The Frankie Howerd Collection (DVD)

Advantages: It's Frankie!
Disadvantages: Disappointing and disorganised.

...! There are a large amount of varied clips on the DVD, which make it fast-moving and includes a lot of material, which is good, but personally, I would have preferred fewer and longer pieces. The idea of just an apparently random selection of parts of interviews and sketches doesn't really work, in my opinion. I would have liked to see a more rigid format, either with a chronological review of the work or a documentary style DVD with illustrative clips. This is the latest BBC DVD on Frankie Howerd, as it was released last year and is currently available from Amazon for £8.98. The Comedy Greats collection also includes similar releases on other comedians such as Les Dawson, Tony Hancock, Spike Milligan and Tommy Cooper. As for this Frankie Howerd one, it is definitely worth having for any fans, but I doubt it is the best compilation out... Read review

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Advantages: A sweet tale with endearing performances
Disadvantages: Feels more like a TV drama than a proper film

...Young single mother Lizzie is so afraid of her abusive ex-husband that she continually moves around the country with her nine year-old son. In order to protect him from the truth, she tells Frankie that his dad is away at sea and sends him letters in the guise of his father. But when she learns the ship he?s supposed to be working on is due to dock, she threatens to be exposed. So she hires a handsome stranger to pose as Frankie?s dad, never realising that he will change the dynamic of the family forever. ?Dear Frankie? Shona Auerbach?s feature debut and she shows a firm hand with what could have been a terribly mawkish script. Her direction is spare and underplays the more emotionally manipulative aspects of the film, such as Frankie?s deafness. True, it is a sentimental film but it never over-eggs the pudding, thanks largely to... Read review

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Advantages: features different characters
Disadvantages: Barney!

...I really get fedup of watching the same childrens tv programmes over and over , so last week we were in Tesco`s and we spotted this dvd for £5. It has a variety of characters on here like Thomas the Tank Engine , Barney , Oswald and Fireman Sam with a wintery theme. Here are some of my favourite episodes :- Thomas The Tank Engine & Friends The fogman It is winter and is foggy , Cyril the fogman lays detenators on the tracks to warn the trains when there is fog. The fat controller shows the trains a new invention a foghorn which is very noisy and the trains are really not impressed. Cyril loses his job , Percy gets so annoyed with the foghorn because it is so noisy it makes the hillside shake and causes a landslide and is covered with rocks. The foghorn gets damaged , oh no not far away Thomas is on the track... Read review

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