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BENNY HILL: THE NAUGHTY EARLY YEARS
Set Two
Review by Mark Wiechman
Stars:
Benny Hill, Henry McGee, Rita Webb, Jack Wright, Jenny Lee-Wright
Audio: Dolby 2.0
Video: Full Frame 1.33:1
Studio: A & E
Features: See Review
Length: 500 Minutes, three discs individually packaged
Release date: January 25, 2005
“Drink
and sex. That's what killed your uncle - drink and sex!”
“Yeah.
He couldn't get either, so he shot himself.”
Film
***
While
he was already a success in television, it was his collaboration with Thames in
the late 1960’s that made Benny Hill famous all over the world.
He only made a few shows per year, and they were translated into 140
languages. After being presented
with the Chaplain award, he took a tour of his home and was euphoric to discover
that Chaplain had shelves of videotapes of Benny’s shows.
He must be pretty good if his idol loved him so much, thought Benny.
In the end, he had surpassed his idol in commercial success, though he
was unceremoniously fired just a few weeks after Thames said publicly that he
was the jewel in their crown.
The
show became more risqué later in the 70’s, and his humor became cruder.
The public did not always understand how he ridiculed men and praised
women in his bawdy humor, and assumed that he was fooling around with most if
not all of the women. In the age of the women’s movement, the public was often
put off by the shows. In reality he
treated many of them like family, acting like a surrogate uncle.
He also brought untrained child actors into the show.
Finally in 1989 the show was abruptly cancelled, but talks of a
revival---with the same Thames Company, which had dumped him---continued until
his death in 1992. As so often
happens, talent is taken for granted, and then suddenly gone just when we wanted
more.
One
of the funniest moments is when Hill plays an arrogant French film director
Pierre, who dismisses all of the praise from a fawning critic, even calling him
a genius for dramatically shifting from color to B&W, the host responds:
"No, no. I ran out of color." This
is a sly swipe at the French, filmmaking in general, and entertainment egos in
particular. Brilliant!
Video
**1/2
Remarkably
clear for its age, few artifacts but some poor lighting and of course the
limitations of British TV production and the tape production are mostly to
blame. I can’t tell if anything was cleaned up or remastered, since it is not
bad looking, but just not as sharp as most American programs made in the same
era.
Audio
**
Only
Dolby Stereo, and sometimes poorly recorded by modern standards. There is no
close-caption as the Amazon page says there is. This is a shame since the myriad
of British accents used is difficult for a “colonist” like me to understand.
I can’t tell if it was cleaned up at all for DVD release. More than likely
this was merely a reflection of normal TV audio at the time and can’t be
corrected.
Features
**
I
failed the Benny Hill Cheeky Challenge Trivia Quiz #2 miserably, but it was fun
to play. The other feature is the excellent special Benny Hill: Laughter and Controversy episode of A&E’s
Award-Winning Series BIOGRAPHY.
It contains more information not included in the extra features of Season
One.
Summary
Benny
Hill was always himself, always warm and lovable, and prodigious in his output.
Any viewer who longs for the days of less hateful comedy and cute
showgirls won’t want to miss this season.