I'm surprised this film was greenlit. It looks like a British or European attempt to mimic the American pre-teen to 20-something market commercial film making model. It's a mercifully free form the burden of intelligence production, but has a kind of simplistic charm to it that melds old school bawdy comedies with a somewhat more intellectual based material. So you get gags about personas of the time, what they did, what they asked for and achieved.If you know your renaissance history, know what was happening around the time of Columbus and his famous voyage(s), then you'll be in the know. In short, you need to have some history in your mind regarding the place and period to appreciate some of the humor.But, not all of the humor is immersed in historical data (or interpretations thereof). A lot of it basic gag material, some of it sexual, some of it slapstick, some of it is just basic humor about every day habits of people. In summation the film isn't all that funny, but it has a kind of light hearted charm to it, and in this way amusing, but it's more miss than hit in terms of a good funny film.Even so, it is a good film after a fashion. I'm not sure what went wrong here, but there is a kind of attractiveness just to the overall structure and film itself. But, that's the film maker in me talking, and not the Joe-Audience member that should be authoring this review.If you need a little light amusement in your life, you could do worse, but you could also do better than "Carry On Columbus".A harmless title all the same, but not something I'd readily recommend. Watch at your own risk.

Don't get me wrong, I really like the Carry On franchise, but along with England and Emmanuelle, this movie is down there with the worst of them. Sorry I didn't like it, in fact I thought it was woeful. There was such a lot wrong with it, and not much good with it. The story is incoherent, the dialogue ranges to bad to horrendous, the gags are poor, the pacing is all over the place, the direction is non-existent the sets and costumes are somewhat cheap and the acting was poor. Leslie Phillips and June Whitfield are wasted, Bernard Cribbins is unusually bland and Julian Clary(???) only adds to the problem in an excruciatingly embarrassing turn as Don Juan Diego. In fact, the only redeeming quality is Jim Dale, who actually tries to do something with his role. Overall, dreadful and one of the worst. 1/10 Bethany Cox

I have seen all of the Carry on Films and I remember only not enjoying a couple of them. That would be Columbus & Emmanuelle. I know a lot of people hated England as well. I liked that one. After Sid James left, there was something missing. This movie probably should have not been made. These films worked in the 50's, 60's & part of the 70's. The film looks like a cheap production. It's like something you would see on TV. Jim Dale plays Christopher Columbus and he goes out exploring and there are people out to stop him. Before the voyage starts we have a couple of stupid and wrong scenes. We see a bunch of Christians dressed as Klansman in black Klan outfits discussing how to get rid of Jewish people. That scene is stupid, wrong and unfunny. There is also a scene where Columbus recruits prisoners for his voyage and there is gate keeper that is gay. What a wimp. Gay characters are not funny. He is a total sissy. There is one good scene early on as Sara Crowe who plays Fatima. She does a nice dance in a harem outfit for her boss, the Sultan. She is assigned to sabotage the mission of Columbus. She gets on board dressed as a man. She and other try and try to stop his voyage. Fatima falls for Chris and she tells him of the plan to mutiny. They are ready to hang him when they spot land. They decide to move forward. They go a shore and meet some people that show them the cave that has treasure. Before they enter Fatima strips down to her harem outfit. Very nice! They find a small treasure and trick the King and Queen from keeping it. Chris ends up getting it on with Fatima in the final scene.There is not a lot of good things to say about this film. There are also a few bare butts that were not needed. I think giving this film a 4/10 is a gift.

Christopher Columbus, with the help of the Spanish queen, gets on board to discover India. He does America instead, that is full of tricky aborigines.A foolhardy and predictably doomed attempt to get recovered a formula that worn out its date twenty years ago. The once-individual humour of double entendres, sex-overdose and sheer crudity, which has always depended very much on taste, no longer raises even chuckles. Tired antics of a loosely assembled new cast helps no more than the insignificant minority of once-regulars (Jim Dale, June Whitfield, Bernard Cribbins, Jon Pertwee, Leslie Phillips, Jack Douglas, Peter Gilmore).