Carlton-Browne of the F.O.)

Starring:Peter Sellers
Studio: Anchor Bay
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
The Peter Sellers Collection includes six British comedies in which Sellers plays leading or supporting roles. The Smallest Show on Earth (1957) is among the run of gentle British comedies in the 1950s in which outmoded and broken-down local institutions were saved by collections of committed eccentrics. Aspiring novelist Bill Travers and his wife Virginia McKenna inherit a cinema from a hitherto unknown uncle and discover that it isn't the sumptuous modern Grand, but the decrepit Bijou, with a drunken projectionist played by Sellers.

In 1959's I'm All Right Jack, Sellers plays both Sir John Kennaway and, unforgettably, the trade union leader Fred Kite. The result is laugh-out-loud comedy with a satiric edge, lampooning the then-burning issue of industrial relations. The brothers John and Roy Boulting also directed and produced such British classics as Carlton-Browne of the F.O. (1959), in which Seller's unscrupulous prime minister is upstaged by Terry-Thomas as the idiot son of a great ambassador, and Heavens Above (1963), in which Sellers gives an unusually low-key performance as a young vicar whose tendencies to interpret Christian doctrines in his own individualistic way, rather than conform to church traditions, leads to all kinds of chaos.

The great crime comedy Two Way Stretch (1960) is about imprisoned crooks who hatch a scheme to pull off a heist with a perfect alibi by breaking out, doing the job, and then breaking back in to serve out their sentences. Sellers, usually an eccentric support in these things, takes a rare lead as cocky mastermind Dodger Lane.

Amazon.com essential video

Cue the Henry Mancini music and watch out for Cato--the gist of the Pink Panther series has been gathered in a six-disc boxed set. At the center of it is Peter Sellers's incarnation of inspector Jacques Clouseau, a hopelessly bumbling detective with a genius for resting his hands in the wrong place (on the surface of a spinning globe, for instance) and mangling the English language.

Writer-director Blake Edwards cast Peter Ustinov as Clouseau in The Pink Panther, but Ustinov dropped out just before shooting began. Edwards (who recounts this story in a spotty commentary track included here) and Sellers bonded over their affection for Laurel and Hardy, and immediately transformed the character of Clouseau into a walking sight gag. The first film has a delicious swinging sixties vibe, while jewel thief David Niven, Claudia Cardinale, and Capucine occupy as much screen time as Sellers. Sellers really hits his stride in A Shot in the Dark, an elegantly funny tale of Clouseau sleuthing out a murder investigation. This one introduced Herbert Lom, as the increasingly frazzled Inspector Dreyfus, and Burt Kwouk, as Clouseau's houseboy-nemesis Cato. Sellers and Edwards, whose relationship was stormy, put Clouseau aside for over 10 years, until a trilogy of mid-1970s comedies restored the character to commercial (and dare we say cultural) primacy.

Unfortunately, the very funny comeback picture, Return of the Pink Panther, is absent from this set due to rights issues with the studios involved. The Pink Panther Strikes Again has Dreyfus going bananas and targeting Clouseau; Revenge of the Pink Panther puts Clouseau in a hilarious series of disguises, climaxing in a wonderfully mounted sequence in Hong Kong. (Throughout the series, the calm, classical staging of gags by Blake Edwards reminds you of what a lost art this has become.) Trail of the Pink Panther looks better now than it did when originally released in 1982, shortly after Sellers's death; it's a batch of unused Sellers routines from previous pictures, strung together with a loose plot. In other words, it's a "deleted scenes" extra, and quite funny at times.

Subsequent efforts Curse of the Pink Panther and Son of the Pink Panther are neither included nor mentioned. A half-hour documentary gives pleasant memories from Edwards, but feels incomplete. The cartoon Panther gets his own 11-minute mini-doc, plus six cartoon shorts including the Oscar-winning "The Pink Phink." --Robert Horton

Description

Disc 1: THE PINK PANTHER Disc 2: REVENGE OF THE PINK PANTHER Disc 3: THE PINK PANTHER STRIKES AGAIN Disc 4: A SHOT IN THE DARK Disc 5: TRAIL OF THE PINK PANTHER Disc 6: BONUS DISC

Customer Reviews:

Hilarious!.......2007-05-09

Just 4 stars. The missing one is for the missing "The Return of the Pink Panther (1974)". If you are looking for extreme and healthy fun, no one could it be better than Sellers to pop ups your laughings, he was great doing any role. This is a delicious collection, just improve the one buying the missing "..return", and of course..."The Party"

Review of The Pink Panther Film Collection.......2007-01-17

It is absolutely first class entertainment. It is intelligent, witty, silly, "classy" - something we rarely achieve these days. Gather your family and give them an education in how to develop a keen sense of humor or, even better, invite your friends to watch - don't forget the martinis.
LGP

Purchased as a gift.......2007-01-13

My dad was always talking about how he wanted this boxed set on DVD since he found out it existed. Christmas rolled around and he hadn't mentioned it in a while, so I surprised him with it and he was thrilled. The set is very nicely packaged, very high quality, and looks very nice. Also, my dad was pleased to see a couple of the lesser known movies (he said two are very common on TV but the others you hardly ever see). He's very happy with it, and I am very happy with my purchase. Well worth the money!

Pink Panther Film Collecton.......2007-01-10

The package arrived in excellent shape and the DVD's are all perfect. If you like the Pink Panther its a great buy.

What's not to like about Peter Sellers?.......2007-01-06

Fun to watch and relive these fine films on a nice wide-screen plasma TV. It will take you back to a more innocent age. Hard to watch if you are using a 27" tube set however.

Peter Sellers Collection (I'm All Right Jack/Heavens Above!/Hoffman/Two-Way Stretch/The Smallest Show on Earth/Carlton-Browne of the F.O.)

Average customer rating:

Caveats

Peter Sellers Collection (I'm All Right Jack/Heavens Above!/Hoffman/Two-Way Stretch/The Smallest Show on Earth/Carlton-Browne of the F.O.)
Starring: Peter Sellers
Manufacturer: Starz / Anchor Bay
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

( P ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Comedy | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

Drama | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

Classics | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

The Alec Guinness Collection (Kind Hearts and Coronets / The Lavender Hill Mob / The Ladykillers / The Man in the White Suit / The Captain's Paradise)
Ealing Studios Comedy Collection (The Maggie / A Run for Your Money / Titfield Thunderbolt / Whisky Galore! / Passport to Pimlico)
The Wrong Arm of the Law
The Naked Truth
British War Collection (The Cruel Sea/The Ship That Died of Shame/Went the Day Well?/The Dam Busters/The Colditz Story)

ASIN: B00007AJEC
Release Date: 2003-01-21

Amazon.com

The Peter Sellers Collection includes six British comedies in which Sellers plays leading or supporting roles. The Smallest Show on Earth (1957) is among the run of gentle British comedies in the 1950s in which outmoded and broken-down local institutions were saved by collections of committed eccentrics. Aspiring novelist Bill Travers and his wife Virginia McKenna inherit a cinema from a hitherto unknown uncle and discover that it isn't the sumptuous modern Grand, but the decrepit Bijou, with a drunken projectionist played by Sellers.

In 1959's I'm All Right Jack, Sellers plays both Sir John Kennaway and, unforgettably, the trade union leader Fred Kite. The result is laugh-out-loud comedy with a satiric edge, lampooning the then-burning issue of industrial relations. The brothers John and Roy Boulting also directed and produced such British classics as Carlton-Browne of the F.O. (1959), in which Seller's unscrupulous prime minister is upstaged by Terry-Thomas as the idiot son of a great ambassador, and Heavens Above (1963), in which Sellers gives an unusually low-key performance as a young vicar whose tendencies to interpret Christian doctrines in his own individualistic way, rather than conform to church traditions, leads to all kinds of chaos.

The great crime comedy Two Way Stretch (1960) is about imprisoned crooks who hatch a scheme to pull off a heist with a perfect alibi by breaking out, doing the job, and then breaking back in to serve out their sentences. Sellers, usually an eccentric support in these things, takes a rare lead as cocky mastermind Dodger Lane.

Hoffman (1970) gives Sellers a lot of funny business, acid lines, and whimsical turns. Secretary Miss Smith (Sinéad Cusack) is blackmailed by meek, middle-aged Mr. Hoffman (Sellers) into spending a week of domesticity with him in his flat. At first, the tone is creepy, but it becomes more poignant as both characters learn to see each other as people.

Customer Reviews:

Caveats.......2003-11-12

Peter Sellers, often written off as a talented mimic, was actually a superb actor, if he found his character's "voice". He's been unfortunately typecast (I have a friend who thought he was French!) as Clouseau, and he may actually be the finest slapstick comedian after the end of the silent era. This collection is a treasure trove for anyone who wants to see him in early or obscure work, but the movies are ineven in quality and tone. Also of interest in that all these movies he plays a single character (even in the early, unincluded, "Only Two Can Play" he lapsed into multiple accents. CARLTON-BROWNE OF THE F.O. is really a Terry-Thomas vehicle with Sellers in support. Like all Cold War comedies its plot (such as it is, about the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. all trying to discover the secrets of a small island under British protection) is quaint and hardly funny, but there are enough bright spots to recommend the movie as a whole (the scenes between Terry-Thomas and Thorley Walters are invariably delightful). THE SMALLEST SHOW ON EARTH has a young Sellers, again in a supporting role, playing the aged projectionist in a run-down theatre; again, the bright spots are scattered but for anyone who likes old movies and quiet humor will find enough not to have wasted his time with it. HEAVENS ABOVE, a satire on Communism, using the Church as a vehicle for its representation, has Sellers in the lead as a mis-appointed Anglican clergyman who turns his parish on its head; but the movie eventually plays against itself with its serious undertones. TWO-WAY STRETCH is an out-and-out farce with Peter Sellers as a prisoner who plots a crime that will give him a perfect alibi -- he's in jail; but a martinet new guard (Lionel Jeffries, the grandfather "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang") may ruin his plans. "I'M ALL RIGHT, JACK" has Sellers in support again, in a star-studded farce about labor vs management, with Selelrs as Hitleresque shop steward and labor leader Fred Kite (a breakthrough role for Sellers). HOFFMAN is the odd man out in this box, as it comes later in Sellers' career, and the character he plays isn't comic, just unpleasant. Why "Hoffman" was included -- why it's even on DVD -- I can't even pretend to speculate. A more fitting addition to the collection would have been "The Wrong Arm of the Law", another crime caper. The poignant comedy-drama "The Dock Brief", with Richard Attenborough as the confessed wife murderer and Sellers as the barrister determined to get him off despite his own protests, would have rounded the box off nicely. The perfect addition would have been the hilarious "The Naked Truth", where Sellers and Terry-Thomas (again) plot to do away with a scandal-sheet publisher (Dennis Price) who threatens to expose their secrets (Sellers' jolly television host character is actually a slumlord). Even the much less funny "Only Two Can Play" would've been an improvement. Why they stuck on "Hoffman" -- unless it was simply dirt cheap to add -- boggles the mind. If you don't mind paying the freight for five comedies that range from middling to pretty-good-for-its-time, just to see early Sellers in some forgotten roles, this is the set for you. Just bring along a shovel to bury "Hoffman" and you'll be fine.

Average customer rating:

A large collection with mixed reviews on quality

250 Movie Family Collection
Starring: Stan Laurel; Keystone Kops; Carol Lombard; James Cagney
Director: Peter Sellers
Manufacturer: Mill Creek Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Customer Reviews:

A large collection with mixed reviews on quality.......2007-02-25

The only information I can find on this set is an ad on TigerDirect. If that ad is for this product, it is actually 250 movies plus 100 TV episodes. It is a bundle of six previously released movie and TV packs:

1. Family Classics 50 Movie Pack released in 2004, 16 dollars
2. All Stars 50 Movie Pack, released in 2004, 26 dollars
3. Comedy Classics 50 Movie Pack Collection, released 2004, 13 dollars
4. Hollywood Legends 50 Movie Pack, released 2004, 19 dollars
5. Musicals Classics 50 Movie Pack, released 2005, 19 dollars
6. TV Favorites Megapack 100 Episodes Collection, released 2004, 27 dollars

The prices come from what this site is currently charging for each of these products individually. If you read all of the comments by reviewers of these individual bundles it seems to boil down to this - people seem satisfied overall with these bundles, although they are the least satisfied with the "All Stars" and "Hollywood Legends" collection. More than a few people are upset with the video quality, and pretty much everyone agrees these are all B movies, but that doesn't necessarily mean they are not entertaining. The cost on this site for buying the entire bundle is significantly less than buying the sets separately at a cost of 120 dollars. However, TigerDirect has this same exact set on sale for 50 dollars. Also, I'm familiar with quite a few of the titles, and I'm pretty sure you wouldn't want your kids breaking open just any of these DVDs if you are not familiar with some of the movies. In some cases the topics can be rather mature, though nothing worse than anything you would see in a movie from the 1960's. I am assigning a three star rating because it seems that you get great quantity, but only so-so and in some cases poor video quality, and average to above average entertainment quality. My personal experience with this manufacturer's product is that I have the Comedy Classics and Horror Classics sets, and I have been pretty happy with both of them. The video quality is good but not great, as is the quality of the movies themselves. I'd give both of those two sets four stars, but then I wasn't expecting Kino Home Video quality either.

Average customer rating:

Tepid filler with scattered brilliance-better rented than bought
Wanting More
A Look into a unusual mind
Winters wonderful, frustrating documentary
Johnny Winters One of the All Time Greats

The Unknown Collection - 3 pack
Starring: Alexander Walker , Peter Sellers , David Lodge , David Frost , and Joseph McGrath
Director: David Leaf , and John Scheinfeld
Manufacturer: Winstar
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Documentary | Genres | DVD | Video

Documentary | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

( U ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
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Jonathan Winters: Rare and Riotous
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Jonathan Winters: Madman of Comedy

ASIN: B00004U0FO
Release Date: 2000-09-05

Amazon.com

Jonathan Winters, a comedian whose improvisational style began breaking all the rules back in the 1950s, looks back on his long, strange career in this documentary filled with some of his most inspired bits. In a clip from a TV appearance in the early 1960s, Winters enters a room filled with hats ranging from medieval crowns to space helmets. In the course of several minutes he changes hats at a furious pace, and as each hat goes onto his head, Winters also assumes the facial expressions and voice of a new character. It's a very funny and very weird bit that few other comics could pull off. Robin Williams, who has always been lavish in his praise of Winters, appears in typically manic interview segments to comment on him as a performer. Winters's wife and children also provide their perspective, and Winters provides insight into how he comes up with his bizarre performances and some memories on the ups and downs of his career, which includes a dark period when he checked himself into a mental hospital. The biographical material is interesting, but of course the real gems in this production are the many clips of Winters performing. He is seen morphing into characters on television programs dating back to the early 1950s, and in one odd segment, he improvises routines in the aisles of a hardware store. --Robert J. McNamara

Customer Reviews:

Tepid filler with scattered brilliance-better rented than bought.......2007-02-15

They short changed the reason we all get this video: Jonathan's performances. Granted, the docufiller is interesting, but belongs in a section titled "Bonus Feature", or "Bio" rather than fragmenting some entertaining out takes.

Probably didn't want to pay all the royalties to get more performances included...

Recommend as a rental rather than a purchase.

Wanting More.......2004-08-19

Jonathan Winters is probably my all-time favorite comedian! I liked this video but wish it had been longer and that many, many more of his comedy routines had been included. The clips were too scattered and too brief, and it just whetted my appetite for more and was frustrating. Appearances by Andy Williams and Robin Williams didn't add much. I did enjoy learning a little about Winters' personal life over the years, and seeing him as he was a couple years ago. I must say I was very glad to locate ANY video about him, but it would be wonderful if someone could put together a complete set of ALL of his routines! That would be fantastic!

A Look into a unusual mind.......2001-07-02

This is a video which is sometimes shown on PBS. It is biographical in nature and truly shows the breadth of his comedy. You'll see Winters as you've probably never seen him before. There is improvisational humor galore and there's also black humor (The Execution). It is very amusing to see the "Straight Men" so totally lost and just enjoying "the master" at work.

Winters wonderful, frustrating documentary.......2001-07-02

Jonathan Winters is really a treasure and it is amazing how many people do not know about him. He is clearly Robin Williams's progenitor, starting out in his television career with sound effects and impersonations, but eventually moving into original characters and amazing improvisations, often based on random objects thrown to him.

This documentary, however, is constantly teasing the viewer who is eager to watch the master. Seldom does a segment or vignette go uninterrupted by cuts from interviews which are sparse, heavy on adoration and low on information. The subjects of these interviews are limited to Andy Williams, Robin Williams (who seems to have little to say about his hero), and family members who tell few stories. Winters himself makes a statement about his nervous breakdown and hospitalization that is firm and uninformative. There is talk about the work on IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD and MORK AND MINDY but no clips. Even when we watch him at play in public places, the camera holds so closely on him, rarely showing the setting or the people he is catching off-guard, that the spontaneity of what we are witnessing is hidden.

A little of Winters is vastly better than none, but this disappoints as a documentary.

Johnny Winters One of the All Time Greats.......2000-11-27

I watched him growing up and seeing this tape on PBS brought back memories of the best improvisational comedian of all time. Robin Williams will tell you, this man inspired him to be, what I would argue to be, the second best of all time...not bad because Williams is very good. The early shows with Jack Paar and Andy Williams are truly classic, and demonstrate the comic genius of Johnny or as he is better known, Jonathan.

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