Dom Robinson reviews
The Best of The Two Ronnies Distributed by
Cat.no: PAR 61033
Cert: PG
Running time: 44 minutes
Year: 1983
Pressing: 1999
Region(s): 0 (UK PAL)
Chapters: 4
Sound: Linear PCM Mono
Languages: English
Subtitles: None
Fullscreen: 4:3
16:9-enhanced: No
Macrovision: No
Disc Format: DVD 5
Price: £19.99
Extras : Scene index
Producer:
Written by:
John Hyde, Spike Mullins and Gerald Wiley
Music:
The Two Ronnies : Ronnie Barker , the fat one with grey hair
and Ronnie Corbett , the thin one sitting in the black chair were part and parcel
of BBC TV for a long times, after which time Mr. Barker went into retirement and Mr. Corbett
went onto Ben Elton's show to reprise his famous monologues. They had each spent
time in sitcoms - Corbett in Sorry (language, Timothy!) and Barker in
Open All Hours , alongside a much younger David Jason .
After 21 years, the BBC put together a compilation of shows entitled, "21 Years of the Two
Ronnies" . The year later, they repeated it with the new title of... well, I'll let you
guess that one. Last year, they reunited for a "Two Ronnies Night" , although it only
lasted two hours and consisted mainly of old clips and reminiscences.
This new disc, a compilation put together in 1983, contains a number of sketches including
Harry and Bert Down the Pub
Cinema Commissionaire ("I stand here all day whether it Claude Rains or Ronald Shiners" )
Ice Cream Parlour Sketch
Barber's Shop Medley , with guest star Sam Kelly ("'Allo 'Allo" )
Corbett's monologue
A Life on the Ocean Waves Medley
The News , which would top and tail their shows like it does on this disc.
What's apparent though, is that the comedy hasn't dated particularly well. Perhaps if you're
a massive fan of their brand of humour then it'll have a great deal of appeal, but for me
it has its moments, but does have more misses than hits.
The picture quality is the best thing about this disc though. Obviously, it's fullscreen-only,
but the print is clear of artifacts and it can comfortably be zoomed in to fill a widescreen
TV. The average bitrate is an above-average 6Mb/s.
The sound is in mono and doesn't pose any problems.
Extras :
Chapters :
Languages & Subtitles :
The content is in English only, with no subtitles.
Menu :
The menu is static and silent only offering you the chance to start the programme or
select a chapter.
Overall, given the price, the only people who'll purchase this will be the die-hard fans
of the pair and not those who make impulsive purchases.
I have to ask why Revelation have chosen to release this as a full-price
DVD for £19.99 and not a budget title, given that the same video can
be bought for a mere £4.99 and has been available for the past five years.
And now it's goodnight from me and it's goodnight from them.
FILM : *
PICTURE QUALITY : ***
SOUND QUALITY : **
EXTRAS : 0
-------------------------------
OVERALL : *½
Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2000.
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