Fawlty Towers – The Complete Collection Remastered DVD Review – Win Yours Here

Written on October 21, 2009 by Marc Eastman in Television

The absolute must-own DVD set of the decade has arrived, and whatever your excuse for not picking up Fawlty Towers before now, you’ve got to get this set. Below you’ll have a chance to get your hands on one of two copies I have available for a couple of lucky winners.

Easily one of the best comedies to ever air on television, Fawlty Towers is by now beyond classic, and to mark the show’s 30th Anniversary, BBC Video has put together an incredible package for the complete series.

Hen-pecked Basil Fawlty’s attempts at running his small hotel never quite work out as planned. With the help of the ever-so-eager, yet mostly incompetent Manuel, and the unflappable (and rational foil) Polly, there is some chance the whole place won’t come crashing down around Basil… but not much chance really.

The brilliantly hilarious show put together some of the greatest characters and writing you’ll ever run across, and it was named the #1 television program of all time by the British Film Institute.

Let’s be honest though, the show needs no introduction. On the one hand, it’s all been said before, and on the other, I could easily go on far too long.

The DVD release deserves to be talked up at length though.

First, and most importantly, every episode has a commentary track with John Cleese. It’s largely a casual viewing, with a lot about the guest actors and tidbits on the filming of certain episodes, but there are also a great many wonderful moments of John Cleese looking back decades later and examining the thing for himself. He talks about the theories of humor behind certain scenes, and even second-guesses himself once or twice. There’s a certain point when he wonders if he shouldn’t have played a spot out differently, and it’s incredible to be a part of that conversation. If there was ever a truly worthy purpose behind DVD commentary tracks, I can’t imagine what could fit the bill more than sitting down in your living room to watch Fawlty Towers with John Cleese.

The individual series also have commentary tracks by their respective directors – John Howard Davies on Series 1, and Bob Spiers on Series 2. These are both great commentaries as well, and are sure to be given too little emphasis given their competition, but you don’t want to miss them. Both directors were incredibly good at what they did, and between them they went on to direct any number of great comedies, including Are You Being Served?, Absolutely Fabulous, and many more.

Getting to the 3rd disc in the set, we start off with 2009 Interviews. 40-minutes of interviews with John Cleese, Connie Booth, Andrew Sachs, Prunella Scales, John Howard Davies, Bernard Cribbins (Mr. Hutchinson – The Hotel Inspectors), Geoffrey Palmer (Dr. Price – The Kipper & The Corpse), and more. The meat of this time is dedicated to the four stars, and looking back with them will be a lot of fun for funs.

Under a separate Interviews heading we find three more interviews with the cast, they just aren’t brand new ones. There is a John Cleese interview which runs just under an hour, one with Andrew Sachs that’s just under 30 minutes, and one with Prunella Scales at about ten minutes. Apparently filmed initially for some other promotion of the show (I suspect the initial DVD release, but can’t get confirmation on that), these are a lot of fun, though I wouldn’t hang my hat on the guy interviewing Sachs and Scales.

Helpful Staff is simply a rundown of the people behind the characters. Torquay Tourist Office runs us through the birthplace of Fawlty Towers, both the Hotel Gleneagles and the surrounding area. Guest Registry is in fact the very same sort of thing as Helpful Staff, only for guest stars. There’s also an outtake reel, and though it may only be a little over two minutes, there’s really nothing like John Cleese outtakes.

A five star DVD release if ever there was one, you definitely want to own this.

Own it on DVD today!

Become a Facebook Fan of Fawlty Towers here!

Don’t leave before you check out a couple of great clips below.

Now… as I said, I have two copies available for you to win, and here’s how it works -

Leave a comment below and include the word, “Win,” and you are entered into one of the random drawings. A winner will be randomly selected on Nov. 23rd.

The second will be given away in Facebook Fan Appreciation mode. A second winner will be randomly selected from among all the Are You Screening? Facebook Fans on Nov. 23rd at 10:00pm est. If you’re already a fan, you’ve already done everything there is to do. If you aren’t, become one by following the link below. Winner will be announced through the fan page.

U.S. and Canada only.

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