The Pot Carriers (1962) User Reviews

Well-acted by a familiar cast-a prison comedy that pleases.

[ianlouisiana · 7/10 · 30 March 2006]

This is not a film about drug mules,the "Pot Carriers" referred to are inmates of Her Majesty's prisons who are locked in their cells overnight without lavatory facilities and,as a consequence,have to use chamberpots and endure a humiliating process known as "Slopping Out" every morning,where they queue to dispose of the contents of their pots.This is not the only piece of Prison arcana you need to know in order to get the maximum enjoyment from this film.You need to know that a "Redband" is what is known in America as a "Trusty",a job that gives the holder a degree of freedom within the prison although this freedom is often confined to one particular area,i.e.a Library redband will work in the library,a Hospital redband in the hospital etc etc.A "Flowery" is a cell(flowery dell = cell in Cockney rhyming slang).A Landing Screw is a Prison Officer responsible for one floor of the prison.The Chief is the Chief Prison Officer,not the chief of the prison who is the Governor.The rest you will pick up as you go along.If you've seen "Two - Way Stretch" you'll know more or less what to expect. The film stars one of the great unsung British character actors Mr Ronald Fraser as Redband.Whether Mr Fraser was cast as a villain or a Remittance Man - and it was usually one or the other - he always gave the part a depth and understanding far beyond the call of duty. To me his career defining performances came in two TV series,as Basil Allenby - Johnson in "The Misfit",an ex army officer lately returned from foreign parts,determinedly lacking in post-colonial guilt and finding himself a stranger in his own country,and as the incomparable Apthorpe in "Men at Arms".He excelled as a decent man stymied by his inability to see what others around him would refer to as "The Bigger Picture".He makes the humanity in Redband shine through his somewhat rough exterior.Mr.Daniel Massey plays the new prisoner,Rainbow,very much out of place,a "Fish" as he would be called nowadays,and he'd have to watch it in the showers,but this was 1962 and there was no such thing as male rape.He spends a lot of time gazing at his cell wall thinking about his girl.He was very good at playing sensitive thinkers out of their milieu - try the superb "Orders to kill" to see him move up a gear. The Governor is played by Mr Paul Rogers who I'd seen as Professor Higgins at Drury lane a year or so earlier.Like most movie prison bosses he is well-meaning but rather lame. Mr Davy Kaye the former music hall star (Ivor Moreton and Davy Kay a piano playing double act) plays a prisoner called Mouse who is quite small. With a good role for Mr Dennis Price as well,"The Pot Carriers" is a nice little film,a gently funny thing,not broad enough to be called "Carry on Convict"and not clever enough to be Ealing. The director Peter Graham-Scott had originally done "The Pot Carriers" on TV so he knew the material,and knew how to get the best out of it. There is no envelope-pushing here,the film has a comforting sort of familiarity that is enhanced by the appearance of well-known faces happily occupying the sort of roles they had been playing all their careers. I wholeheartedly recommend this forgotten little movie to any lover of small-budget unambitious but ultimately pleasing British films.

Routine prison drama

[malcolmgsw · 6/10 · 19 September 2015]

Ronnie Fraser was a well established character actor.In this film set in prison he plays the predecessor of Fletcher in Porridge.The production company Associated British tried in the trailer and in the press to make out not only that he was a new star but the new Bogart.Well clearly that was rather wishful thinking.Prison films of this era would come in 2 forms.Firstly the serious prison drama such as The Criminal or comedies such as Two Way Strech..This film seems to fall between both genres.This film verse uneasily between the two.Carole Lesley plays the waiting woman in what would be her last film.Her career faded out after this and sadly she committed suicide.This is a reasonable prison film but Fraser is no match for Ronnie Barkers Fletcher.

Comparisons with "Porridge"

[trimmerb1234 · 7/10 · 16 May 2020]

This film came first - Porridge came 12 years later and is I think Pot Carriers with jokes and a comic lead - but lacking the intricate and authentic plot and character portrayals of the original. Ronald Fraser is good - if you follow what he's about. He's proud to be a professional thief and is not sitting out his sentence but boosting his "professional" reputation by the neatness of the scams he works inside - to earn him big respect when he comes out. A sunny likable manner, gets on with everyone and apparently keeping his nose clean is earning him maximum remission. Best of all, he and his associates are as they put it "Living like Kings" eating better food than the screws who are themselves being paid off from the proceeds to look the other way. The complicated interlocking barter economy is clever and sounds believable> He's neither Bogart nor Ronny Barker - the part doesnt call for either but he dominates the film. Porridge, having seen this, appears something of a rip-off

interesting and sentimental prison story.

[ib011f9545i · 7/10 · 11 August 2021]

This is not a well known film but it is worth seeing I think.

It is a film about prison life but it is a comedy/drama.

It does not show prison life to be that bad,little violence or mental breakdowns.

There is one violent scene and a few hints of homosexuality.

To me it shows that most prisoners are immature or stupid and fall into the criminal lifestyle as a habit.

But this is a touching tale of an old lag adopting a new young prisoner and how they learn from each other.

This will remind many people of the British tv programme Porridge which was made about 10-12 years after this film.

The cast is great,lots of familiar British actors from the period and some nice scenes of early 1960s London,eg Waterloo Station.

Ronald Fraser steals the film but there are no bad performances.

I have to mention Carole Lesley who is good and this and a great beauty.

Nothing special

[Leofwine_draca · 5/10 · 9 January 2020]

THE POT CARRIERS is a low budget prison drama that never really provides much in the way of interest, although all of the right ingredients are included at times. I suppose it's because the lack of money means that there's little in the way of drama or directorial flourishes, while the elements of storyline have been done so many times before, often better than they play out here. Paul Massie is the prisoner who enters jail after an act of violence and becomes involved with the charlatans and scammers inside. Shades of the future TV show PORRIDGE come from Ronald Fraser's likeable scallywag, while the supporting cast is of most interest: Eddie Byrne, Dennis Price, Neil McCarthy and in particular a truly evil Alfred Burke all provide solid support.