've always been an infrequent fan (if that makes any sense?) of the cult British TV show "Are You Being Served?" When it was originally aired it was actually in black and white and then moved on to color as the years progressed. I thought the characters were likable and had good trademarks, the humor was well-established as was just about everything regarding the series. Overall it was just very well crafted.

However this spin-off movie from 1977 really lacks the spark, charisma and humor of the TV show and as a result is quite lame and not even very entertaining. Part of the reason, I think - believe it or not - is due to the awkwardness of the missing laugh track. We've become so accustomed to the use of a fake laugh track (you know - the people who always seem to laugh at even the lame jokes in "Friends" for no reason whatsoever) that watching a "film" playing like a full-length sitcom - minus the laughs - seems really bizarre.

Oh, that, plus the movie itself is a stinker and not very funny. That probably has something to do with my dislike for it as well.

Overall not horrible but hardly worth your time.

Honest, Innocent & "Fun"

[amazon-851-688153 · 10/10 · 11 June 2021]

Love the idea, love the writing and it delivers a full mug of comfort.

British comedy created by the best, a fantastic cast, who delivered a great performance.

This is a classic. An innocent time where we could laugh at any situation without all the politics that plagues our world today.

I can't rate this movie high enough.... The cast delivers, the script delivers and it provides an enjoyable innocent fun time away from the realities of today.

If you like it (as I do, with a passion) then do check out the Are You Being Served TV show, 10 series, over 60 episodes, it's awesome and has all the same qualities mentioned above.

It makes me smile as soon as the iconic theme tune starts to play.

Worth A Watch

[Budruss · 6/10 · 22 June 2023]

For fans of the show only, this was an international romp starring the characters you've grown to love. Sort of.

Imagine someone had taken your favorite episode of "Are You Being Served" and padded it out to about an hour and a half, threw in a few jokes from other episodes, and shot the whole thing on film for some reason as it clearly is all done in a studio (With the exception of the airport, which I found hilarious).

That's about what they've done here. While still funny and worthwhile to sit through it can get a little tedious at times. Some of the jokes are recycled and the comedy of errors that ensues is something we've seen a half-dozen times before in the series.

I do wish they had left the entire thing in the store as the setting is as much of a cherished character as any of the cast, but I suppose for the big cinematic release they wanted to stretch a little. Even if it is just transplanting everyone from one set to an even cheaper-looking set.

If you're a fan it's totally worth a watch, just don't expect too much of it.

Deliciously dirty gags aid movie desperately in need of a laugh track.

[mark.waltz · 4/10 · 28 February 2014]

As a huge fan of the "Are You Being Served?" TV series (even with all of the replacements later in the series), I was looking forward to seeing this, and in spite of some hysterically funny moments, felt a bit let down. Like some T.V. movie follow-ups to classic TV series of the 1960's, this seemed forced without its laugh track, whether or not it had been dubbed in or actually filmed in front of a live audience. In the case of "Are You Being Served?", the cast seems lonely without the laugh track behind Mrs. Slocum's constant "And I am unanimous in that!", Mr. Humphrey's screeching "I'm Free!" or Captain Peacock's stern gaze at the antics of Mr. Lucas ogling Miss Brahams. Yes, this is the original characters back, and the premise has them on vacation in a seemingly fictional Spanish country on the verge of rebellion. Why a group of people who already spend enough time together during the work week would agree to a vacation together is impossible to believe, even if you do accept all the sexual harassment going on by both male and female characters, pretty racy stuff for what us Yanks mistakenly thought about the British prior to the "Carry On!" films and this T.V. series which seems like a feature version of that which could have been called, "Carry On, Grace Brothers!".

If Mr. Humphreys was effeminate in the T.V. series (yet his sexuality was often lied about although we knew...we knew...), he is downright flamboyant here, his obvious gayness out there like a British Paul Lynde as Uncle Arthur. Even with that, his co-workers are all pretty accepting, even if they do tend to harmlessly tease him with cracks that today might be considered defamation. This makes this pre-political correctness era a lot more fun to observe, reminding us that we all have something to be laughed at, making me believe that the creators were simply indicating we needed to relax and not be so uptight about parodying stereotypes without being turned over to the P.C. Police.

The funniest gag has to do with a pair of chattering false teeth which Mr. Lucas hides in a dummy's bathing suit causing lots of chaos and the visual of Mr. Humphreys in drag in Mrs. Slocum's robe and one of her wigs. There is a lot of innuendo and confusion as notes passed at dinner create hopes for trysts which obviously never occur yet lead to a Keystone Cop style chase sequence between Mr. Humphreys, a Spanish rebel, and even Mrs. Slocum, stunned by encountering her "look-alike" in the midst of it.

You won't be bored but neither will you be enlightened either. Some of the plot twists ("Dear Sexy Knickers") are straight out of earlier episodes and the finale is outlandishly ridiculous even if it keeps with the flavor of how many of the series episodes ended.