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Post by John Green on Sept 19, 2016 17:46:55 GMT
I did wonder what Americans made of The Wrong Box, with Tony Hancock & plenty of other Brits not really known in the USA, along with Michael Caine, Peter Sellers & Dudley Moore who were better known, or soon to be. In that sort of situation,it's fun to read the IMDB reviews,thoigh bearing in mind that they'd tend to be skewed towards those who like or dislike it enough to submit a review: www.imdb.com/title/tt0061204/reviews?ref_=tt_urv
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Post by Richard Marple on Sept 19, 2016 22:02:04 GMT
I do like the films that have a few cast members well known in the UK but probably not so well in the USA, especially if they share a few scenes with a Hollywood A lister.
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Post by John Green on Sept 19, 2016 22:06:43 GMT
I do like the films that have a few cast members well known in the UK but probably not so well in the USA, especially if they share a few scenes with a Hollywood A lister. We're so O/T,but Harry H.Corbett and Telly Savalas???
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Post by Peter Stirling on Sept 20, 2016 8:02:52 GMT
One reason that Benny left ATV ie. he wrote all his own stuff but making 'Spotlight' palatable for the US market meant he had to work with American writers calling the shots. Sir Lew would go on to do the same with others like Marty Feldman and Pete and Dud, making mid Atlantic soufflés that went flat as pancakes and ultimately killing their TV series careers.
Benny obviously knew what he was doing and his head was not turned by the big ATV money.
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Post by Nathan Dickel on Sept 20, 2016 8:53:50 GMT
One reason that Benny left ATV ie. he wrote all his own stuff but making 'Spotlight' palatable for the US market meant he had to work with American writers calling the shots. Sir Lew would go on to do the same with others like Marty Feldman and Pete and Dud, making mid Atlantic soufflés that went flat as pancakes and ultimately killing their TV series careers. Benny obviously knew what he was doing and his head was not turned by the big ATV money. Money meant nothing to Benny, he had no use for it. I believe the reasons he went to Thames was more creative control, the opportunity to do the show's in colour, and most important for him at the time, to be able to make his short film 'Eddie In August'.
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Post by Richard Marple on Sept 20, 2016 12:37:12 GMT
I've heard Benny was very modest when it came to money, still living in a flat in Teddington even when the royalty cheques were coming in thick & fast.
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Post by robchapman on Sept 20, 2016 16:15:21 GMT
I've heard that too, uncashed cheques laying about the place etc. And in one of the docs there's the story of a colleague going to a cupboard in the flat and its full of Benny's light entertainment awards and trophies - all stashed away out of sight.
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Post by Richard Marple on Sept 20, 2016 17:16:42 GMT
IIRC Benny liked to limit the amount of shows he did per year to keep them fresh & without filler, in spite of many offers to make many more for a syndication package.
It's similar to Michael Crawford being reluctant to be Frank Spencer for longer than he needed to, reluctantly doing the 3rd series of Some Mothers Do 'Av 'Em & turning down a 4th even though it had been a big hit in Australia & the BBC were keen to make the most of this.
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Post by Nathan Dickel on Sept 22, 2016 11:51:43 GMT
IIRC Benny liked to limit the amount of shows he did per year to keep them fresh & without filler, in spite of many offers to make many more for a syndication package. And I find most of the detractors of his seem to forget this. Yes, Benny was always happy to rehash a gag if it fit, but the only reason he ever redid a sketch was usually due to the original being unavailible or wiped. He redid quite a few sketches in the 80's that he had did for 3 black and white specials in 1970/71 which weren't ever gonna get re-run. And the only reason I think people see to think he was rehashing all the time was most likely due to Thames constantly repeating and repackaging the shows against Benny and Dennis Kirkland's wishes. He certainly re-used material far less, than say Monty Python, who I have 3 vinyl albums of theirs which contain mostly the same bloody material!
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Post by Patrick Coles on Sept 22, 2016 15:05:08 GMT
I recall reading that Benny used to include a few older sketches that featured his longtime pals little Jackie Wright and Henry McGee so they continued getting royalties for 'appearing' in later shows - Jackie was unwell later and such royalties were of great help to him when he was unable to actually perform
Jackie's 'Mike Gambit' ('The New Avengers' - Benny was Steed) & blacked up as 'Mark Sanger' ('Ironside' - with Benny as the Chief and Henry was Det.Sgt Ed Brown) plus his being along with Benny & Henry 'The Batchelors' STILL cracks me up just to think of them....!!
The blonde girl - possibly from The Ladybirds - played Purdey and Eve Whitfield in the 'Avengers' and 'Ironside' spoof sketches
Monty Python has become massively over-rated - I think 'Do Not Adjust Your Set' and 'At Last The 1948 Show' plus the John Cleese sketches with The Two Ronnies in 'The Frost Report' were far more consistantly funny than 'Python' ever was
- we often later saw 'Best Of...' Python compilations that created the impression it was ALOT funnier than the original episodes actually were - I felt it was a very 'patchy' show, that could be magnificent in places, but often had unfunny just silly forgettable sketches
...and the old Hancock's Half Hour' episode 'Eriksson The Viking' plus Tony Newley's 'Strange World of Gurney Slade' - along with Benny, Michael Bentine, and Marty Feldman's shows anticipated and featured ALOT of the more offbeat surreal humour Python always gets credited for creating....
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Post by Richard Marple on Sept 22, 2016 17:41:05 GMT
The Pythons themselves mention in one book that as a lot of their earlier material has been lost it seemed like the Flying Circus came out of nowhere, rather than being the result of several years of writing & performing.
I really like MPFC but admit there are a few filler sketches even in the better shows, & the quality seemed to ebb away in the later series, which was one reason John Cleese left as he felt they were running out of fresh ideas & too many sketches were like earlier ones.
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Post by chrisstratton on Sept 25, 2016 6:57:16 GMT
Bennys 1956 film 'Who Done It?' Is on the Gold channel at 9.40 this morning
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