Benny Hill Complete and Unadulterated - The Naughty Early Years, Set Two (1972-1974)
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DVD details
Actor: Benny Hill, Bob Todd, Henry McGee, Jackie Wright, The LadybirdsBrand: A and E Home Video
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Box set, Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 30 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-01-25
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: A&E Home Video
Product features:
- Benny Hill--Britain's baron of bawdy buffoonery--bursts into full bloom in this boisterous collection from his golden fan-favorite era, The Thames Years! Wildly popular all over the globe thanks to his trademark smirk and affinity for comic naughtiness, Benny rejuvenated the sketch-variety genre with his multi-award-winning The Benny Hill Show. Satirizing everything under the sun, but sanitizi
DVD Reviews of Benny Hill Complete and Unadulterated - The Naughty Early Years, Set Two (1972-1974)
DVD Review: Benny Hill; Completely & Unfairly Maligned
Summary: 4 Stars
I was around 12 or 13 years old when I first came upon these shows on tv late at night. They were completely different from anything else that was on at that hour, & at any other hour on tv in north america; that excited anticipation when the Thames logo & music came up. Just to see & hear that today conjures up those memories of watching Benny Hill late at night. Throughout all those years, growing up in high school, my friends & I would quote all kinds of bits of dialogue from the skits, & not necessarily the punchlines to the jokes. Then, all of a sudden it seems, Benny Hill went off the radar; either because his shows weren't on tv as often, or because my interest in my studies & growing up in general took me onto other things.
Going back to them today, some 20 years later, there is a funny mix of sadness & nostalgia as I watch them again. Don't get me wrong; most of the material I still love, & find very funny, I can watch over & over again, like I did back then with my poor quality vhs tapes. His humour can be extremely contagious.There was an infectious energy in his shows that is even more apparent when watching them today. The man was a genius with impersonations & characterizations. His face implied & told you more than any punchline or line of dialogue really could.
Today I watch these shows with the knowledge I didn't have then; of what happened to his reputation in the later years, how he came to be perceived , how he fell into decline.
What really amazes me is the way he is looked at today; you seem to get one of 3 reactions; 1)people who love him & still find him funny 2)those who roll their eyes at the mention of his name & write him off as outdated 3) those who savagely attack him & blame him for all the world's sexism & misogyny.
However, just as there are more sophisticated comedies & types of humour being created today that are extremely popular, I would argue that there are also more sophisticated forms of sexism & misogyny that are out there today, albeit not as obvious but far more calculated, cynical & dangerous. This is to say that there were & are far more deserving targets of the kind of attack that Benny Hill had on him. I don't think his humour or comedy was ever mean-spirited or cynical.
Benny Hill was a scapegoat, & even though his shows declined in the 80's, became cruder & repetitive, this shouldn't take away from the amazing run of shows he had from 1969-79, which are classics. The only thing I think he was really guilty of was not changing with the times. People even forget(or were too young, like me) that he had an extremely popular run with the BBC in the 50's & enjoyed the reputation as being one of the first comedians to be made by tv. This was all before his popular series on Thames that he is known for today. I think that if he would have ended his show at the end of the 70's, he would have enjoyed a less controversial reputation & would have been better regarded today.
These dvd box sets (1969-72, 1972-74) are from Benny Hill's best period.While there are some real time-capsule aspects to the shows(musical numbers especially), when Benny Hill is 'on', he is ON.
Maybe Benny Hill didn't represent the pinnacle of sophisticated humour, but who really cares.There are other comedians who took care of that. What he did in his prime & with his style of comedy he did extremely well. He created comedy out of looking at the adult world with a child-like sensibility. In reality, we all have to move on, 'grow up' & accept responsibility in the adult world, but then that's what's so appealing about Benny Hill; the boy within an adult body. It's no coincidence that on his tombstone reads 'Eternal Boy".
Last thing; It's funny that some people need to exclude or discount one type of comedy in order to validate another. I love Monty Python, & watch their shows repeatedly. What they did still hasn't been surpassed. But I love Benny Hill too. Can't that be possible? They are 2 different types of comedy, but they both give pleasure & laughs for different reasons.
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Description of Benny Hill Complete and Unadulterated - The Naughty Early Years, Set Two (1972-1974)
Benny Hill--Britain's baron of bawdy buffoonery--bursts into full bloom in this boisterous collection from his golden fan-favorite era, The Thames Years! Wildly popular all over the globe thanks to his trademark smirk and affinity for comic naughtiness, Benny rejuvenated the sketch-variety genre with his multi-award-winning THE BENNY HILL SHOW. Satirizing everything under the sun, but sanitizing nothing, Benny and his crackerjack team of entertainers invented a squadron of crazy caricatures: lovable imbecile Fred Scuttle, avant-garde French filmmaker Pierre De Terre, and the verbally challenged Mr. Chow Mein. Backed by Benny's half-dressed flock of frisky foxes, THE BENNY HILL SHOW continues to stand the test of time by making the world laugh itself silly.THE NAUGHTY EARLY YEARS: SET TWO features all 10 riotous episodes from 1972-1974. DVD Features: "Benny Hill: Laughter and Controversy" Episode of A&E?s Award-Winning Series BIOGRAPHY; The Benny Hill Cheeky Challenge Trivia Quiz; "Liner Notes" DVD Insert Booklet; Interactive Menus; Scene SelectionBenny Hill Complete and Unadulterated: The Naughty Early Years, Set Two (1972-1974), a sequel to the delightful Set One (1969-1971), continues opening the vaults on Hill's burlesque and satiric legacy at the Thames Television network. After enjoying stardom on the BBC, Hill made the leap to Thames at the end of the '60s, where he enjoyed creative freedom and the deluxe benefits of a color broadcast. Set Two reveals no slowing down of Hill's prolific imagination, mastery of sketch comedy, or cheeky wit with that old Brit favorite, the sex farce. It does suggest that Hill was willing to gently bite the hand that fed him, however, as several sketches skewer the wisdom of Thames management.
Set Two includes 10 original episodes, never before seen in the U.S. in their complete form. As always, Hill kicks off every show with a "Benny Quickie," or blackout gag, followed by a silly song. ("Oh, Zandoona," a ballad about a willowy young miss, finds Hill--accompanied by house vocal group the Ladybirds--confessing, "Luckily she was blessed with two warts on her chest / Or she'd have no figure at all.") One of the most inspired sketches is an interview with "avant-garde French film director" Pierre de Tierre (Hill), who dismisses heady critical praise from a fawning interviewer. (Calling Pierre a genius for shifting from color to black and white in one of his features, the host is flattened by the filmmaker's response: "No, no. I ran out of color.") Other good things include Hill's impression of singer Shirley Bassey (in a deep-plunging, backless dress, no less), a short film about married thieves (to the tune of Noel Coward's "Little Things"), a lecherous ballet set in a park, and an interview with Hill's crusading, Fleet Steet scandal-monger, Mervyn Cruddy. Another interview, with Hill's slightly dotty Fred Scuttle, is laced with light sarcasm about the state of British TV and, of course, includes much naughty schoolboy humor. (Asked what he would program on a proposed new Thames channel, Fred suggests "A Sale of Two--er, A Tale of Two Cities.") Incorrigible. --Tom Keogh
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