Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20887 in DVD
• Brand: A&E
• Released on: 2002-01-02
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Box set, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 300 minutes

Amazon.com
When he realizes that Honoria Glossop may once again have her sights set on his precious bachelorhood, Bertie Wooster sets sail for the New World. In spite of the change of scene, our hero continues to get into the most terrible scrapes, and it falls to the faithful Jeeves to save the day, frequently.

The first three episodes of this third season of Jeeves & Wooster take place in Manhattan, where Bertie helps old pal Tuppy to make a business deal. At the same time he has to keep Motty Malvern on the straight and narrow, while helping two writer friends deceive their prying relatives. The final straw comes in the shape of Cyril Bassington-Bassington, the stage-struck son of Aunt Agatha's closest friend. Back home in England, Bertie and Gussie Fink-Nottle switch identities, the lunatic Roderick Spode reappears, Bertie is forced to commit burglary (again!), and there's a spot of trouble with a tin of treacle and some communists. The unflappable Jeeves is Bertie's only hope.

Although the humor in this collection sometimes feels a little less assured than in earlier episodes and the new actor playing Gussie is a disappointment, the central performances of Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry are as good as ever. Few actors have ever brought such beloved characters so convincingly to life. --Simon Leake

Customer Reviews

More perfect silliness from P. G. Wodehouse
I admit it, I'm a P. G. Wodehouse fan. I've read most of the ninety-some books he wrote and seen several of the Jeeves and Wooster adaptations. Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry are, without question, the best of the lot.

One of the most difficult things about the series is to make Bertie believable without making him a total idiot. David Niven tried and failed dismally. Hugh Laurie, on the other hand, has found exactly the right tone as the ever cheerfully optimistic if somewhat dim-witted man-about-town. And his rendition of Bertie's singing "Something something something, something something something something, and so on," is pitch-perfect. Stephen Fry, as Jeeves, is equally perfect. He has managed to make Jeeves brilliantly superior without condescension. Between them they have created an affection between the two characters that is believable, touching, and richly comic.

Wodehouse is a rare treat, at once escapist, funny, and sharply satirical. Bertie is the 20s equivalent of today's valley girl and is as fresh and modern a comic portrait as the characters on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I like to think that Wodehouse chuckles in his grave as Giles tells Xander: "I suppose there's a certain Machiavellian ingenuity to your transgression," to which Xander replies: "I resent that...... Or possibly, thank you." Giles, we can assume, would be Jeeves. For those who want to go back to the source, you can't do better than Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry.

Good, but could have been better
Entertaining continuation of the earlier series, although not nearly as faithful to the original writing as the earlier productions. Director Ferdinand Fairfax has a much less appealing (and, I think, a much less valid) interpretation of P.G. Wodehouse than did either Robert Young or Simon Langston. If you see the 1990 or 1991 episodes first, you may be a bit disappointed in these by comparison, but they are still well worth viewing.

More Jeeves & Wooster is always a good thing
I agree with Hillsborough, NC. This series isn't quite as good as the ones Simon Langton directed. But Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry are impeccable. Their exploits in New York are not as delightful as those back in England - for an American audience, that is. But for sheer delight in late night watching - any Jeeves & Wooster will do.