Carry on, Sergeant!

For the 1958 film, see Carry On Sergeant.

Carry On, Sergeant! is a 1928 Canadian World War I drama, and is considered to be one of the earliest Canadian feature-length motion pictures. Costing CA$500,000 (equivalent to $8,631,868 in 2023) to make, it certainly was the most expensive.

Carry on, Sergeant!
Directed by	Bruce Bairnsfather
Written by	Bruce Bairnsfather
Produced by	Bruce Bairnsfather
Starring	Hugh Buckler Jimmie Savo Nancy Ann Hargreaves Louise Cardi
Cinematography	Bert Cann
Edited by	Bruce Bairnsfather & Bert Cann
Music by	Ernest Dainty
Release date	November 10, 1928 (1928-11-10)
Running time	117 minutes
Country	Canada
Language	English (silent)

Plot

Carry On, Sergeant! is the story of four friends who join the army to fight in the First World War. After years of trench warfare, one of the men (Hugh Buckler) meets a French woman (Louise Cardi) working the taverns. He sleeps with her, but is overcome with guilt and is later killed in battle. His wife (Nancy Ann Hargreaves) back home believes he died a hero and remembers him with love. This sentimental film, which doesn't back away from the unpleasant – it was harshly criticized for the affair between a Canadian soldier and a 'prostitute' – was released at the end of the silent era and after only a brief theatrical run it disappeared from view. It was revived in the 1970s when the National Archives of Canada struck a new print.^[1][2]

Cast

• Hugh Buckler - Bob Mackay
• Jimmie Savo - Syd Small
• W. T. Stewart - James Cameron
• Nancy Ann Hargreaves - Ruth
• Niles Welch - Donald Cameron
• Brenda Bond - Barbara Sinclair
• Monroe Owsley - Leonard Sinclair
• Lewis Dayton - Ralph Moran
• Laura O'Hara - Mme. Voisin
• Charles Esdale - Colonel Halstead
• Donald Hall - Colonel Markham
• Louise Cardi - Marthe

Release

The film premiered on 10 November 1928, in the Regent Theatre in Toronto.^[3]