DEVIS, JIMMY
Camera Operator on Don’t Lose Your Head, Abroad, Girls and Dick
Jimmy Devis, born in London in 1931, followed his brother into the film industry in 1946, joining Gaumont-British, based at Lime Grove, as a mail boy. He spent a short spell in the cutting room and, later, joined the camera department.
After the studios closed, Devis completed his National Service in the RAF, before returning home and, in 1952, working as a freelance clapper-loader. It wasn’t long until he was offered a contract at Pinewood, where he worked between 1952–60, before returning to a freelance status.
He retired in 2001, by which time he was working as a director of photography for second units and directing action units. His long list of credits include Return to Oz, Wild Geese II, Labyrinth, Christopher Columbus: The Discovery, Avalanche, Superman, For Your Eyes Only, Empire of the Sun and Daylight.
MEMORIES
‘The Carry Ons were some of my favourite films to work on because they were humorous, there was no tension and they were organised. And what a wonderful crew and cast.
‘I was given my first chance as a camera operator on Don’t Lose Your Head and, fortunately, Alan Hume and Gerry Thomas were very patient. They liked to shoot within one or two takes and on my first shot, which was very difficult, I took about seven goes. There was a big crowd, and it turned out to be one of the most difficult I had to do for them. It was a scene set in Paris where people are queuing up at the guillotine while others arrive by cart. We had to pan them, then track back and look up at the guillotine. In the background there were other sets, which were very tall, that were going to be used for another film. Trying to keep them out of the picture, together with everything else, made it very difficult. I was really sweating but fortunately everything turned out well in the end.’
JIMMY DEVIS
DIAMOND, ARNOLD
Role: 5th Specialist in Sergeant
Born in London in 1915, Arnold Diamond started his working life as a librarian, acting as an amateur during the evenings, until he was called up for the Second World War. During hostilities he was wounded and transported to an Italian hospital for POWs, where upon recovering he wrote and directed plays for fellow prisoners.
CARRY ON DICK
A Peter Rogers production
Distributed through Fox / Rank Distribution Ltd
Released as an A certificate in 1974 in colour
Running time: 91 mins
CAST
| Sidney James | Dick Turpin / The Rev. Flasher |
| Kenneth Williams | Captain Desmond Fancey |
| Barbara Windsor | Harriett |
| Hattie Jacques | Martha Hoggett |
| Bernard Bresslaw | Sir Roger Daley |
| Joan Sims | Madame Desiree |
| Peter Butterworth | Tom |
| Kenneth Connor | Constable |
| Jack Douglas | Sgt Jock Strapp |
| Patsy Rowlands | Mrs Giles |
| Bill Maynard | Bodkin |
| Margaret Nolan | Lady Daley |
| John Clive | Isaak the Tailor |
| David Lodge | Bullock |
| Marianne Stone | Maggie |
| Patrick Durkin | William |
| Sam Kelly | Sir Roger’s Coachman |
| George Moon | Mr Giles |
| Michael Nightingale | Squire Trelawney |
| Brian Osborne | Browning |
| Anthony Bailey | Rider |
| Brian Coburn and Max | |
| Faulkner | Highwaymen |
| Jeremy Connor and Nosher | |
| Powell | Footpads |
| Joy Harrington | Lady |
| Larry Taylor and Billy | |
| Cornelius | Tough Men |
| Laraine Humphrys | |
| Linda Hooks | |
| Penny Irving | |
| Eva Reuber-Staier | ‘The Birds of Paradise’ |
PRODUCTION TEAM
Screenplay by Talbot Rothwell
Based on a treatment by Lawrie Wyman and George Evans
Music composed and conducted by Eric Rogers
Production Manager: Roy Goddard
Art Director: Lionel Couch
Editor: Alfred Roome
Director of Photography: Ernest Steward
Camera Operator: Jimmy Devis
Continuity: Jane Buck
Assistant Director: David Bracknell
Sound Recordists: Danny Daniel and Ken Barker
Make-up: Geoffrey Rodway
Hairdresser: Stella Rivers
Costume Design: Courtenay Elliott
Set Dresser: Charles Bishop
Dubbing Editor: Peter Best
Master of Horse: Gerry Wain
Assistant Editor: Jack Gardner
Casting Director: John Owen
Stills Cameraman: Tom Cadman
Wardrobe Mistresses: Vi Murray and Maggie Lewin
Coach and Horses supplied by George Mossman
Titles: G.S.E. Ltd
Processed by Rank Film Laboratories
Producer: Peter Rogers
Director: Gerald Thomas
Sgt. Strapp (Jack Douglas) took a peep once too often
It’s 1750 and England is rife with crime. Highwaymen are a constant threat on the roads, and none more so than Richard Turpin, better known as Big Dick due to the extraordinary size of his weapon. To help wipe out the tidal wave of crime, a special police force, the Bow Street Runners, is set up by King George and run by Sir Roger Daley, who himself becomes a victim of the elusive Dick Turpin, leaving him and his wife, Lady Daley, naked and embarrassed.
Just when the Bow Street Runners believe they’re closing in on the criminal, he slips out of their hands into the darkness. Unbeknown to the police, by day Dick Turpin dons a cassock and dog collar and becomes the Reverend Flasher. When the attacks continue, Captain Fancey and Sergeant Jock Strapp of the Bow Street Runners take personal responsibility for tracking down the dastardly villain.
They head for the Old Cock Inn, a well-known watering hole amongst the criminal fraternity, pretending to be crooks in search of some clues to help capture Turpin; when an old woman, Maggie, the local midwife, tells them that Turpin has a birthmark on his ‘diddler’, Jock Strapp is given the unenviable task of following every man into the toilet to check for the birthmark, but it’s a pointless task and results in Strapp almost being attacked for being a Peeping Tom.
Fancey makes out he’s a criminal wanting to bring Turpin in on a job he’s planning, so a meeting is arranged between them, but Turpin, who’s no fool, tips off the local parish policeman about the meeting and enjoys the last laugh when Fancey and Strapp are arrested and thrown in the stocks suspected of being highwaymen. A relieved Sir Roger is informed of the supposed arrest of Turpin and travels to see the legendary highwayman behind bars, but when history repeats itself and his coach is robbed en route, he knows the dastardly villain is still at large.
But Turpin’s game is soon up, or so everyone thinks, when one of his sidekicks, Harriett, is captured and held as bait. Fancey,