An Amazon.com essential video
Basil Fawlty, as created and performed by John Cleese, is the rudest,
most boorish, most hilariously obnoxious man on the face of the
planet. What a natural for a TV sitcom! His screen wife, Sybil (Prunella
Scales), put it best in the episode "The Psychiatrist":
"You're either crawling all over them, licking their boots,
or spitting poison at them like some Benzedrine puff adder."
He mockingly replies, "Just trying to enjoy myself, dear."
With his gangly frame and contortionist abilities, Cleese brilliantly
punctuates Basil's outrageous faux pas with absurd gymnastics and
turns Three Stooges-style pokes and kicks into a slapstick ballet.
Scales's Sybil is the genial but obliviously chatty voice of reason
and Andrew Sachs mangles the English language as the Spanish bellhop
Manuel, whose struggles with simple directions results in comic
lunacy reminiscent of Robert Benigni. After a six-episode run in
1975, Cleese and cowriter and costar Connie Booth (who plays Polly,
the maid all too often pulled into Basil's ridiculous plans) reunited
the cast in 1979 for another six episodes without missing a punch
line. The four-volume collection contains all 12 shows, interspersed
with interview segments featuring Cleese discussing the genesis
of the series and anecdotes about the individual episodes. Remember
to watch the opening credits of each show to spot the creative misspellings
on the hotel sign (my favorite: "Fatty Owls"). --Sean
Axmaker
Product Details:
Starring: John Cleese, Prunella Scales, Andrew Sachs, Connie
Booth
Encoding: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. This DVD will probably
NOT be viewable in other countries. Read more about DVD formats.)
