For The Love Of Ada – The Complete First Series (1970/Network U.K./Region Two/2/PAL DVD)
Picture:
C- Sound: C+ Extras: D Episodes: C+
PLEASE
NOTE: This DVD 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.
For two
years and four half-seasons, the half-hour series For The Love Of Ada (1970) was enough of a hit to spawn a feature
film and keep enough people laughing to make this an interesting entry into the
Golden Era of the British Situation Comedy.
A Britcom not as well known in the U.S., the show stars Irene Handl as
the title character, a widow who meets and marries grave keeper (Wilfred
Pickles of Billy Liar)
eventually after meeting him at her late husband’s tombstone.
The show
is smart, funny, more believable than expected and Barbara Mitchell as Ada’s
daughter Ruth (married herself) is uncomfortable with the new events in her
mother’s life. Though it never reaches
into new territory, the show is good and very watchable from a time when
sitcoms were still being made of intelligent people. If you have never seen it, it is worth a
look.
The 1.33
X 1 PAL image is unfortunately one of the
softer set of PAL analog taped U.K. Britcoms we have seen with haloing, aliasing, color
fringing and other issues, while the Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono has the expected
distortion you would expect for its age, but it is clear enough here;
especially to hear the theme song by the great Ron Grainer. 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
