Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #24264 in DVD
• Released on: 2001-07-10
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 83 minutes

Amazon.com
Benny Hill was always best at quasi-silent slapstick, so it's no surprise that some of the best stuff on The Best of Benny Hill seems to owe more to the work of Mack Sennett and Fatty Arbuckle than to mainstream TV comedy. It may also be no coincidence that, unusually, this release began life in the cinema. There's some classic material on offer here: the extended opening item, "Lower Tidmarsh Hospital," for example, almost transcends buffoonery to become social comment, but best of all is the sketch which features Hill as a chat-show host (people really used to wear matching shirts and ties) attempting to deal with a West End star and starlet, the former monosyllabic, the latter catastrophically plastered. Among the other items featured, the knowing send-up of the pretentiousness of avant-garde French cinema is also very funny, while the short linking items include a wicked parody of Alan Whicker and a sideswipe at barely literate actresses ("What's that in the road? A head?"). Fans will be pleased to know that Hill's regular supporting cast, including Patricia Hayes, Nicholas Parsons and Rita Webb, are all present. --Roger Thomas

Customer Reviews

Very Funny
Benny Hill is One Of the Greatest Comedy Talents Ever!His Vision on His Shows always had me Rolling.He was not Only The Writer&Director but also Wrote The Music as Well.He was A Genius Of Humor.this is a Must.

Benny Hill sampler has some funny material
This is a feature-length compilation of sketches from Benny Hill's long-running TV series. If you're at all familiar with the genial British comedian, you'll know what to expect: plenty of girls, plenty of puns, plenty of obvious visual humor, and plenty of eccentrics dashing from here to there. Some of the sketches run on a bit longer than necessary, others are short and sweet. Movie buffs will love two sketches in particular: 1) Benny is the star of a 1930s late-show movie, but the print is terrible (Benny and the cast ingeniously simulate splicy dialogue, projection at the wrong speed, etc.); 2) A cineaste -- Hill's straight man Henry McGee in a delightfully over-the-top performance -- interviews famed French director Benny, asking searching questions and getting matter-of-fact answers. Benny's monologues are fun, too -- his story of a little boy who befriends a bird is timed beautifully. A technical note: this was released as a theatrical movie but much of it was originally shot on videotape. Thus the image transferred to film is sometimes a little grainy, but it's nothing distracting. If you like simple, lowbrow burlesque comedy, you'll certainly enjoy this tape.

Uh yeah this IS the best of Benny Hill!
Having grown up in Sydney, Australia during the 1970's I was exposed to a lot of Benny Hill and this DVD contains but a small portion of the funny and brilliant comedy programming Benny made which I grew up watching. I happen to like his early stuff from the 70's as opposed to the later stuff he did in the 80's. Lucky for me this compilation movie was made in the mid-70's and has made it to DVD. The skits on this DVD represent the original years of Hill's brand of humor and I love it. The only drawback is that since some of the skits were shot on video the quality isn't as good as the superb quality of the skits shot on 16mm. On the contrary the other DVD(s) available that covers Hill's later years contains the boring, mundane humor in my opinion. I am very much hoping that I can get some more Hill programming on DVD from the 1970's, as presented on this DVD because as I said this is but a mere taste of Hill's early era of original and very funny yet risque humor. There's a lot more he did back in the 70's which hasn't made it to DVD yet. A lot more.

This DVD is the game and the others are lame.