Frequently Bought Together
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Product details
|
Reviews
United Kingdom released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: LANGUAGES: English ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), SPECIAL FEATURES: Interactive Menu, Multi-DVD Set, Scene Access, Uncut, SYNOPSIS: William Brown is the story concentrate of an English boy. No matter what trouble his elders, and -worse- the insufferable 'good girl' Violet Elizabeth Bott who manages to enforce her presence upon them, take to tell them what to do, when and where, William, his best friend Ginger and the whole gang of village rascals make sure the saying "boys will be boys" proves true every single mischievous time, even if it takes all their courage and lying ingenuity. SCREENED/AWARDED AT: BAFTA Awards, ...Just William - Complete Series - 4-DVD Set
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
34 of 35 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Several series have been made about Richmal Crompton's unruly schoolboy. Some have worked and some haven't, but this engaging version is probably the most pleasantly watchable. It's clear that everyone involved had a great love of the stories and they put every effort into making this work. Crompton's original tales were short and lent themselves well to a weekly series, and this version, which lasted for 2 seasons and a Xmas special did well to capture the feeling and spirit of his adventures while not ruining the nostalgic elements.
Adrian Dannatt appears at first to be an odd choice for William, appearing just too different to the wild-haired scruff that we've become so familiar with from the illustrations and tales. But he soon overcomes those misgivings to give a performance that perfectly captures William's rebellious spirit, making me wonder why the actor never worked again.
Aside from the excellent Ginger, William's supporting Outlaws are not so convincing, coming over as fairly generic naughty kids rather than the epic characters on the page. To some extent this is probably deliberate as the adult roles are delivered in a more-rounded fashion, rather than being shadowy authority figures. So William's long-suffering parents are appealing as are Bott's parents, characters who I can hardly remember from the books, but who with deft performance from Diana Dors and John Stratton work well in their occasional appearances. Other guest stars include Freddie Jones and Simon Chandler in top form as William's older brother. Best of all is a gloriously infuriating Bonnie Langford as Violet Elizabeth Bott, surely the most nauseating kid ever to appear in fiction.
What also works is the feel of the show, in which it manages to be both modern, or at least it was at the time, while still presenting Crompton's original vision of an idyllic England from long ago that could never really have existed, but which probably should have. The production values are high, helped by re-using sets for Raffles, which was apparently being filmed at the same time. This gives the show considerable class for what is, in essence, a children's sitcom, even if it is one that is likely to be enjoyed by just as many adults.
Adrian Dannatt appears at first to be an odd choice for William, appearing just too different to the wild-haired scruff that we've become so familiar with from the illustrations and tales. But he soon overcomes those misgivings to give a performance that perfectly captures William's rebellious spirit, making me wonder why the actor never worked again.
Aside from the excellent Ginger, William's supporting Outlaws are not so convincing, coming over as fairly generic naughty kids rather than the epic characters on the page. To some extent this is probably deliberate as the adult roles are delivered in a more-rounded fashion, rather than being shadowy authority figures. So William's long-suffering parents are appealing as are Bott's parents, characters who I can hardly remember from the books, but who with deft performance from Diana Dors and John Stratton work well in their occasional appearances. Other guest stars include Freddie Jones and Simon Chandler in top form as William's older brother. Best of all is a gloriously infuriating Bonnie Langford as Violet Elizabeth Bott, surely the most nauseating kid ever to appear in fiction.
What also works is the feel of the show, in which it manages to be both modern, or at least it was at the time, while still presenting Crompton's original vision of an idyllic England from long ago that could never really have existed, but which probably should have. The production values are high, helped by re-using sets for Raffles, which was apparently being filmed at the same time. This gives the show considerable class for what is, in essence, a children's sitcom, even if it is one that is likely to be enjoyed by just as many adults.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
It's quite a good DVD, plenty of episodes for your money. Unfortunately just days after I bought this the BBC released a new Just William series that knocks this one into a cocked hat. The only real problem I had with this one is that William is actually shown as naughty when he's just supposed to be a bit thoughtless. Otherwise, certainly worth a watch and Violet Elizabeth is brilliant.
18 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Since the previous reviewer has summarised the quality of the scripts and acting quite nicely and in agreement with my own opinions I'll concentrate here on the actual quality of the DVD itself. To be blunt, the transfer is awful. Any rapid movement across the screen is accompanied by artifacts that make the average You Tube video look like Blu-Ray in quality. The flaws are most apparent on scenes shot on film (usually external scenes) and those involving rapid movement, and almost un-noticable on scenes shot on video or where in static, dialogue-heavy scenes. Even the animated opening titles are practically unwatchable on some (but not all, surprisingly) of the episodes. I've examined 5 episodes on different discs so far, and they all had these flaws to a greater or lesser extent. As it stands I can't really recommend this box set unless you're willing to put up with occasional scenes so jagged and broken they cause nausea.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Fantastic
My two sons love this...they have watched the series numerous times and still get a good laugh. It's old fashioned, but the stories are so good and really strike a chord with... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Kate
Just William
This a great one for the kids my two love the naughty lade and all his antics my days version of horrid henry still makes me chuckle` (till aim sick :)
Published 9 months ago by stoney
Childhood memories
A good collection of the whole series of Just William. The set comprises four discs mounted across one another in the case, so that it is necessary to remove the top one to extract... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Canadian National
just.....william
I remember this when it first came out. We loved it.....and it's hard to go wrong with the William stories. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Tony.H
Just William
Great to see all the old favourites again. This is a long-overdue release and is a welcome blast of nostalgia for all lovers of the Richmal Crompton books.
Published on 19 Feb 2010 by oldtherion
Highly enjoyable
This was purchased as a gift for my Dad, and has been enjoyed by the whole family.
It's good value and is the complete series. Read more
It's good value and is the complete series. Read more
Published on 21 Jan 2010 by A. Scott
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
![[Start the discussion]](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/02/x-locale/communities/discussion_boards/start-new-discussion-sec._V192198663_.gif){kind=small}
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
