Friday, January 3, 2020

Are You Being Served? (1977)

The typical plot of the feature length film version of a British sitcom (as were popular in the 1970s) was to send the cast off on holiday. As is the case here where the Grace Brothers department store is closed for refurbishment. Mr Humphries (John Inman), Mrs Slocombe (Molly Sugden), Captain Peacock (Frank Thornton) and the rest end up on the Costa...

And many stereotypes abound. The hotel, managed by Don Carlos (Andrew Sachs), is unfinished and they have to stay in tents. The toilet is a shed. That doesn't really matter though as the local hardman (Glyn Houston) is preparing to launch an uprising...

It is very crude, the innuendo and double entendres a little rawer than the TV version. The plot is pretty nonexistent being just a prop for a series of comedy set pieces but it is very very funny. It probably helps if you are familiar with the TV series and the characters as there is little effort to set them up for new viewers. Its not high art but it is great.