Fawlty Towers
SCORE: 69
I first saw Fawlty Towers on PBS many years ago. At the time I was not aware of how inappropriate a lot of the material was in this BBC comedy. As a discerning adult I can now look at this British sitcom with an analytical mind. Basil Fawlty (played by John Cleese) has many flaws. He had a bad attitude, he is rude, cheap, abuses the help, and does not cherish his wife. On the plus side he does stay true to a traditional viewpoint on marriage.
Fawlty Towers is an older television show, so do not expect the best camera angles, or newest props. There is little of England shown, but viewers will not be watching for that. Fawlty Towers has a lot of physical gags that had me laughing. There are also some very adult only areas of this show. A woman gets groped repeatedly in one episode, and there are some characters who get knocked around. There are some funny parts that stick out like when he hits his car with a tree branch, or falls backwards on a ladder.
I was pretty surprised to hear a lot of the bad language in Fawlty Towers. I did not remember that from the last time I had seen this show. There are some masterful play on words, especially in the very first episode. I did find myself laughing at those. Basil throws temper tantrums in a lot of the episodes of Fawlty Towers. He is also a very self centered character who does not like to serve others (even though he is in a service profession).
Fawlty Towers contains 500 minutes of video on the three DVDs. There is also interviews with many of the main characters, a director’s commentary, out-takes and more extras. Some of them contain questionable content as well. There are only twelve episodes, so that also keeps this score down from where it could have gone.
The writers did a wonderful job with the storylines in Fawlty Towers. The tightly woven script is really a treasure to witness. Nothing that happens in one show is left hanging. Every single loose end is brought together at one point or another. The menu screens function properly, and I had no problem navigating around them. With all of its flaws, I had some fun watching Fawlty Towers on DVD.
There is a character here
or there that shows the right way to compose oneself in Fawlty Towers.
The majority of them have huge character flaws. Not only does Basil, but
also his wife. The two of them make me shake my head because they do not
love and respect each other.
- Paul
Graphics: 64%
Sound: 62%
Replay/Extras: 79%
Gameplay: 83%
Family Friendly Factor: 58%
System: DVD
Publisher: BBC
Rating: 'NR' for Not
Rated
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