MoPoshy Absolutely brilliant

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Ariella Broughton It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

ShadeGrenade A milkman ( Victor Maddern ) walks into a top secret research centre and steals Professor Stark's new formula before blowing him up. In Whitehall, the Chief of B.O.S.H. ( Eric Barker ) and chief security officer Cobley ( Richard Wattis ) wonder whom to send to get it back. "I know its scraping the barrel, but what about Simkins?". The Chief says: "That's not scraping the barrel. That's going beneath it!". Simkins ( Kenneth Williams ) has urgent business of his own, having spent the night locked in a filing cabinet. "Haven't you anything to do?". asks the Chief. "Not half, after being in there all night!", replies the junior spy. A message from Carstairs ( Jim Dale ) confirms that Milchmann ( the milkman ) is an agent of S.T.E.N.C.H. ( the Society for Total Extinction of Non-Conforming Humans ), an organisation bent on world domination led by the evil Dr.Crow ( Judith Furse ). With a team of three inept trainee spies - Daphne Honeybutt ( Barbara Windsor ), Harold Crump ( Bernard Cribbins ) and Charlie 'Oh Oh Oh' Bind ( Charles Hawtrey ), he catches the next plane to Vienna...With James Bond mania sweeping the world, the 'Carry On' gang just had to join in the fun. Though made on a smaller budget than Charles K.Feldman's 'Casino Royale' ( released three years later ) it manages to be ten times funnier. The story has a nice sweep, starting in London before moving to Vienna then onto Algiers, then back to London via the Orient Express and finally to S.T.E.N.C.H. H.Q. Some of the jokes are surprisingly rude for the time; for example, emerging from a toilet, Simkins tells Carstairs: "I should give it a minute!". Williams' 'Simpkins' is an expansion of the 'Snide' character from 'Hancock's Half-Hour'; he even gets to say 'stop messing about'. 'Spying' marked the 'Carry On' debut of the bubbly Windsor, and you can see why she became one of the best-loved cast members. Jim Dale's 'Carstairs', modelled on Sean Connery's 007, makes a good straight man for the others to bounce off. Richard Wattis and Eric Barker had both appeared in the 'Danger Man' television series starring Patrick McGoohan ( the former in 'The Ubitquitous Mr.Lovegrove' and the latter was John Drake's boss 'Hardy' in Season 1 ). Dilys Laye ( as café singer Lila' ) is drop dead gorgeous. She got to sing two songs specially composed for the film - 'Too Late' and 'The Magic Of Love'. Eric Pohlmann a.k.a. 'The Fat Man' was the voice of 'Blofeld' in the second Bond movie. As 'Dr.Crow' we have the formidable Judith Furse. The good doctor is a hybrid of male and female, intended to be the first in a new species of human. Oo-er! Norman Hudis was supposed to have written this, but his work was not used. Sid Colin and Talbot Rothwell's script effectively spoofs the first two Bonds ( Carstairs' watch is the same as that used by Robert Shaw in the opening of 'From Russia With Love' ) to 'The Third Man' ( Gerald Thomas had been Assistant Editor on Carol Reed's 1949 classic ). The idea of a team of agents working together predates the 'Mission: Impossible' series by two years. The finale in S.T.E.N.C.H. H.Q. as our luckless heroes find themselves trapped in an automated factory is surreal by 'Carry On' standards. The characters' lives are genuinely in peril.The 'Carry On' team could do no wrong at this point and further movie spoofs appeared from them in due course - such as 'Carry On Cowboy' and my personal favourite - 'Carry On Screaming' ( both 1966 ).Funniest moment - Simpkins briefing his agents in London. After showing them how to get off a slick draw ( using a gun ), Daphne comments: "I only wish I could get my draws off as slickly as that!".One quibble though - why was it made in black and white?

TheLittleSongbird This movie is not the best of the Carry on franchise but it works very well. Yes even with one or two moments of uneven pacing and an underused Dilys Lane, the film is very entertaining, with a nice simple story and some funny dialogue and gags. Carry On Spying is nicely filmed, has a quirky score and the acting is fine(even without Sidney James). Ever the old pros, Kenneth Williams and Charles Hawtrey give it their all and are great fun, while Judith Furse stands out as well. But it is the wonderful Barbara Windsor who steals the show, she was delightful in this movie. Overall, this film is simple and thanks to the acting and dialogue especially is very entertaining as well. 8/10 Bethany Cox

bob the moo When the evil forces of STENCH strike at a British research laboratory they get away with a top secret chemical formula. With the British agents spread thin across the world, The Chief has very few options open to him to follow up the lead into the mysterious Milchmann who led the attack. The Chief scraps the bottom of the barrel and comes up with Simkins – probably one of his worst agents. Assigning Simkins with a handful of trainee agents – Crump, Honeybutt and Bind – the ragtag band set off to meet up with Agent Carstairs in Vienna.Despite being made in the mid-sixties this Carry On film has more in common with those made early in the series (Teacher and Sergeant) more than it does with those made around the same time as it (Jack, Cruising, Cowboy). It is not just the black and white that made me think this but also the fact that the humour seems fresher and slicker than the heavy innuendo and crudity of the later films. Others have said this has more in common with Ealing than Carry On – they are wrong, but I can see what they mean because the light spy spoof is very much an early Carry On. The material isn't great though but it does produce easy and obvious comedy and those looking to just to fill a wet Sunday afternoon.The cast make a big difference even though not all the regulars are present. Williams and Hawtrey are the most fun as both play up their camp characters to good effect – they both get the best lines as well. Windsor is pretty good as she isn't just used as an object. Cribbins was pretty dull I thought but Dale was good value in a small role. Additional support from Barker, Laye and a few others all helps. Overall a Carry On like they first made them; not brilliant but light fun.

Jackson Booth-Millard It is rather unusual to see the Carry On team trying to spoof the James Bond type films, but they almost do it well. Basically a team of spies assembled by the British government, including The Chief (Eric Barker) are sent to retrieve a chemical formula stolen by STENCH (the Society for the Total Extinction of Non-Conforming Humans). This team include Desmond Simkins (Kenneth Williams), Daphne Honeybutt (Barbara Windsor in her first Carry On film, and she's not in as many as the others), Harold Crump (Bernard Cribbins), Charlie Bind (Charles Hawtrey) and Carstairs (Jim Dale). There are some great misunderstanding jokes, some sexy moments with Windsor and ultimately, it is a good spy spoof, but where's Joan Sims? Good!