Customer Reviews

The Best of Benny Hill

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Benny Hill is One Of the Greatest Comedy Talents Ever!His Vision on His Shows always had me Rolling.He was not Only The Writer&Director but also Wrote The Music as Well.He was A Genius Of Humor.this is a Must.

This is a feature-length compilation of sketches from Benny Hill's long-running TV series. If you're at all familiar with the genial British comedian, you'll know what to expect: plenty of girls, plenty of puns, plenty of obvious visual humor, and plenty of eccentrics dashing from here to there. Some of the sketches run on a bit longer than necessary, others are short and sweet. Movie buffs will love two sketches in particular: 1) Benny is the star of a 1930s late-show movie, but the print is terrible (Benny and the cast ingeniously simulate splicy dialogue, projection at the wrong speed, etc.); 2) A cineaste -- Hill's straight man Henry McGee in a delightfully over-the-top performance -- interviews famed French director Benny, asking searching questions and getting matter-of-fact answers. Benny's monologues are fun, too -- his story of a little boy who befriends a bird is timed beautifully. A technical note: this was released as a theatrical movie but much of it was originally shot on videotape. Thus the image transferred to film is sometimes a little grainy, but it's nothing distracting. If you like simple, lowbrow burlesque comedy, you'll certainly enjoy this tape.

Having grown up in Sydney, Australia during the 1970's I was exposed to a lot of Benny Hill and this DVD contains but a small portion of the funny and brilliant comedy programming Benny made which I grew up watching. I happen to like his early stuff from the 70's as opposed to the later stuff he did in the 80's. Lucky for me this compilation movie was made in the mid-70's and has made it to DVD. The skits on this DVD represent the original years of Hill's brand of humor and I love it. The only drawback is that since some of the skits were shot on video the quality isn't as good as the superb quality of the skits shot on 16mm. On the contrary the other DVD(s) available that covers Hill's later years contains the boring, mundane humor in my opinion. I am very much hoping that I can get some more Hill programming on DVD from the 1970's, as presented on this DVD because as I said this is but a mere taste of Hill's early era of original and very funny yet risque humor. There's a lot more he did back in the 70's which hasn't made it to DVD yet. A lot more.

This DVD is the game and the others are lame.

But, that has always been the case with comedy imported from the U.K., as well as what WE send over there, as well as the rest of the world. Some of our jokes don't have the folks in Taiwan, Nairobi, or Milan rolling in the aisles, either.

That said, "The Best of Benny Hill" is a good introduction to the late comic with his ribald brand of comedy. Sure, there are some straight slapstick sketches but most fans of his are looking for the suggestively titillating ones and these are in good supply, from his "commercials" to his double entendre songs to the AMPLE supply of well-endowed ladies.

The latter is for the fourteen-year-old in all of us guys.

Speaking of the "ladies," the highlight is in the last act when Hill dons several wigs and appropriate attire and "impersonates" some of England's most popular (at the time) female singers.

His "Shirley Bassey" is priceless!

For anybody who loved those early Benny Hill half-hours that were syndicated in the U.S. in the early 80s, you'll love this tape. It contains some of the best songs, skits and black-outs from that period. I received it as a Christmas present, and it was the best present I got that year. Any true fan of Benny would love it.

There really is no such thing as "bad" Benny Hill skits, but his earlier skits are far superior to what's on this DVD. A few gems such as the hospital sketch and "throw open your window" are scattered between other material that you can either take or leave. The transfer from Anchor Bay is excellent, and though lacking in bonus materials it's a decent disc for the price.

Aficionados of the naughty ol' man will enjoy this disc, but newcomers to Benny Hill may want to catch re-runs on PBS before buying this. It's not the Best of Benny Hill, it's merely good.

I've always been facinated with comedies... But with Benny Hills... I was off my seat, laughing to the very end of the 7-parts of his acts... This is a must see series for anyone in need to release his/her mind of things...

I would have appreciated a more balanced presentation of the show. This DVD just contained a series of skits. The skits were good, but it would have been nice to include some of the musical numbers. The Benny Hill Show was a 'variety' show after all. The video quality was very disappointing. If they didn't have a good enough master source, they shouldn't have released it. Overall, it was nice to see some of my favorite skits, but I didn't keep the disc.

I already read about picture and sound quality, from my point of view with Benny Hill shows those aspects don't matter to much.

It's very important to understand, Benny Hill show is old compared to DVD technology so almost every release will has this "defects" related to quality. Besides the DVD atmosphere takes you back to the 60-70's, remembering the TV shows that everybody saw at that time.

Now, the content is great, I agree that some sketches aren't to god like others but what the ... one of the best are passengers of love, the first one at the hospital, "throw open your window", Tupper show, spuddo, the reverend interview, etc.

Everytime I see this DVD my day turns good, it puts a smile in my face and I can see it again, and again, and again.

If you're a Benny Hill fan then get this one, and really go directly to passengers of love. :-)

One factor for the quality of this film being as it is (not the video-to-film transfers which in and of themselves were nothing more than color kinescopes, but the quality of the material) has to do with the fact that this was drawn ONLY from shows produced between 1969 and 1972 (with the rendition of "Yakety Sax" as heard all through the picture, having originated from the Dec. 27, 1973 show), and produced/directed by one person, and one person only - John Robins. Nothing of Hill's work up to that period from other producer/directors - which, up to the point this was prepared, also included David Bell, Keith Beckett and Peter Frazer-Jones - were even considered for inclusion, unfortunately, given that (as some may have suggested) the shows from these "other" directors may have been an improvement over what's offered here.

Oh, and one more thing: In the "Lower Tidmarsh Hospital Service" sketch, there was a switcheroo in the music, with the original custom-scored medley as on the original Nov. 19, 1969 airing being replaced with a loop of the aforementioned 1973 version of "Yakety Sax" in the outdoor scenes and a stock-music piece heard in the hospital scenes. This may have had something to do with music clearance issues, from one of two possibilities: a) the use in the sketch as originally aired of Scott Joplin's "Maple Leaf Rag," given that many Joplin tunes were heard in the then-recently released movie "The Sting"; or, more likely, b) the last song in the custom-scored medley, a cover of John Mayall's "Room to Move," which is perhaps his best-known tune from his most famous album, "The Turning Point."