Fawlty Towers - The Complete Collection (Remastered) [DVD] [1975]

Product Information

Fawlty Towers" is a good show, although its reputation has a tendency to get blown out of proportion (for instance, actor David Kelly proclaims in the extras that Basil Fawlty is "the funniest character ever broadcast on television anywhere in the world"). Since I'm already late on this review, I'm not going to go into detail, other than to say that the interviews are fairly good and the commentaries aren't (unless you like dead air). Communication Problems’ sees Basil (Cleese) forced to deal with a deaf guest while attempting to conceal his gambling win from Sybil (Prunella Scales). Series 2 episodes are: 'Communication Problems', 'The Psychiatrist', 'Waldorf Salad', 'The Kipper and the Corpse', 'The Anniversary' and 'Basil the Rat'. The episode also gives Booth a chance to shine when Basil talks Polly into posing as Sybil, which leads to one of the funniest scenes in the whole series.

Each of the series discs also has the option of a commentary by the director (series one: John Howard Davies, series two: Bob Spiers).Fans of the series shouldn't worry though; it may not look better, but it doesn't look any worse than it ever has (a DVDTalk forum member mentions that it's brighter, which might be true, but all I have is my memory of the last DVD; I don't have it here to compare directly). Cast to perfection the series found Cleese playing much put-upon Torquay hotel owner Basil Fawlty, Prunella Scales as his domineering wife Sybil, Connie Booth as Polly, the dependable maid and Andrew Sachs in the role of Manuel, the non-comprehending, tyrannized waiter from Barcelona. The Extras disc in the DVD box set contains a "hidden" short film clip, this page has more details and shows exactly how to access this item.

Personally, I'm also more of a dialogue person than anything, and almost every episode has several good one-liners ("Racket? One of the main reasons most people will have opted for the DVD box set, or bought it even if they have the videos, is the third Special Feature disc. Zavvi - The Home of Pop CultureThe classic BBC comedy comes to Blu-ray for the first time, starring John Cleese, Prunella Scales, Andrew Saches and Connie Booth. In ‘A Touch of Class’, Basil’s quest for a better class of clientele seems to have succeeded with the arrival at the hotel of Lord Melbury (Michael Gwynn).The other first impression is that the box set and inner box is made of cardboard (albeit rigid and laminated) so might get a bit tatty after a while — especially if yours is going to get a lot of handling — a rigid plastic case would have been much better. The other cast interviews are on the redundant side, especially Cleese's; the best part of the featurette is hearing about the experience from some of the smaller, peripheral roles, which is a change of pace from the rest of the extras. I'm also going to come off like a stick-in-the-mud, because it's just a comedy TV show, but many of the Basil/Sybil relationship scenes are distracting to me. Excellent Fawlty Towers Collection which shows all the 12 original episodes as well as some other extra's.

Whether it is builders, Germans, wedding guests, American tourists, corpses or even rats, there's always someone or something to drive Basil to desperation. Gourmet Night' sees the Fawltys' attempt to throw a cultural evening fail when their chef hits the bottle. There's more than one moment where it seems odd that she wouldn't be trying to help, or her misconceptions about Basil become almost too frustrating, given her holier-than-thou attitude.Fawlty Towers" is far from my favorite sitcom (or even my favorite British sitcom), but it still has plenty of top-notch writing, sharp dialogue and brilliant physical comedy packed into its short run. com/products/fawlty-towers-remastered-special-edition-15371 3888108896304 Fawlty Towers Remastered: Special Edition 49.