Trivia / Follow That Camel

• Acting for Two: Kenneth Williams as Commandant Burger and Lady Jane's baby.
• Billing Displacement: Anita Harris was listed among the stars of the film for the original VHS release, despite only playing a supporting role.
• Blooper:
  • When Lady Jane reads Bo's letter explaining how he has joined the French Foreign Legion, the letter and napkin in her hands change hands between shots.
  • When Commandant Burger, Sergeant Nocker, and Captain le Pice start their inspection, the time of day and Captain le Pice's position in relation to the others changes between shots.
  • Lady Jane's train compartment darkens without the window blind being pulled down.
  • When a group of legionnaires approach the camera, their shadows change sides between shots.
  • When Lady Jane is reunited with Commandant Burger, her earrings disappear in one shot.
  • Sergeant Nocker's medals disappear when he is taken to the Oasis El Nooki.
  • When Bo and Sergeant Nocker are questioned by Abdul, his hands change from holding his sword to holding his whip between shots.
  • One of the harem girls changes location several times in the tent between shots.
  • Footprints are visible all across the "untraversed" desert sands.
  • When the plughole is discovered, a voice saying "Those English devils" can be heard, despite the fact it matches none of the characters in the scene.
• California Doubling: Filming of the Sahara Desert scenes took place on Camber Sands; ironically, filming was actually halted at one point because there was snow on the sands.
• Cast the Runner-Up: Charles Hawtrey wanted to play the role of Bo West, but Peter Rogers refused; it was eventually played by Jim Dale while Hawtrey was cast as Captain le Pice.
• Completely Different Title:
  • Germany: In the Desert, No Water Flows.
  • Hungary: Continue in the Foreign Legion!/Continue in the Desert!.
• Creator Backlash: Julian Holloway later admitted he wasn't remotely proud of his involvement with any of the Carry On films.
• The Danza: Michael Nightingale as Nightingale.
• Deleted Role:
  • While still visible in the film, Gertan Klauber's role as the spiv was cut down to a mere background extra.
  • Peter Jessen's role as Lawrence was cut.
  • The recently deceased Capitaine Charles Derriére.
• Deleted Scene:
  • A spiv trying to sell naughty postcards to Bo and Simpson.
  • Simpson accidentally impaling Sergeant Nocker's foot during bayonet practice.
  • Sergeant Nocker and Bo mistaking Simpson in Arabic clothing for an Arab and trying to jump him for his clothes.
  • Lawrence of Arabia asking Commandant Burger for directions:
    Lawrence: Excuse me, but am I going right for Arabia?
    Commandant Burger: Straight on. As far as you can go.
    Lawrence: Thanks awfully. Lovely weather!
    Commandant Burger: (Beat) No, it couldn't have been...
  • The troops finding the corpse of Capitaine Derriére.
  • The corpses at the Fort being buried, alongside Simpson by accident:
    Commandant Burger: One moment, Sergeant! You said seventeen dead.
    Sergeant Nocker: That's right, sir.
    Commandant Burger: There are eighteen graves here!
    Sergeant Nocker: Oh, we must have dug one too many, sir.
    Simpson: I've been trying to tell you that for the last half hour!
  • Commandant Burger hearing Abdul playing music to get ready to marry Jane:
    Sergeant Nocker: How about that! The whole garrison wiped out and they give us selections from The Desert Song!
• DVD Commentary: With Carry On historian Robert Ross talking to Jim Dale (Bo West).
• Dyeing for Your Art: Kenneth Williams got a military haircut to play the commandant.
• Fake Nationality:
  • Bernard Bresslaw plays a character called Abdul Abulbul. This is a reference to a popular British drinking song (with unprintable lyrics) called Ivan Skavinsky Skavar, in which the eponymous young Russian engages in a sexual duel with the wily Turk Abdul Abulbul Emir.
  • Kenneth Williams as the German Commandant Burger.
  • The Polish John Bluthal as the Spanish Corporal Clotski.
• Hostility on the Set:
  • The regular cast members didn't enjoy Phil Silvers' presence onset. He had short-term memory loss during the making of the film and had to have boards placed behind the camera so he could read his lines. Kenneth Williams publicly rebuked him both on-set and in his personal diaries for this. He also kept losing his contact lenses in the sands, necessitating cast and crew to help him look for them. There was also the fact that he was being paid considerably more than the regulars caused animosity.
  • For three to four days at the start of filming, Jim Dale and Peter Butterworth weren't speaking to each other, even though they had the majority of scenes together. Kenneth Williams had told them both that the other hated them and laughed at the pair when they worked out what he had done. According to Dale, they were furious with Williams, and Dale went as far as to chase Williams around the studio.
• Never Work with Children or Animals:
  • The camel used in the film came from Chessington Zoo and was called Sheena the Camel. The only problem was that she had never walked on sand before, and corrugated material covered with sand had to be placed on the floor before her scenes. She also bit Jim Dale once, leading Peter Rogers hit her with a prop in response.
  • The horse used in the desert scenes would not gallop, only canter. The producer sped up the film in order to show the horse galloping.
• On-Set Injury:
  • Kenneth Williams can be seen limping in several scenes after Jim Dale accidentally dropped a rifle onto his foot.
  • Dale himself was bit by Sheena the camel, so Peter Rogers hit her with a prop.
• Stunt Casting: Phil Silvers received the And Starring credit as a Ratings Stunt at the box office. It was in hope to gain money on a movie from a low-budgeted production company because of his popularity at the time. It didn't work as much as it should've done.
• Throw It In!:
  • The scene where Bo gets his leg caught in the camel's harness and Simpson shoos it with his umbrella was improvised by Peter Butterworth, who saw a prime opportunity for comedy.
  • In the scene where Bo West drops the rifle on Commandant Burger's foot, Jim Dale actually did accidentally drop the rifle onto Kenneth Williams' foot instead of onto the sand. It was so heavy it cut the boot leather. Williams' painful reaction was real, and he can be seen limping in several subsequent scenes. Dale insisted it was accidental but Williams wrote in his autobiography that he was sure it was deliberate.
• Uncredited Role:
  • Michael Nightingale as Nightingale.
  • Jo Rowbottom as a harem girl.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Carry On Camping originally took this film's place as 14th in the series, although Camel took it's place after Camping had to be drastically rewritten.
  • Talbot Rothwell's original script had to be severely cut down as in the book The Lost Carry Ons, Peter Rogers described the original as "epic in proportions" and "akin to a David Lean production".
  • Woody Allen was considered for the role of Sergeant Nocker after Sid James pulled out due to commitments on George and the Dragon but before Phil Silvers was cast.
  • Before being cast as Captain le Pice, Charles Hawtrey had hoped to play Bo.
  • The original ending had Silvers as the baby of Lady Jane turning to the camera and saying, "Ah well, as the old Arab saying has it 'You can put may camels through the eye of a needle, but you still know not what will come out'". While the scene was shot, it was replaced at the eleventh hour with a baby Kenneth Williams.
• Word of God: Captain le Pice's first name is unstated in the film, but it was confirmed by Peter Rogers to be "Gerrard".
• Working Title:
  • Carry On Bo.
  • Two alternate joke titles that were considered were Across the Sahara with Spade & Bucket and You've Gotta Be Tough When There's Nothing But Sandpaper.

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