Product Details

• Actors: John Inman, Mollie Sugden, Frank Thornton, Trevor Bannister, Wendy Richard
• Directors: Bob Kellett
• Writers: David Croft, Jeremy Lloyd
• Producers: Andrew Mitchell, David Croft, Jeremy Lloyd, Nat Cohen
• Format: Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Music Video Distribu
• VHS Release Date: February 10, 1998
• Run Time: 95 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (84 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6304812817
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #307,547 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Writers Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft managed something quite clever with this, the film version of the 1970s sitcom Are You Being Served? The idea of this cheery collection of comedy stereotypes--the pompous one, the vulgar one, the camp one, the shifty one, and so on--being confined within a department store was a master stroke, as it allowed any kind of situation to arise without the plot having to exceed the restrictions imposed by the set. How, then, to keep the same theme for the big screen without just offering the television series writ large? Simple: send the whole cast on holiday together but make sure they can't leave their hotel, a state of affairs contrived easily enough by throwing a guerilla uprising into the plot. So it is, then, that the staff of Grace Bros. descends on the Costa Plonka while the store is closed for refurbishment. There are all the usual jokes involving knickers, boobs, toilets, and gay sex (sometimes all at once), adding up to a good slice of nostalgic fun for anyone who was there when lapels really were that wide. --Roger Thomas

Product Description

Item Name: Are You Being Served?: The Movie; Studio: Lions Gate

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

89 of 91 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Give Grace A Chance!, June 9, 2005

By 

Lally & Willetts "Gary" (Northiam, East Sussex. England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Are You Being Served? The Movie (DVD)

I have read the various reviews on here that give this film version a bit of a panning. I note that the reviewers are also mostly from America. I felt it deserved a bit of an explanation from a Brit who saw this film at the movies when it was released and who has had an affectionate view of it ever since.

Back in the 70's it was traditional for many famous TV comedies of the time to get a filmed version released and AYBS was no exception. They were made mainly for domestic consumption - few people back then could ever have envisaged them being made so widely available, especially not in Video or disc format. Almost all of these TV spin-offs were essentially regurgitated episode scripts, with a bit of extra business occasionally thrown in for good measure. They deliberatley cashed in on the tremendous success of the TV series - just imagine it, with sometimes as many as 15 million peple regularly tuning in there was a ready made cinema market for such stuff!
The filmed version of AYBS is therefore different in feel - mainly due to the absence of a studio audience (the BBC did not use laughter tracks at that time - if they ever have!). There are some very, very funny performances in the film though - especially Mrs Slocombe getting her "jacksie full of vaccine" and getting her passport photo taken. From a UK perspective it is also funny as it shows up our tiny island's wonderfully parochial attitude to foreigners and 'going abroad' for a holiday; something that was still in its relative infancy at that time. It's more of a time capsule than the TV series is.
I would ask that you all give this film a second chance - it isn't as bad as some people have said on here, it's just different. The performances are still wonderful. Watch and enjoy if only to laugh at how gloriously pompous us Brits can be when we talk about our fellow European neighbours!
I have watched it more times than I care to remember - and it makes me laugh every time!

47 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Are You Being Served: The Movie - - AYBS in a nutshell, October 29, 2000

By 

RONALD (Monticello, AR) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Are You Being Served? The Movie [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Having been a fan of AYBS for a number of years, I eagarly awaited arrival of this video, and the wait did not disappoint me. Old fans and new acquaintances will enjoy this movie once a few guidelines are realized. First, this is a movie and not a television show. The laughtrack is gone but the set is more realistic and more modern (the store setting, for example, looks like a real store and not a stage prop). Previous reviews regarding poor sound and lighting quality are perhaps a bit too demanding, as is the complaint that the jokes are straight from the show. I went through the entire movie before I "remembered the jokes" -- they flow through the movie well. Second, please remember that this is AYBS, its not supposed to be realistic as no good comedy is. The original cast is here, in their youthful, energetic selves. Its only fault, in my opinion, is that there's a lengthy delay before they get into the trip itself, but this is only a minor problem. I would recommend this video to anyone, providing that they judge the movie by its own standards and not compare it to the show.

82 of 94 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Movie: 2 Television Series: 10 Too bad!, September 12, 2002

By 

Get What We Give (Georgia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Are You Being Served? The Movie (DVD)

First of all, let me say that I am American and "Are You Being Served? (the t.v. series) is one of my all time favorite shows. It is rife with clever humor, memorable characters, excellent actors, wonderful innuendo, and often sharp writing.

This movie is not.

Possibly the biggest mistake is taking the characters out of their natural element: Grace Brothers Department Store. Granted, at the time, the writers must have thought they needed to do so in order to expand the scope for a film. I'm sure that they were correct, in part. But the way in which they took the characters out of the store is pitifully lacking.

Grumpy, tipsey Mrs. Slocumb; fey Mr. Humphreys; superior Captain Peacock; dottering Mr. Grainger; sexy but common Miss Brahms; randy Mr. Lucas; and jug-eared Mr. Rumbold are very lovable and very loved characters. Add in cockney and sly Mr. Harmon and you've got a recipe for hilarity.

Sadly "The Movie" doesn't really deliver on that. The beginning of the movie is the funniest - it is set in the department store. It is also slightly surreal as we are introduced to the characters as if we were seeing them for the first time and as if they didn't already have a history with each other. (Since the movie is a spin-off of the highly popular television series, this introduction seems unwarranted).

The premise is that the store must close and Mr. Grace has sprung for a vacation for the department to go to Costa Plonka in Spain. Sound familiar? Of course it does. It was a premise of one of the episodes. Once there the staff is relegated to staying in tents in the garden of the hotel. Sound familiar? It's another episode. (the whole Mrs. Slocumb and the flatulant air mattress is even included). Mr. Humphrey's dons women's clothing; and Mr. Harmon outsmarts everyone.

Basically what I'm saying is that there is no real new material here......except for the finale....and that ain't good news.

Why, oh why, anyone would find it funny having a revolutionary general beginning his insurrection in the hotel? Not only does it not make a lick of sense pragmatically, but comically it is the death knell for the movie.

There is one thing that the movie did that the series never did: Mr. Humphreys is definitely gay in the movie, but it was always a source of fun speculation in the series. It's a mistake.

Though written by the same writers as the series, it seems to have taken all the things that were wrong in the series and used them to make the film. Gone is the banter at the ubiquitous "staff meetings" or the "canteen lunches". Instead, the writers miss the chance at an al fresco dinner to do the same. Mr. Grainger was always a source of hilarity with his dottering ways - and yet here he's almost written as an afterthought.

I don't understand the mistake with this movie. In 1977 the series was still in production and was quite funny. What happened here? I speculate that the writers didn't have the time to really give the time necessary to the film.

I bought this DVD without having ever seen the film. I don't regret it as it is part of what I consider my AYBS collection, but if you want to get your first taste of this phenonomenal series by seeing the movie first - DON'T! Watch the episodes on your local PBS station here in the U.S. or rent the episodes or buy them at your local store or here on Amazon. Each one is a gem, though as with any show - some are better than others. However, not a single one of them is bad - something I cannot say about this film.

It's really a shame. "And I'm unanimous in that!"