For their fifth venture, the usual "Carry On" suspects (Sidney James, Kenneth Connor, Charles Hawtrey. Kenneth Williams, Joan Sims and Hattie Jacques) are joined by other irregular members (Fenella Fielding, Liz Fraser, Esma Cannon, Terence Longdon, Bill Owen, David Lodge and Norman Rossington) and some surprising cameos (Stanley Unwin, Jerry Desmonde, Kynaston Reeves, Howard Marion Crawford and Patrick Cargill) in a frequently hilarious but ultimately patchy and disjointed romp.

James' Bert Handy heads "Helping Hands", a well-meaning but hopelessly incompetent firm providing any services the customer may require: and, so it is that James is asked by an eccentric millionaire to take his place in the queue at a hospital's waiting room and is consequently mistaken for him and waited on by the matron (Jacques, naturally); Connor is in top form here: ostensibly hired as a babysitter, he finds himself acting as Fielding's lover to arouse her neglectful husband, being a librarian driven to hysterics when attempting to observe a public library's rule of silence, getting himself all wet when, completely misunderstanding a client's request, he engages in some Hitchcockian espionage aboard a train full of sinister passengers, getting engulfed by the "Bed of the Century" when attending an Ideal Home exhibition and, best of all perhaps, going "cold turkey" after his sixth attempt to stop smoking; Sims also has a memorable bit when she ends up drunk at a wine-tasting event and makes a shambles of the place to the chagrin of organizer Crawford; Hawtrey goes into the ring against a massive opponent when, acting as his second, he inadvertently injures the challenger!; Williams enjoys a tea party with a group of chimps at the zoo, etc.

The finale shows Cannon's infallible filing system going bonkers with each member of the group being sent out on the wrong assignment and, afterwards, the whole gang join forces in demolishing a dilapidated building…even if their original task was merely to clean it up a bit! In a notable appearance, celebrated comedian Stanley Unwin speaks his trademark nonsense language and drives the entire crew to distraction during his intermittent visits to their office…before multi-linguist Williams manages to explain that he is their landlord and is about to throw them out!

As one can make out, there are several funny bits in this film but it is also evident that its inherently episodic structure (which entails that some of the gang members are given precedence over others) fails to coalesce into a cohesive and completely satisfying whole.

The film centred around The Helping Hands business is full of laughs.Favourite sketch is Sam Twist (Kenneth Connor) in the club as steward and is told not to make a sound.You can't help but laugh as he gradually loses the plot when he sees an old man's fly undone on his trousers,an old man falling asleep reading a book and an old man sleeping as his wig slips down over his face.Top notch.A film (like all Carry On films)that I never get sick of watching with all the early Carry On regulars present.Typlical Carry On gags and double-entendre with the campness of Charles Hawtrey and Kenneth Williams always guaranteed to make me laugh.

A bunch of out of work folk are delighted when several positions come onto the market at the Helping Hands Agency...

As most reviews attest to, this fifth Carry On film barely has a plot to get your hands on. Pic basically takes the seven members of the agency through a series of vignettes, the jobs they are assigned to do ranging from chimp walking to modelling underwear!

Each slot allows for some amiable comedic opportunity, the best of which finds Joan Sims getting sloshed at a wine tasting function, Charles Hawtrey landing in a boxing match with a hulking brute, Kenneth Connor involved in a 39 Steps parody, and all of the workers pitched into chaos during an Ideal Homes Exhibition. Back at the Helping Hands office Sid James and his secretary Esma Cannon are flummoxed by the continuous appearance of Stanley Unwin talking his gobbledygook, which all leads to the big finale as the whole cast get to have a grand old time of things. While as usual there's fun to be had spotting the future stars of British TV and film who pop up in cameos.

Carry On Regardless finds the creators on safe and amiable ground. It's no high point of the series but it's good fun and lets some under valued comic actors work their respective charms. 7/10