Customer Reviews

Secret Policeman's Ball [VHS]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I gave this four stars because there are two or three sketches that really deserve five stars, plus a lot of things that really ought to have been edited out, but for the star appeal of their contributors. Clive James gives a reasonably amusing monologue, for example, which would have been fine on stage, but does not bear repeated viewing. Similarly, Ken Campbell and Sylvester McCoy are two of my favourite people, but their antics here are far better suited to a large stage with participating audience, rather than the constraints of the small screen.

The real stand outs are Peter Cook and Rowan Atkinson's (with support) Will This Wind, something that has me almost hysterical every time. Cook also pairs up well with John Cleese with Cook's E.L. Wisty finding the perfect foil in Cleese's straight man. Cleese and Palin also re-visit their cheese-shop sketch, perhaps putting in the definitive performance (notably this sketch has since been skitted by Rik & Ade and Goodness Gracious Me). There are a couple of good musical interludes too from Tom Robinson and Pete Townshend, but despite their quality, they seem a little out of place. All in all, this is a good record of a concert and a good chance to catch some things that are not available elsewhere.

A brilliant set of sketches performed by the best of British comedians, and musicians. Several of the routines have provided quotations that have entered the comic lexicon [and not just in our family]: "Will the wind be so mighty, as to lay low the mountains of the earth?" (Rowan Atkinson and Peter Cook), "Interviewer" (Atkinson and John Cleese), "Wensleydale? Oh no, that's my name" (Cleese and Michael Palin). And the live performances of the songs (by Pete Townshend, Phil Collins, and Sting) are terrific. A tragedy that Rhino hasn't released it on DVD yet, but I remain hopeful.

These sketches were filmed live, and Monty Python is brilliant. Be sure to get "The Secret Policeman's Other Ball" filmed a year later for yet another fund raiser. It's way out there, and the famous Cheese Shop skit is in here, as well as many other classic sketches, without the movie censor looking over their shoulders, they get truly wild, and it is the funniest and purest Monty Python you can get, since they no longer perform live. (Though I hear that 1999 may have a reunion show...which would be fabulous.)

It was another boring night. Nothing on TV but news and reality TV shows. I was flipping around and on PBS they were showing a movie titled "The Sectret Policeman's Ball." Being the HUGE python fan that I am, I decided to stay and watch it. I was not dissapointed one bit.
The next day I ran right to the video store and bought it. This tape has so many great sketches on it like the Cheese Shop (Funnier than the original I think.) I was also introduced to Beyond the Fringe which I had herd of but had never seen. Well now I'm just as big a Fringe as I am a Python fan. Rowan Akinson is great too. I love the sketch where he's a school teacher. I'd rather watch that sketch than BEAN.
I love the WHO and Pete Townsen is one of my favorite guitarist of all time. His performance of "We Don't Get Fooled again" is amazing. I also loved "Pinball Wizard."
The star off is because the quality is terrible. Also the camera work is very shaky. The Camera man was obviously cracking up at all the jokes... Can ya blame him though?

I suppose everyone has different comedic tastes but I for one thought this was a really great collage of the Python's at their best. The Yorkshiremen sketch and the Cheeseshop sketch are worth the price alone. The music is admittedly fragmented but really this is a comedy movie not a concert. Yes it is shot with stage lighting but for me that just adds to the immediacy of the performance. No overdubs or trickery just a great live show.

I admit I bought this only because it had David Rappaport (from Time Bandits) and Slyvester McCoy (from Doctor Who) in it. (They're two of my fav actors.)I thought it'd be hilarious anyway because of John Cleese and Rowan Atkinson being in it as well, but I found it rather boring, except for Sly McCoys antics as "Mr. McCoy. Apart from Mr. McCoy the rest of the skits weren't all that funny and there were 2 or 3 songs sang by a guy on a stool with a guitar. I'm guessing this was done for padding.I strongly suggest renting before buying.

I am a fan of The Who--I bought this video because Pete Townshend performs (solo acoustic) in it. However, beware! - This video only has 2 parts with Townshend perfoming in it! I thought that it may have had more songs performed by him, but it doesn't. Pete only performs "Pinball Wizard" and "Won't Get Fooled Again". More bad news: the footage fades in after "Pinball Wizard" had already started--the same with "Won't Get Fooled Again", but not as bad. Also, once he is done with the songs, the video fades out and moves on....there is no stage banter by Pete. The good news is, the perfomances of these two songs are actually pretty good. NOTE: Pete performs "Won't Get Fooled Again" with another guitarist (I don't know who it is, though). Both songs are very nice, very well performed.

As for the "comedy" on this video......I think it is rather poor. I'm not a huge fan of british comedy. I like some, but this video didn't make me laugh AT ALL, personally. In my opinion, it is very dry and dull.

The question Who/Pete Townshend fans must ask themselves is, is it worth my money to buy this, considering the lack of Townshend material in it? Coming from a Who fan, I'd say no.

We all know that Amnesty International is a Very Good Idea. We may even concede that staging a concert full of the world's greatest comedians and some ex-popstars to raise funds is admirable. This does not mean that sitting through a badly-lit record of said even will be any fun. Comedy and Politics make for fruitfully acrimonious bedfellows, but Comedy and Earnestness only put each other to sleep. The fact that it's all in a Good Cause has made the entertainers lazy, made them dredge out any old unusable idea from the back of the closet on the premiss that our good-will will do the rest. Most of the routines revolve around the recitation of lists of names or things in the unfounded belief that enunciating them in a constipated English accent somehow makes them funny. Even the one genuinely amusing sequence - in which John Cleese enters Michael Palin's cheese shop that sells no cheese but features Greek dancers in native dress - consists of Cleese barking out all the varieties of goat's milk he can think of. Rowan Atkinson mimes a concert pianist. Peter Cook groans inwardly. Ho hum. Most woeful are the intrusions of various musical hasbeens (Pete Townshend, Tom Robinson etc.). Although it's in aid of Amnesty International, there is no mention of torture or political oppression in the show, although many of the 'jokes' end in exaggerated violence, even murder; while an all-cast sketch mocks religious fanaticism.