Trivia / Carry On Regardless

• Actor-Shared Background:
  • Hattie Jacques, who played the Sister, was a nurse in the VAD during World War II.
  • One of the jobs for Helping Hands comes from Lefty Vincent, a boxer who used to box against Mr. Handy. The former is played by Freddie Mills, who as noted below was an actual boxer, but Sid James had also claimed to have been a boxer back in South Africa.
• Billing Displacement: When the film was released on Blu-Ray in Australia, Patrick Cargill and Joan Hickson were given mentions on the back of the box despite only playing bit roles.
• Blooper: The jet of water spraying from the broken tap changes somehow manages to change directions as it shoots Mike through the kitchen door, yet later sends Sam and Francis crashing through the wall.
• Cast the Expert:
  • Real-life boxer Freddie Mills plays Lefty Vincent.
  • A taxi driver is played by Fred Griffiths, who was a taxi driver in real life before becoming an actor.
• Cast the Runner-Up:
  • Hattie Jacques was scheduled for a leading role but was forced to drop out due to illness leaving her with the small part of Sister in the hospital scene. To amend this, a script rewrite built up Joan Sims' role, and Liz Fraser was brought in as an extra character.
  • According to the book Carry On Actors by Andrew Ross, comments by Fraser Kerr reveal that he was first offered another role.
• Completely Different Title:
  • Hungary: Continue Regardless!/Carry On, No Matter!.
• Costume Backlash: Nicholas Parsons hated the suit he had to wear because it didn't fit him properly.
• Cowboy BeBop at His Computer: Some reviews of the film slated Leslie Phillips' performance... despite the fact that Phillips had dropped out of the film before the cameras even began rolling.
• Creator Backlash:
  • Writer Norman Hudis regarded this among his least favourite entries in the series, stating that the film was a mess and blamed himself for beginning to strain by this point. Hudis wasn't fond of Stanley Unwin's landlord, thought the climax was too much like a pantomime (even saying it made him cringe), and had a particular hatred for the sequence where Sam Twist tries to give up smoking, considering it evidence of rushed plotting and the punchline of "No draws" claiming it to be "not so much as a punchline as a limp and soggy punline, feeble and furtive instead of heartily vulgar"; At one point he stated he wished he could've burnt the sequence much like Frank Capra did to the original opening sequence of Lost Horizon.
  • In his diary, Kenneth Williams called the film "quite terrible. An unmitigated disaster".
• Creator's Favourite Episode: Out of the four Carry On films she appeared in, this was Liz Fraser's favourite.
• Defictionalization: There are several employment agencies in the UK named Helping Hands.
• Deleted Role:
  • Eleanor Summerfield as Mrs. Riley.
  • Lucy Griffiths as Aunt Acid, who can still be glimpsed in the film for a brief second during Montgomery's scene at the Ideal Homes Exhibition.
  • Ian Whittaker as a shop assistant who sells Sam some cigarettes.
  • Ronald Adam also was cut out of the film.
• Deleted Scene:
  • When Sam frantically buys a pack of cigarettes, the shop assistant had one line that was cut from the film.
  • The scene where the raffish customer asks Montgomery about a "popsy cupboard" had his Aunt Acid's disapproval to his comment cut.
  • The scene where Delia visits Leonard Beamish was cut down by the BBFC to remove sexual innuendo.
  • A scene where Gabe clambers into Mrs. Riley's wardrobe and reports on her sleep talking was rejected by the censors for a line where Mrs. Riley mentions Gabe being able to "do your part from the wardrobe".
  • All together, Regardless had the highest amount of material cut out during the editing process out of all 31 Carry On films.
• DVD Commentary: With Carry On historian Robert Ross talking to Liz Fraser (Delia King) and Terence Longdon (Montgomery Infield-Hopping).
• Enforced Method Acting: The drink that Joan Sims drinks at the wine-tasting party was actually neat gin. Gerald Thomas switched the non-alcoholic drink in her glass for real claiming that he wanted a good reaction shot.
• Fake Brit:
  • The South African-born Sid James plays the British Mr. Handy.
  • The Australians Esma Cannon and Ed Devereaux play British characters - Miss Cooling and Mr. Panting.
• Fake Nationality: Betty Marsden as Mata Hari.
• Inspiration for the Work: Norman Hudis' inspiration for Helping Hands came from a similar orginisation called Universal Aunts.
• Never Work with Children or Animals: Yoki the Chimp had a bit of an episode and started smashing the ornaments in the hall of the house where filming was taking place. It took his owners over an hour to calm him down before any filming could take place.
• On-Set Injury: When Trudy hits Trevor in the head with the vase, Terence Alexander was hit with the edge and left with a cut on his head.
• Real-Life Relative: Gerald Thomas' elder brother Ralph Thomas co-directed the film with him but was uncredited.
• Role-Ending Misdemeanor: Nicholas Parsons never worked on another Carry On after this film because Gerald Thomas told his agent that he was too "fussy" for asking for a second take.
• Throw It In!:
  • When doing the wine-tasting scene, Joan Sims was told that she'd be drinking a non-alcoholic juice. Unbeknownst to her, her first mouthful of the juice was actually gin, which made her make a look of surprise.
  • When Kenneth Williams is trying to hail a taxi with the chimp, Fred Griffiths ad-libbed the line, "I'll take you, but not your brother".
• Uncredited Role:
  • Michael Nightingale as a wine bystander.
  • A young Sally Geeson as a girl at the toy exhibition.
• Viewer Name Confusion: The testy old man played by Kynaston Reeves is often referred to as "Sir Theodore", due to a misconception coming from the fact that Mr. Handy (being asked to take the testy old man's place in a hospital waiting room) is himself mistaken for Sir Theodore (who never appears onscreen).
• What Could Have Been:
  • Hattie Jacques was to play a leading role, while Joan Sims would've had a smaller role and Liz Fraser wouldn't even have been in the film if it wasn't for Jacques' illness forcing her to drop out.
  • The role of Montgomery Infield-Hopping was originally intended for Leslie Phillips. However, Phillips, complaining of typecasting, withdrew, and the part was drastically cut, before being recast with Terence Longdon.
  • Jerry Desmonde took over the role of Mr. Paul from Jeremy Hawk who dropped out of the film.
  • A BBFC cut meant the alteration of one of Sam's lines to Mrs. Panting from "You're making it a little bit hard for me, madam" to "You're making it a little bit difficult for me, madam".

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