At Last the 1948 Show
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DVD details
Actor: Aimi MacDonald, Graham Chapman, Marty Feldman, Tim Brooke-TaylorDVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Color, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 172 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-07-26
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Tango Entertainment
DVD Reviews of At Last the 1948 Show
DVD Review: at last i get to see it!
Summary: 5 Stars
i was raised on a long-playing record of these skits, and thirty plus years later, i can still repeat them word for word.
it was hilarious and wonderful to finally SEE some of them.
the lovely aimi macdonald was just as blonde and brainless, yet slyly self-promoting as i always imagined....very funny.
it was also great to see feldman, cleese et al looking so young!
DVD Review: More like Python's Flying Circus than I assumed.
Summary: 4 Stars
I originally ordered the DVD to qualify for free shipping. The show was better than I expected.
The two pre-pytons are funny of course. Marty Feldman (Igor in Young Frankenstein!) and Tim Brooke-Tyler are cast well.
There is much Aimi Macdonald bashing in these Amazon reviews! I like her. Basically, her role is to introduce the next skit. The "joke " is she introduces the skits as if the show is about her. For example she introduces the next skit by dedicating a song to herself. The only line is "I love the lovely Aimi Macdonald". It has nothing to do with the skits she introduces. Even if you think she is annoying, she's on and off within a minute or so.
I took off one star for the transfer. There are many scratches and picture anamolies. In fact, in one skit (the english lesson) the sound actually drops out for a line spoken by Cleese. This probalby couldn't be helped because the original tapes are lost.
Other than that, great stuff.
DVD Review: At last, at last
Summary: 3 Stars
I greatly enjoyed At Last The 1948 Show when it was on the air in the late 1960s but, forty years on, could recall only a couple of sketches and then just dimly. Would it stand up? How significant was it really in the evolution of British comedy?
Well, after watching the DVD set, I can say it was a mixed bag but a mixed bag that is well worth seeing. Some of the sketches are not only a bit weak and silly but come across as amateurish in comparison to, say, Monty Python's Flying Circus. The best bits are however absolute gems that deserve to stand as classics. My favourite is a sketch in a train compartment done by John Cleese and Marty Feldman -- it is side-splittingly funny. I am tempted to say that it was largely Marty who made At Last The 1948 Show as good as it was although the lovely Aimi MacDonald is also mighty memorable.
DVD Review: "Will somebody PLEASE sing something?"
Summary: 4 Stars
Before there was "Monty Python's Flying Circus," there were two other series produced by the legendary comedians later known as Monty Python. One of those was the hilarious "At Last the 1948 Show" -- not quite as funny as the series that came after it, but definitely hilarious and full of weird Pythonian moments.
Each episode (and most skits) are introduced by "The Lovely Aimi MacDonald," a blonde airhead who basically does nothing but pose and self-promote (such as the Make the Lovely Aimi MacDonald a Rich Lady Fund, or Aimi MacDonald songs), and occasionally make out with sailors.
Then there are the hilarious skits: a man visits a shrink because he thinks he's a rabbit, karate-chopping docs, a severely underfunded secret agent who has to burn down the Kremlin, a man who claims to be an underpaid gorilla, snake devourings, a game show where the only answer is "pork," a robotic visitor at a hospital, an invasion of tourists on a soap opera set, and others.
You can definitely see seeds of Monty Python here -- the constant chartered accountant jokes, cross-dressing, surreal sketches, mockery of the BBC, and John Cleese going ballistic ("OF COURSE YOU'RE NOT A RABBIT!"). Well, we don't have Terry Gilliam's weird animation, but at least we have Marty Feldman in a frothy dress and blonde wig.
In fact, the skits themselves are often comedy that could have been lifted from the Flying Circus -- lots of weird scenarios (Feldman desperately trying to answer the question of "Is there free speech?", but not being able to get a word in) and equally weird dialogue ("Just you and me... and an Arab"), which usually ends up in some explosive or strange confrontation. It's not quite perfect, though -- the Aimi MacDonald stuff gets old quickly, and a few skits (like the Charted Accountant dance) fall flat.
John Cleese and Graham Chapman are, obviously, hilarious -- lots of kooky stuff, like Chapman as the pitiful vicar begging the congregation to sing anything. But Tim Brooke-Taylor is also funny, albeit in a more hammy way. And there's the buggy-eyed Feldman of "Young Frankenstein" fame, who fits in seamlessly (even if he is of a different nationality).
It should be noted that this show is rather old, and apparently wasn't stored very well. As a result, the black-and-white prints have gotten a bit fuzzy over time, and occasionally the picture jumps. This apparently wasn't really reparable, but eventually you stop noticing it so much.
"At Last the 1948 Show" is not quite as hilarious as its successor, but it is a funny, surreal little show that is definitely worth watching. At last! The 1948 Show!
DVD Review: Some gems, but some cubic zirconium too
Summary: 3 Stars
Would any one want to see this if the careers of John Cleese and Graham Chapman had ended here? Mostly, I think not. There are some good laughs, and a one hour package could be made that would be tremendously amusing. But having to watch the lovely Aimi MacDonald over and over, feeling as if her inanity and tedium is sucking the oxygen right out of my room, is painful. And like Monty Python, sometimes the boys don't seem able to distinguish between a funny idea and a funny sketch. The Nazi game show host probably sounded wildly funny, watching it is excruciating.
So, an early incarnation of the Four Yorkshiremen, one-upping each other with tales of their miserable childhoods, is possibly funnier than the later MP version. Marty Feldman, playing Michael Palin, Eric Idle and Woody Allen, is often brilliant, demonstrating a breadth unseen elsewhere. The Chartered Accountant Dance with a previously unknown to me Tim Brooke-Taylor is glorious. Several clever sight gags show up unexpectedly, providing surprising mirth. And a genuinely clever skit of Scotsmen at the ballet is well executed. I liked much of this, and don't regret seeing it. But comedy for the ages? Nooooo, I think not. I'll share my copy with friends, but if it somehow never finds its way back, I'll not be terribly disappointed.
Description of At Last the 1948 Show
Just two series were made before it became no more and it became a revolution that was destined to change the face of TV comedy forever. 'At Last The 1948 Show' (actually broadcast in 1967). Bursting onto the nation's small screens in an explosion of unrelated and often surreal sketches, its main perpetrators were John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Marty Feldman and Tim Brooke-Taylor and what 'At Last The 1948 Show' began the inestimable Monty Python would one day finish in mind-blowing style.... This 2 DVD set features the recently rediscovered episodes of the classic 'At Last The 1948 Show' series.General DVDs
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