The Complete Ripping
Yarns (Michael Palin/Terry Jones)
Picture: C+
Sound: C+ Extras: B Episodes: B
Soon after Monty Python’s Flying Circus, Terry
Jones & Michael Palin struck out on their own and did an underrated,
clever, hilarious show called Ripping Yarns. Now restored for the first time since it original 1975-78
broadcasts, Acorn Media is issuing The Complete Ripping Yarns as a
double DVD set loaded with extras and the show holds up extremely well on its
30th Anniversary. The
episodes are:
1)
Tomkinson’s Schooldays (guest
star Ian Ogilvy)
2)
The Testing Of Eric Olthwaite
3)
Escape from Stalag Luft 112B
4)
Murder At Moorstones Manor
5)
Across The Andes By Frog (guest
star Denholm Elliott)
6)
The Curse Of The Claw
7)
Whinfrey’s Last Case
8)
Golden Gordon
9)
Roger Of The Raj (guest star Allan
Cuthbertson)
What the show essentially does is takes genre work closely
associated with the British Cinema and literary tradition and do it very well,
then when they have got it just right, start sending it up through situations
and dialogue. You do not even need to
know which genres to know how purely British is all is. This is very impressive and is still tied to
pulp youth literature, even when it goes beyond that. It can be said that up to World War II, part of the British
get-up-and-go was linked to childhood, something we can say they invented in
part as a growing period prior to entering the real world as an adult. After WWII, The United States took this over
and the British equivalent could carry on as a result. This show was produced in the final years
before Neo-Conservative kicked in and put the better aspects of this on life
support. A few years later, the series
would not have been possible in the mode it was made.
The 1.33 X 1 image is very interesting, having been
restored. The credits were shot in 35mm
film, while the shows were produced in 16mm except the first, which mixed film
and video. It is the softest of the
nine, while the rest look better and were shot exceptionally well. The production design for each is
exceptional and it was this expense that sadly ended the show before its
time. The Dolby Digital 2.0 sound is
the original monophonic sound boosted to a simple stereo that is also restored. The combination is fine and far outshines
previous VHS releases.
Extras are many and include an excellent booklet about the
history of the Python crew and how this show figures into it, as well as
information about these episodes and DVDs.
On the DVDs themselves, there is a DVD-ROM segment that allows you to
access all the teleplays, while all DVD players can access the nine audio
commentary tracks by Palin and Jones, turn off the laugh tracks on shows 5 – 9
if you wish, get deleted scenes, the 1983 Comic Roots: Michael Palin TV
special, a stills gallery and restoration clip to show how much work was done
to fix these shows.
The Complete Ripping Yarns is a
riot and one of the best comedy DVD releases of the year.
- Nicholas Sheffo
