Carry
On Don't Lose Your Head Trivia
- Dany Robin was the wife of Sid James' agent. Sid
stayed at their house one night when her husband was away, she was somewhat
surprised to wake up to him attempting to get into bed with her. He
tried it again later in the night.
- The chateau used in the film at the end, was Waddesdon Manor in Aylesbury.
Built for the Rothchild family it is the only genuine French chateau in
England.
- Sid James and Jim Dale came up with the gag where a
messenger is told to drop the message in to the basket and the Duc will read
it later.
- Rank was reluctant to use the Carry On title for Don't
Lose Your Head and Camel, as they had concerns over legal action as they had
just moved to new distributors. The Carry On title was added on years
later.
- At the end of 1965 Sid James had revealed to
journalists that he was due to play the part of the Scarlet Pimpernel in the
new Carry On. The authoress of the original stories, Baroness Orczy, had
died just twenty years earlier and her work was still in copyright. In a
letter of appeasement to production solicitor Hugh J Parton, producer Peter
Rogers adamantly explained that the film: “Is about an English aristocrat
rescuing aristos from the guillotine but I assure you that it is not in any
way based on ‘The Scarlet Pimpernel’.” And got away with it!
- After twelve Carry On films and various other comedy
releases with Anglos Amalgamated Rogers was forced to look for a new
distribution company. The Rank Organisation proved willing. Legal questions
over title ownership and Rank’s concern over inheriting a rival’s brand name
led to the abandonment of the Carry On prefix from this opening venture. In
a post-production meeting in February 1967 Rogers commented that: “as the
film was more visual than previous “Carry On” productions it could stand on
its own without any reference to ‘carry on’.” Still, Rank were mindful of
the success of the series and considered the release as “virtually the
thirteenth “Carry On” film”. The poster tagline, ‘Carry On Laughing Until
You Have Hysterics But Don’t Lose Your Head’ was used as a conscious link
with the past and won over earlier suggestions including; “that “Carry On”
team has the French Revolution in Convulsions” and “Carry On Tumbrils –
they’re the new rescue squad of the French Revolution.” The American release
removed all confusion and simply re-titled the film Carry On Pimpernel.
- Regular Carry On composer and conductor Eric Rogers
(no relation of the producer) completed his seventh complete score for the
film although questions were raised by Rank concerning the opening. Eric
Rogers had adapted ‘Here We Come Gathering Nuts In May’ in a jazzed-up style
for a tongue-in-cheek overture but this was eventually replaced by the
catchy Bill Martin and Phil Coulter theme song ‘executed by the Michael
Sammes Singers’.
- Scriptwriter Talbot Rothwell, delivering his seventh
Carry On, also saw the jettisoning of his first draft alternative titles;
“Short back and sides” or “Heads You Lost” or “Death Of A Hat Salesman” or
“Daddy Wouldn’t Buy Me A Tourniquet”. A Romance of the French Revolution by
Talbot Rothwell or a script with cuts in it by Ivor Guillotine.
- Befitting a script of such historical splendour,
three National Trust properties were used during location filming; Clandon
Park near Guildford was utilised for the ballroom interior scenes for Sid
James’s manor house, while Cliveden the luxurious former home of Lady Astor
provided the perfect exteriors for Sid’s abode. Waddesdon Manor near
Aylesbury, the only genuine French chateau design home in England, doubled
for the ill-fated mansion of Kenneth Williams in the climatic swashbuckling
sequence.
Continuity
- Sid is a quick-change artist when he knocks down the
soldier and slips into his uniform. Also the other two when they do likewise.
