We picked this up recently at Barnes & Noble for around $25. It collects three John Cleese movies made in the mid 70's and include: How To Irritate People, The Strange Case of the End of Civilization As We Know It, and Romance with a Double Bass. Aside from Cleese, Connie Booth is the only Python to appear in all three. (I think she deserves credit as a Python considering how often she appeared in the series)
First, quality of production. It really isn't very good. The transfer did not include a cleanup of wherever they got the movies from and it shows it. That's not to say that the quality is bad, it just isn't very good. It's acceptable for 70's TV. Also, there is zero bonus material on these three disks. That was rather disappointing, but when you see what a low-budget production this is, you won't be surprised. One can only hope that some day they are fully restored and re-released. The three movies are 65 minutes, 55 minutes, and 45 minutes long respectively, and they're all at the television standard 4x3 aspect ratio.
On to the films!
( Read more... )The best thing about Strange Case and Double Bass is that we get to see a young(ish) Cleese doing consistent acting in a long format, as opposed to the shorter sketches of Flying Circus. He's sort of manic like he was in Fish Called Wanda and lots of fun to watch. And, as a bonus, we get lots of shots of a fully naked Connie Booth in Double Bass, what a lovely lady! (With HUGE... tracts of land!) Cleese is also naked, but they don't have any full frontals of him. Booth was also naked in a Python Sketch (whose title I will not get precisely correct), 'A Day in the Life of a Stockbroker.'
I so wish the US didn't have this 'violence good, nudity bad' attitude as opposed to the reverse throughout a lot of the rest of the world.
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