Fawlty Towers - Series 1 & 2 [1975]

Product Details

Actor : John Cleese
Format : Box set, HiFi Sound, PAL
Binding : VHS Tape
EAN : 5014503486228
Number of Discs : 1
Product Group : Video
Release Date : 1998-10-12
Running Time : 400minutes
Studio : 2 Entertain Video

ASIN : B00004CMNF

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review

Often hailed as the greatest ever British sitcom, Fawlty Towers is closer to the more elaborate tradition of farce. Comprising two series made in 1975 and 1979, the total of just 12 episodes were painstakingly constructed by writers John Cleese and Connie Booth. Unlike most British farce, however, Fawlty Towers deals with the big themes--death, psychology, xenophobia and even sex-o-phobia (Basil's marriage to Sybil is the most sterile ever depicted in a sitcom). Basil's contempt for his guests is, of course, legendary. It takes little from patrons to unleash his sledgehammer sarcasm: "Rosewood, mahogany, teak? Sorry, I was wondering what you'd like your breakfast tray made out of", he sneers at a guest who dares to request breakfast in bed. Like every Englishman, he wants to be king of his own castle and resents having to take in lodgers to maintain the place, especially the open-necked younger generation, whom he regards as sub-human. Mostly, though, Fawlty Towers is comedy of exasperation--who can forget the "damn good thrashing" Basil gives his clapped-out car, or the nervous breakdowns he almost suffers trying to make himself understood to Manuel? It's also comedy of embarrassment. The very fear of losing his dignity generally leads Basil into the most spectacularly undignified of predicaments. His inevitable misery is our sheer delight. -- David Stubbs

On the DVD: each six-episode season is given its own disc with a commentary track from John Howard Davies and Bob Spiers, directors of Season 1 and Season 2 respectively. The third disc has all the additional material, the best of which are new interviews with John Cleese, Andrew Sachs and Prunella Scales. Also included are text biographies of all the leads and the guest stars, a short background featurette on Torquay and the hotel owner who is said to have inspired Basil, a very short blooper reel of outtakes and a brief teaser with Cleese in character entitled "Cheap Tatty Review". Much of this extra material was comfortably fitted onto the individually available Season 1 and 2 discs, so it's a bit of a mystery why a third disc was deemed necessary for the box set. --Mark Walker

Customer Reviews

Brighten up your weekends (2007-08-17)

A beautifully scripted timeless classic that you never grow tired of. Fawlty Towers is the sort of series you can pop into your machine on a rainy sunday afternoon and it will instantly brighten up your day. John Cleese and Connie Booth remain legend writers for this masterpiece alone. It you're yet to see an episode and are buying this item, you're in for a treat.

the best comedy ever (2006-07-22)

you can watch somethings over and over again but they get boring, fawlty towers however is not one of these, simply put the greatest british comedy ever

Best comedy anywhere (2006-01-08)

Sight comedy is usually just slap-stick. Fawlty raises the bar to entirely new levels and does so show after show. There are none better.

My desert island disc (2005-07-19)

What else to say? Absolutely hilarious, if I had a day to live I could spend it just watching the 2 episodes that comprise this greatest of comedic masterworks, still brings me to tears after all these years, just shows that real life is the best inspiration, Cleese having found the inspiration for Basil Fawlty in an actual hotel manager where the Pythons briefly stayed, save for Cleese who stayed to study this fascinating being. Good thing for us he did.

THE MOST AMUSING HOTEL (2005-02-19)

Cleese at his very best, he is of course the king of the show. Excellent supporting cast and everyone, including the biscuit eater RAT...ehem,...HAMSTER from Manuel.What a curious stairs the hotel has! you go up to nowhere and then you must go down.As a vegetarian I dislike some scenes. In my catalan language version Manuel is a mexican emigrant from Jalisco and sing mexican songs, and in the spanish version he is an italian from Naples. Really if he would be from Barcelona, as the sitcom situate his origin, he would speak catalan abroad.

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