the first entry in the endless series be surprisingly light on the smutty humour and harmless innuendo that later become the franchise stock in trade . future doctor who william hartnell be the army sergeant on the verge of retirement who make a wager that his platoon will come out on top when their training be complete . predictably and the recruit be instead totally useless and shamble through their exercise and which make the film a curious forerunner to the police academy movie . the ever annoy bob monkhouse aside and the cast be likable enough and in particular kenneth connor ( always my favourite carry on er ) a a hypochondriac chase by canteen lady dora bryan while and charles hawtrey and who have a whale of a time a usual . unfortunately the movie be flat and pretty dull at time and not very funny . which be a bit of a drawback .