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Video Description
As complex as the mind of its creator, Vivian Stanshall, the plot of `Sir Henry at Rawlinson End' revolves around attempts to exorcise of the ghost of Humbert, the brother of Sir Henry (Trevor Howard). Humbert was accidentally killed in a drunken duck-shooting incident whilst escaping from an illicit tryst. Amongst the eccentric family members, mad friends and grudgingly loyal servants involved are the eternally knitting Aunt Florrie, the tapeworm-obsessed Mrs. E, Lady Phillipa of Staines, who enjoys the odd `small' sherry and the ever-present Old Scrotum, Sir Henry's wrinkled retainer.
Adding to the poetic shambles are the hapless Germans, long post-war, who populate the fearsome PoW camp that Sir Henry set up in the gardens of his estate, and his younger brother Hubert who fishes for hairdressers in a pond. Furnished with a stuffed mechanical bulldog, a champion billiard-playing horse and a marriage bed cruelly divided by sandbags and barbed wire, Rawlinson End is an endlessly mad, hilarious outpost of an England as it could have been...
Product Description
United Kingdom released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: LANGUAGES: English ( Dolby Digital Stereo ), English ( Subtitles ), WIDESCREEN (1.78:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: Black & White, Commentary, Interactive Menu, Photo Gallery, Scene Access, Trailer(s), SYNOPSIS: The central, though nearly impenetrable, plot of Sir Henry at Rawlinson End is Sir Henry's (Trevor Howard) attempts to exorcise the trouserless ghost of his dead brother, Humbert, whom he accidentally killed in a drunken duck-shooting incident. This is aided, or hindered, by his mad family and servants including the tapeworm-obsessed Mrs. E; Old Scrotum, the wrinkled retainer; the eternally knitting Aunt Florrie and Lady Phillipa of Stains, a turkey-legged old soak. With German PoWs in the garden, fishing for hairdressers, a mechanical bulldog, a horse in the billiards room, and a marriage bed furnished with a barbed-wire divide, the mayhem of Rawlinson End is endless.... ...Sir Henry at Rawlinson End (1980)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
49 of 50 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
A DVD release for possibly the greatest and most hilarious British film of its era. Having watched a knackered old VHS copy for ages, and avoiding the usual ropey DVD pirate versions on ebay, I thought that the day would never come when Sir Henry would be available to watch again. The film has been virtually lost after getting a limited release on Tartan video in the early 90s, and since the tragic death of Vivian Stanshall, it has been caught up in wrangles over whether it could be released again...
A truly joyous day! Any fan of Vivian, The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band and of course the original Sir Henry radio slots as broadcast by dear old Peel will HAVE to own this jewel. Similarly anyone who enjoys the seemingly random and instinctival comedy of Monty Python, The Mighty Boosh and Garth Marenghi's Dark Place should get a kick out of this film. Just don't expect a clear narrative, 'jokes' with punchlines or even sympathetic characters, best to just turn it on and let it take you with it.
As wonderous a celebration of Englishness, and to a certain degree eccentricity as 'A Matter Of Life And Death', 'Hope and Glory' and 'Withnail and I'. I would heartily recommend it, although its clearly not for everyone (beware the 'Bridget Jones' crew!) I watched it as a child- I felt enlightened and educated by it, and I have since loved each succesive viewing more and more...
A truly joyous day! Any fan of Vivian, The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band and of course the original Sir Henry radio slots as broadcast by dear old Peel will HAVE to own this jewel. Similarly anyone who enjoys the seemingly random and instinctival comedy of Monty Python, The Mighty Boosh and Garth Marenghi's Dark Place should get a kick out of this film. Just don't expect a clear narrative, 'jokes' with punchlines or even sympathetic characters, best to just turn it on and let it take you with it.
As wonderous a celebration of Englishness, and to a certain degree eccentricity as 'A Matter Of Life And Death', 'Hope and Glory' and 'Withnail and I'. I would heartily recommend it, although its clearly not for everyone (beware the 'Bridget Jones' crew!) I watched it as a child- I felt enlightened and educated by it, and I have since loved each succesive viewing more and more...
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
How did this film ever get finished? Considering the level of drink consumed it's amazing that there was enough usable footage to create a decent film. It's often incoherent (even for fans) and there is of course, no plot whatsoever.
Yet somehow 'Sir Henry' works. Its strangeness and charm still beguile the viewer and for a moment we even see Vivian himself (eating an onion) presumably before he'd polished off his first bottle of spirits of the day. Even in this brief section he is marvellous. Funny and frightening in equal measure.
The supporting cast is great with Harry Fowler brilliantly cast as Buller Bullethead and a quite unhinged Patrick Magee as the Reverend Slodden. Simon Jones (of Hitch-Hikers Guide fame) even appears as an inmate of Sir Henry's prisoner of war camp. Denise Coffey makes an uncanny Mrs E and JG Devlin is also finely cast as Old Scrotum the wrinkled retainer. But the sight of Trevor Howard wearing a tutu and riding a unicycle is frankly delightful.
This release is not in the original black and white but the sepia tone version that so many people remember. The sepia tone print was said to be a film processing error but it nevertheless gives the film an extraordinarily distant feel, like some charming fragment of time somehow preserved in glass or aspic.
The commentary track is worth hearing. Not only is it amusing and informative but it seems that they are actually getting drunk whilst doing it.
Essentially English I can't imagine an American understanding this film for one second. It's a wonderful mess and it's all ours.
Yet somehow 'Sir Henry' works. Its strangeness and charm still beguile the viewer and for a moment we even see Vivian himself (eating an onion) presumably before he'd polished off his first bottle of spirits of the day. Even in this brief section he is marvellous. Funny and frightening in equal measure.
The supporting cast is great with Harry Fowler brilliantly cast as Buller Bullethead and a quite unhinged Patrick Magee as the Reverend Slodden. Simon Jones (of Hitch-Hikers Guide fame) even appears as an inmate of Sir Henry's prisoner of war camp. Denise Coffey makes an uncanny Mrs E and JG Devlin is also finely cast as Old Scrotum the wrinkled retainer. But the sight of Trevor Howard wearing a tutu and riding a unicycle is frankly delightful.
This release is not in the original black and white but the sepia tone version that so many people remember. The sepia tone print was said to be a film processing error but it nevertheless gives the film an extraordinarily distant feel, like some charming fragment of time somehow preserved in glass or aspic.
The commentary track is worth hearing. Not only is it amusing and informative but it seems that they are actually getting drunk whilst doing it.
Essentially English I can't imagine an American understanding this film for one second. It's a wonderful mess and it's all ours.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
I had seen fragments of this film before but the complete work exceeded my expectations. Stanshall's narration is as hypnotically musical as Dylan Thomas and one can be so seduced and swept along by it that flashes of the bizarre and surreal pass by unnoticed. I find something new every time I watch this film.
This is more than just a cult oddity: It is an overlooked masterpiece.
This is more than just a cult oddity: It is an overlooked masterpiece.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
British, Eccentric... and proud of it!!
Sir Henry is a classic British film, full of delightful eccentricity with the bonus of the most eccentric music thanks to the the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. Enjoy!
Published 4 months ago by designstein
An obscure film that deserves to remain so
I expect a few people may flame me for this - Stanshall, like Douglas Adams, is just one of those icons of eccentric Englishness who attracts a certain strain of dedicated fan -... Read more
Published 5 months ago by T. West
Social Reality
A vicious satire on upper class life, as Vivian Stanshall launches himself full bodied at the war generation. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Dr. Delvis Memphistopheles
viv stanshall masterpiece
I dont know what i want but i want it now!!mercifully sir henry hit scrotum with the soft end of the pistol,
to quote two of the many of sir henry's best. Read more
to quote two of the many of sir henry's best. Read more
Published 13 months ago by coypu
Viv Stanshall
Complete and utter madness from one of the most underrated comedy talents this country has ever produced. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Mr. Philip J. Davidge
Sir Henry at Rawlison End
This is a unique production by any definition. If you are into the "funny" bizarre then give it a try. The sepia, grainy format suits the presentation perfectly. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Wilberfalse
Dada delicious
With English only beeing my fourth language, it might take me some time to get into every nook and cranny of this wonderfull delirium in film. Read more
Published on 23 May 2010 by J. Kusters
Sir Henry @ Rawlinson End - Eccentric delight from the Bonzo Dog...
I thought this was out of "print". Fortunately it isn't. A little bit of England as it never was, but how it really should have been. Read more
Published on 26 Mar 2009 by Bros
Absolutely barking and occasionally brilliant
The late, great Vivian Stanshall invented a whole mythos with the splendid Sir Henry and his bizarre entourage. Read more
Published on 24 Aug 2008 by Cartimand
A bizarre and hilarious film of Viv Stanshall's epic tale.
This is a wonderful, sepia-toned film of Vivian Stanshall's surreal and witty epic tale featuring the decadent eccentric aristocrat, Sir Henry Rawlinson(played brilliantly by... Read more
Published on 30 Nov 2007 by Jazzrook
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