 | |  |
| Not The Nine O'Clock News - The Best Of Not The Nine O'Clock News - Vol. 1 [1979] | ![Not The Nine O'Clock News - The Best Of Not The Nine O'Clock News - Vol. 1 [1979]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51JS2B8X2KL._SL160_.jpg)
enlarge | Directors: Bill Wilson, Bob Spiers, Geoff Posner Actors: Pamela Stephenson, Mel Smith, Griff Rhys Jones, Chris Langham Studio: 2 Entertain Video Category: DVD
List Price: £15.99 Buy New: £3.70 You Save: £12.29 (77%)
Buy New/Used from £3.47
Avg. Customer Rating:   (12 reviews) Sales Rank: 3038
Format: Pal Language: English (Original Language) Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over Media: DVD Running Time: 98 minutes Number Of Items: 1 Discs: 1 Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2 Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
EAN: 5014503128524 ASIN: B00009V900
Release Date: August 18, 2003 Theatrical Release Date: October 16, 1979 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.co.uk Review Volume One of Not the Nine O'Clock News comprises 98 minutes of early material from the sketch show that ran between 1979 and 1982. Starring Rowan Atkinson, Griff Rhys-Jones, Mel Smith and Pamela Stephenson and coscripted by Richard (Blackadder) Curtis among others, it wasn't especially ground-breaking by the standards of Monty Python or contemporary series such as The Young Ones, but it did provide some pretty blunt belly-laughs at the major social and political concerns of the era: Thatcher, Reagan, police brutality, the prospect of nuclear war. The latter makes for an excellent Question Time spoof, in which, with the four-minute warning having sounded, a panel of politicians continue bleating on their own agenda ("Three million people are going to die unemployed!"). Atkinson's stuff is among the best here, be it as a hideous young Tory, or as Gerald the Gorilla, now civilised to a fault by the captor who caught him in the wild. ("Wild? I was livid!") The much-repeated bit of him walking into a tree, however, doesn't work as he clearly anticipates the collision. While the musical elements look inevitably dated and a lengthy sketch on darts players boozing reaches the "Yeah, we get the point" mark long before it reaches its end, it's surprising how topical much of this material remains decades on--a sketch involving an agonising gay vicar springs to mind--while time hasn't eroded the quality of much of the writing. On the DVD: Not the Nine O'Clock News on disc comes with no extra features. --David Stubbs
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 7 more reviews...
  one of the best ever November 17, 2008 yes, not the nine o'clock news is one of the best ever but why oh why do we have to have the "best of" - I loved NTNOCN and would like to see the whole series and not just the best of selected by the BBC...great comedy which even my kids enjoy (!!!which shows it isn't dated) - please please just release the lot!!!!!!!
  A nostalgic but jumbled collection September 11, 2007 2 out of 5 found this review helpful
Seeing Not The Nine O'Clock News again is like watching any favourite old comedy show - some bits are still funny, and others frankly haven't dated too well. Most of the content here (and in volume 2) - is good, and will raise a laugh with fans of the show from the days when it was first shown.
But there are some serious flaws. Firstly, both volumes are completely jumbled in terms of sketches being shown out of chronological sequence, and you get the feeling the programmes have been gutted ruthlessly for these DVDs. So, for example, we get the last ever song of the entire series - the risque "Kinda Lingers" - shown half-way through DVD 1, rather than more meaningfully at the end of DVD 2.
Secondly, lots of good material has simply been omitted - presumably because it's so dated, risque, lost, or planned for any further DVD releases.
This is a real shame, because other comedy series have been faithfully released by the BBC in series order.
Highlights - despite the icon status that the Two Ronnies have now attained in British comedy, one can't help but feel that the biting "Two Ninnies" was - and remains - absolutely spot on.
Lowlights - the sketches shot outside show just what a drab, miserable place Britain was in the late seventies, early eighties. Was it really like that?
  another comedy from the 80`s August 23, 2007 0 out of 2 found this review helpful
well written by then rising stars.it could do with the same treatment as drop the dead donkey dvds with information and the news stories of the time to help the younger viewers with the jokes.
  Thatcher Epoch Comedy May 6, 2007 3 out of 4 found this review helpful
This show was practically compulsory viewing for teenagers and students in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It introduced the British public to Griff Rys-Jones, Mel Smith, Pamela Stephenson and Rowan Atkinson. Chris Langham was in the first season but seemed to get replaced by G R-J after that.
It consisted of a series of sketches, some purely comedic, others with political overtones. The pizza parlour worker, played by Rowan Atkinson, sneezing on the pizza and declaring "Extra mozzarella" is the former, the close-up of a yobbish Griff R-J talking about him and his mates picking on some black blokes "because we 'ate 'em, right?" and the camera gradually pulling away during the monologue to show he's a uniformed policeman would be the latter.
Some great writing (Clive Anderson, Andy Hamilton, a pre-"Four Weddings and a Funeral" Richard Curtis), go-for-it acting and sketches that hit frequently enough to forgive the ones that didn't. The sketch with the trendy lefty social worker declaring the only way to deal with young men who misbehaved was to "cut their goolies off" is still a classic, as is Gerald the talking gorilla.
  Vintage, timeless comedy January 20, 2005 7 out of 7 found this review helpful
I disagree strongly with any assertion that the 'Not the Nine O'Clock News' sketches are dated. They have, if anything, improved with time, and if you are new to the programme, or wish to revisit the series, this DVD is a great place to start. It contains such classics as the darts sketch (which had such an impact at the time it temporarily ruined the reputation of the sport), the racist policeman, and Rowan Atkinson's brilliant turn as a Conservative politician addressing the Tory conference. It is a reminder of what classic sketch comedy is all about, and what Richard Curtis was capable of in his early career (though he was admittedly only one of a vast number of writers - who included members of the public). It's a shame there are no extra features - I remember watching a very good documentary about the impact of the programme a few years back, and wonder why it isn't included. However, this is still well worth buying - and better than volume two.
|
|
|
|  | |