Jeeves And Wooster - The Complete 4th Series Details

Very nice

I love this movie...

A long time since I've seen these: but my girlfriend being an American Wodehouse fan who never got to see the series first time round, we dug them out. On the whole, they're still good fun: if rather more creaky than I remember. Fry and Laurie remain the definitive Jeeves and Wooster, and as always shine. Sick, presumably, of darting round the same country houses, this forth series 'relocates' to New York. Apart from a few establishing shots, however, this unfortunately means that the action generally takes place across what are all-too-obviously the same three Granada TV sound stages. Much as I dimly remembered, moreover, the general quality of writing had taken a bit of a dip by now; and all too often the word-play and wit gives way to clumsy farce and desperate mugging. These problems are compounded by that fact that (presumably owing to a tight budget), most of the supporting cast were obviously jobbing stage-actors hauled in front of the TV cameras for the first time. As a result there are far too many booming voices, appaling American accents, and generally over-the-top acting - you literally see several projecting towards where the camera crew must have been. There are still great moments, of course - invariably, however, in those all too rare scenes where Fry and Laurie, Jeeves and Wooster, are left alone to exchange banter, twitching eyebrows and gormless gapes. All in all, not bad - but best leave this series until you've exhausted the earlier ones!