Carry On Up the Khyber

Carry On Up the Khyber (1968) is Gerald Thomas's British comedy, free to watch online on iFILM. The sixteenth entry in the long-running Carry On series and arguably its finest hour, it sends up the stiff-upper-lip empire epic set on India's North-West Frontier.

Sir Sidney Ruff-Diamond holds a British outpost near the Khyber Pass, guarded by a kilted Highland regiment. The Khazi of Kalabar wants every Briton dead, but his men are spooked by a rumour: the "skirted devils" wear nothing under those kilts. Capture one Scot in his underwear and the whole legend of fearlessness collapses. The regular troupe — Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey and Joan Sims — plays the nonsense with magnificently straight faces.

The humour is broad, cheeky and thoroughly English, built on puns, innuendo and deadpan timing. The closing dinner scene, where guests calmly carry on eating as shells demolish the room around them, is a staple of any British comedy anthology. One for fans of old-fashioned farce who don't need their jokes subtle. Stream Carry On Up the Khyber (1968) online on iFILM.