The Comedians – The Complete Fifth Series (1972/Network U.K./Region Two/2/PAL DVD)
Picture:
C Sound: C+ Extras: D Episodes: C+
PLEASE
NOTE: This
DVD set can only be operated on machines capable of playing back DVDs that can
handle Region Two/2/PAL format software and can be ordered from our friends at
Network U.K. at the website address provided at the end of the review or at
finer retailers.
Featuring
some amusing (if not outright funny) stand-up comics of the time like Charlie
Williams, George Roper, Ken Goodwin, Jim Bowen, Duggie Brown and Frank Carson, The Comedians – The Complete Fifth Series
was a surprisingly successful showcase in the U.K. like nothing U.S. audiences
ever saw unless they had cable. Yet this
was a hit well before cable and satellite were the norm.
This set
has performance after performance nicely chaptered, but some of it is British
humor you might miss, while other humor is dated, other humor is coined to
events of the time and some items might not just be as funny they might once
have been. Therefore, this is also
nostalgia like watching stand-ups from The
Ed Sullivan Show or Tonight Show
staring Johnny Carson. In that, you
might want to give it a look if you have never seen it.
The 1.33
X 1 PAL image is softer than we would have liked, while the Dolby Digital 2.0
Mono is simply a matter of how well the stand-ups spoke into their mike. That can mean good audio and some bad audio. There are no extras.
As noted above, you can order this PAL DVD import
exclusively from Network U.K. at:
http://www.networkdvd.net/
or
www.networkdvd.co.uk
- Nicholas Sheffo
