Frequently Bought Together
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Product details
|
Reviews
DVD Description
From the Golden age of Comedy, Will Hay is one of the greatest British comedians of all time. A major star of the 1930�s, Hay relishes playing pompous, incompetent authority figures. His misanthropic antics have inspired many great funny men and never fail to raise a full-hearty laugh.
This 9 DVD collection features the best of Will Hay�s film hits, Ask a Policeman, Boys Will Be Boys, Convict 99, Good Morning Boys, Hey! Hey USA, Oh, Mr Porter! , Old Bones of the River, Where There�s A Will, Windbag the Sailor
Product Description
United Kingdom released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: LANGUAGES: English ( Mono ), English ( Subtitles ), SPECIAL FEATURES: Black & White, Box Set, Interactive Menu, Multi-DVD Set, Scene Access, SYNOPSIS: This collection of feature films stars the legendary Will Hay in some of his most celebrated roles. Titles includes ASK A POLICEMAN, BOYS WILL BE BOYS, CONVICT 99, GOOD MORNING BOYS, HEY! HEY! USA, OH MR PORTER, OLD BONES OF THE RIVER, WHERE THERE'S A WILL, and WINDBAG THE SAILOR. ...Will Hay Collection - 9-DVD Set ( Ask a Policeman / Boys Will Be Boys / Convict 99 / Good Morning, Boys / Hey! Hey! USA / Oh, Mr. Porter! / Old Bones of the River / Where There's a Will / Windbag the Sailor ) ( Narkover )
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
36 of 36 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
This box set features nine movies from comedian Will Hay and being completely honest it is a mixed bag. Some of the movies seem to have dated much more than others and while every film has it's moments, there is little doubt that Will Hay was at his most effective when he starred alongside Moore Marriott and Graham Moffatt. Having said that though, I thought the most disappointing DVD was 'Convict 99' which is very highly regarded and starred all three but for some reason I found it slow and ponderous.
By far the highlight is 'Oh, Mr Porter' which is still funny and has stood the test of time. 'Ask A Policeman', 'Good Morning Boys' and 'Windbag The Sailor' are also good fun but 'Hey! Hey! USA' starts off OK but soon runs out of steam. Virtually every single movie has a similar plot with Will as an inept person of authority who somehow emerges as the hero. He pops up as a headmaster, sea captain, lawyer, station master, prison governor and chief of police and is totally incompetant at each job but prevails in the end.
It goes without saying that this collection is an absolute must for fans of Will Hay. A lot of the comedy might not seem that funny nowadays but this is humour from a distant age and it does have bags of charm. If you are thinking of buying this collection then I also recommend the excellent book Will Hay by Graham Rinaldi.
By far the highlight is 'Oh, Mr Porter' which is still funny and has stood the test of time. 'Ask A Policeman', 'Good Morning Boys' and 'Windbag The Sailor' are also good fun but 'Hey! Hey! USA' starts off OK but soon runs out of steam. Virtually every single movie has a similar plot with Will as an inept person of authority who somehow emerges as the hero. He pops up as a headmaster, sea captain, lawyer, station master, prison governor and chief of police and is totally incompetant at each job but prevails in the end.
It goes without saying that this collection is an absolute must for fans of Will Hay. A lot of the comedy might not seem that funny nowadays but this is humour from a distant age and it does have bags of charm. If you are thinking of buying this collection then I also recommend the excellent book Will Hay by Graham Rinaldi.
46 of 48 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
I'd not seen Will Hay since my early youth when his films were shown on Saturday morning tv. I couldn't recall Hay's work being so funny but 30 years on they are so much better, the humour is sharp, witty and so rapidly delivered. One liners just keep on coming, there's no time to recover and I laughed so hard I had to clutch my ribs!! Excellent boxed set that really does justice to the Will Hay 'team'.
45 of 47 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Although seen a lot on tv when I was young, Will Hay's comedies have largely disappeared from the screen these days. This is sad as the comedy is as fresh as it ever was and deserves a wider audience. Anyone who enjoys the more familiar American comedies of the time from Laurel and Hardy, The Marx Brothers and WC Fields would be sure to enjoy our very own Will.
His persona is of the bewildered and pompous man of authority who doesn't realize that he's an idiot. I was struck on seeing his movies after many years that he provides the genesis of characters such as Captain Mainwaring from Dads' Army with perhaps even a bit of Father Ted!
That aside these nine films are not a complete collection, but they take in his golden middle period of the movies he mainly made for Gainsborough in the late 1930s. The most well-known is Oh, Mr Porter in which he perfects his ensemble act with side-kicks Graham Moffatt and Moore Marriott. Moffatt plays Albert, a round, cheeky, overgrown kid. Marriott as Harbottle is the perfect foil for him in that Moffatt played a character who was a lot younger than the actor and Marriott, who was about the same age as Will, plays a decrepit and cantankerous old-timer. Both side-kicks are devious and treat Will with comic contempt.
The films featuring their three-part relationship are Will's best, and involve the threesome being put in different situations and settings where they can create havoc. Their quick banter and slapstick are always entertaining and so it's good that all their joint films are in this collection. My personal favourite is Ask A Policeman featuring a sleepy town devoid of crime, which creates a pleasant vision of rural England. It's also good that these short films always contain valid plots that actually hang together as proper stories on which to hang the jokes.
Sadly, by the 1940s Will Hay, I believe, broke up the partnership and in his last years he made several less funny films, usually trying and failing to form effective double acts with people such as Charles Hawtry. Luckily these films are not in this collection, but unluckily this means his final film My Learned Friend isn't here, a black comedy that is his finest film and which deserves to be remembered as being as accomplished as the more well-known Kind Hearts and Coronets. If you like this collection, this is the one remaining Will Hay film you need to track down.
His persona is of the bewildered and pompous man of authority who doesn't realize that he's an idiot. I was struck on seeing his movies after many years that he provides the genesis of characters such as Captain Mainwaring from Dads' Army with perhaps even a bit of Father Ted!
That aside these nine films are not a complete collection, but they take in his golden middle period of the movies he mainly made for Gainsborough in the late 1930s. The most well-known is Oh, Mr Porter in which he perfects his ensemble act with side-kicks Graham Moffatt and Moore Marriott. Moffatt plays Albert, a round, cheeky, overgrown kid. Marriott as Harbottle is the perfect foil for him in that Moffatt played a character who was a lot younger than the actor and Marriott, who was about the same age as Will, plays a decrepit and cantankerous old-timer. Both side-kicks are devious and treat Will with comic contempt.
The films featuring their three-part relationship are Will's best, and involve the threesome being put in different situations and settings where they can create havoc. Their quick banter and slapstick are always entertaining and so it's good that all their joint films are in this collection. My personal favourite is Ask A Policeman featuring a sleepy town devoid of crime, which creates a pleasant vision of rural England. It's also good that these short films always contain valid plots that actually hang together as proper stories on which to hang the jokes.
Sadly, by the 1940s Will Hay, I believe, broke up the partnership and in his last years he made several less funny films, usually trying and failing to form effective double acts with people such as Charles Hawtry. Luckily these films are not in this collection, but unluckily this means his final film My Learned Friend isn't here, a black comedy that is his finest film and which deserves to be remembered as being as accomplished as the more well-known Kind Hearts and Coronets. If you like this collection, this is the one remaining Will Hay film you need to track down.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Classic British Comedy at its Finest
The product I ordered arrived in good time from Amazon ( as is always the case.) Customer service was exceptional and product well packaged. Now onto the contents of the DVD's. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Taiwantrio
A good product
Brought this for my father for christmas. The postage and the package and the whole product; no complains at all. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Charlotte
A Very Welcome 'Blast from the Past!!!!'
I watched many of these Will Hay films when I was a nipper, and that's a few years or so ago now! I certainly enjoyed them then, and in watching them all again I have enjoyed them... Read more
Published 12 months ago by T. S. Hughes
Missing scenes
The Goose Steps Out in this collection lacks two important passages. One is when Will Hay is addressing his class of would-be spies for the first time, and they are mispronouncing... Read more
Published 12 months ago by J. Clayton
Great vintage comedy
Made in the 1930's, this is an enjoyable collection of movies that showcases Will Hay's great comic talents, (while also displaying the great contribution of familiar sidekicks... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Alan James
british humour
great old fashion British humour and classic slapstick.watched this with my 4 year old granddaughter who found it just as funny as anything on TV or at the cinema now..
Published 16 months ago by martin
will hay dvd collection
Perfect present for hubby. Has asked for this collection for a while and with the recent bad weather didn't think they would arrive in time for Christmas but they did. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Ms. R. Richrdson
still funny
it is always fun to look back at old films and see what made one laugh when one was a child.
Published 17 months ago by D. White
A Treasure
A great collection from Will Hay, Graham Moffatt, Moore Marriott, my personal favourites being Oh Mr Porter and Convict 99, great comedy whether you have it on in the background or... Read more
Published 20 months ago by Michael Lyons
This should be in every household
Over the last ten years there have been a variety of covers of this box set it is really the same product. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Darrendarren
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
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?
|
