Listonixio Fresh and Exciting

ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Lucia Ayala It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

runamokprods While some of the sketches have dated badly, and others lack the invention of the best, this is the only way to see a version of the 4 man theatrical revue 'Beyond the Fringe' which has got some inspired pieces of absurdity and satirical lunacy. A huge success in the early 60s, 'Fringe' had a major influence on Monty Python, and by extension much of modern comedy. A very young Peter Cook and Dudley Moore teamed up with leading British playwright and screenwriter to be Alan Bennett, and Jonathan Miller, who went on to, among other things, produce and direct some stunning versions of Shakespeare for the BBC. But here they playfully skewer many of societies sacred cows, with everything from a tremendously funny send up of Shakespeare, to Dudley Moore doing some amazing comic work at the piano, to a very, very funny interview piece with Moore interviewing Cook as a head of Scotland Yard about the Great Train Robbery. Cook is hysterical as the obviously incompetent official, and you can hear the kind of absurdist wordplay John Cleese or Graham Chapman would be doing as some officious character just a few years later. The DVD transfer of this black and white TV special is pretty awful, hard to see at times, clearly damaged at moments, sound levels all over, etc. But it's more than worth it for the brilliant wit on display, and the opportunity to see this piece of comedy history.

dbborroughs If you want to laugh then see this show. This is sketch comedy at its finest, as Jonathan Miller, Alan Bennett, Dudley Moore and Peter Cook riff on pretty much everything under the sun from religion, Philosophy, music, the end of the world and being a miner. Its a wild mix of nothing is sacred humor with a very clever edge.If you want to trace the history of British comedy one would start with the music halls move on to the Goons stopping at this show before moving on to people like the Goodies, Monty Python and Eddie Izzard. These are the guys and this is the show that began, in part the draining of the colleges and setting them to work for places like the BBC. Python took the anarchic sketch comedy found here and welded the insanity of Spike Milligan and the Goons. If you need more proof consider that a good number of bits from this show ended up in the Secret Policemen's Balls that were staged by the members of Python for Amnesty International. They used the material because its funny.Historical importance aside this is a very funny show. Certainly there are bits that have dated since it was first performed but on the whole the show remains relevant, and above all funny. If you like to laugh see this show.

F Gwynplaine MacIntyre I was delighted to view this tele-recording for two reasons. Firstly, it's well and truly hilarious. Secondly, the recovery of this long-lost recording vindicates for television something I've long maintained for cinema films: no movie or TV programme should be considered 'lost' unless it was deliberately destroyed. Sadly, the BBC are notorious for wiping their own programmes and taping over them ... and so, far too many great moments of British television history are indeed gone forever. Unless the transmission patterns are still bouncing off Alpha Centauri.Another IMDb contributor, Elena-48, has already reviewed this recording. Elena's review is perceptive but contains one niggling error: Alan Bennett's sermon is ostensibly about Esau and Jacob, not Ezra. Bennett's sermon is hilarious, as he piously and pretentiously draws metaphors between sardine tins and human existence. ('I wonder: is there a little bit you can't reach under the sardine tin of your life? I know there is under mine.') Here's something which this recording doesn't mention: an audiotape of Bennett's hilariously pretentious sermon is now used as a training tape in the Anglican church, warning newly ordained priests of the sort of claptrap they must avoid.The opening sketch, with its references to the Cold War and Harold Macmillan, is necessarily dated but still funny ... especially when Peter Cook warns the gaunt Jonathan Miller to 'try to look well-fed'. Elsewhere, we have Miller as a prisoner in a death cell: Cook bookends this routine, setting the scene and then returning for the punchline.Cook and Dudley Moore perform their brilliant 'One Leg Too Few' sketch, with Moore as the one-legged 'unidexter' auditioning for the role of Tarzan. Over the decades, Cook and Moore performed this routine hundreds of times, forcing Moore to spend many cumulative hours hopping on one foot. As Moore actually had a clubfoot (only partially corrected), the effect on him was not pleasant. But the routine is uproarious.At intervals throughout, Moore performs his brilliant piano solos. The entire cast perform 'So That's the Way You Like It', skewering Shakespeare hilariously. Less effective is a routine in which all four portray camp homosexuals. A high point is Jonathan Miller's bizarre monologue, 'The Heat-Death of the Universe', pondering the fate of trousers that are abandoned on British Railway trains.My own favourite here -- a quietly hilarious set-piece -- is Cook's solo turn, as a demented monologist sitting on a bench, explaining why he could have been a judge but ended up being a coal miner. Although the character is never named here, Cook privately named this creation E.L. Wisty, and depicted him many times over the decades. Cook's E.L. Wisty routine changed significantly at each performance, as Cook introduced new improvisations.Periodically throughout this taped performance, the camera cuts away to show the audience. I felt this was a mistake, as the laughter on the soundtrack makes it clear that there's a live audience. Much more effective are the close-in shots, enabling us to see the expressions on the faces of the cast as the sadistic Cook ad-libs, trying to 'corpse' his castmates (especially Moore) and make them break character as they burst out laughing.With Cuddly Dudley and 'Cookie' now both dead, and Bennett and Miller having largely forsaken performance in favour of their other talents, it's a delight to be able to see this crucial record of these four comedic geniuses at their peak. And this show is pretty damned funny, too. I'll rate it absolutely 10 out of 10.

elena-48 We saw a tape (in glorious Black and White) of the Closing Night of Beyond The Fringe (1964) at the New York Museum of Television and Radio. There was a remark in the Website that the full tape of this show is lost or erased but this tape was 2 hours long.Although the tape quality was not always good (especially the sound!) and the audience looked oddly wooden we so enjoyed seeing this. Dudley Moore was such a great Parodist and Musician. He does parodies of Brecht, Schubert and Britten (Britten's Little Miss Muffett was especially funny). How sad that both he and Peter Cook are now dead. We also enjoyed seeing Alan Bennett again doing his bit as the Vicar giving a long rambling sermon based on Ezra "My brother is a hairy man but I am a smooth man..." Was this once once broadcast on PBS?Could some industry executive PLEASE put this out on DVD as soon as possible!!! And while we're at it what about Bennett's Talking Heads? At present it is only available in the UK.