|
| Rising Damp - Series 1 | 
 enlarge | Director: Len Lurcuck; Ronnie Baxter; Ian Macnaughton; Vernon Lawrence
Actor: Leonard Rossiter; Francesca De La Tour; Richard Beckinsale
Studio: ACORN MEDIA
Category: DVD
List Price: $24.99
Buy New: $13.25
You Save: $11.74 (47%)
New (31) Used (7) Collectible (1) from $11.98
Avg. Customer Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 37504
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dvd-video, Full Screen, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 173
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: ACRDAMP8105D
UPC: 054961810598
EAN: 0054961810598
ASIN: B000BVM20O
Theatrical Release Date: 2005
Release Date: January 10, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: ORIGINAL ACORN MEDIA DVD IN CASE WITH ARTWORK AS SHOWN...AWARD-WINNING BRITISH SITCOM FROM 1974!......CONTAINS 6 EPISODES!......FULL SCREEN W/SPECIAL FEATURES!......APPROX. RUN TIME - 173 MINUTES!......CONTAINS ENGLISH LANGUAGE TRACK & CLOSED-CAPTIONING!......BRAND NEW, SEALED!.....FREE 1ST CLASS MAIL UPGRADE AND DELIVERY CONFIRMATION
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Studio: Acorn Media Release Date: 01/10/2006 Run time: 173 minutes Rating: Nr
Amazon.com
First broadcast in 1974, the British sitcom Rising Damp was an instant and enduring success. It starred Leonard Rossiter as the miserly and lovelorn landlord Rigsby who is constantly needling young lodger Alan (Richard Beckinsale), a science student whose long hair and earrings are symptomatic to Rigsby of the modern age. He's also in love with Frances De La Tour's dowdy spinster Miss Jones, though his tentative advances are forever rebuffed. She in turn carries a torch for Philip (Don Warrington), the elegant son of an African chief who also resides at Rigsby Towers. Some aspects of Rising Damp have not aged well, principally Rigsby's stream of racist jibes at Philip. Although these were doubtless well-meant and supposed to illustrate Rigsby's foolish bigotry, one suspects that it might have been a convenient cover for 1970s audiences to enjoy racist humor. However, Rossiter's Rigsby--stuttering, stammering, bent perpetually over backwards--remains a great comic creation, embodying all the festering prejudices, small-mindedness and self-delusion of the lower middle class Little Englander. --David Stubbs
|
| Customer Reviews:
worth checking out for Rossitter fans October 19, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Having seen and loved Reginald Perrin (sadly unavailable in the u.s.) I was curious to check out this series and was quite delighted.. Leonard Rossiter's comic work is first rate and his role as Rigsby is a gas..
Also an interesting document of its times, 'rising damp' may not be politically correct but I really don't care.. it is a very fine and funny series.. and besides the show doesn't side with Rigsby's racism so much as laugh at it..
Old British Funny March 20, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
If you are in need of some reminiscing about a different, older, slower, funnier,British world, this might just do it for you. I loved it since it brought back memeories of a different generation that could still laugh at itself. The fact that the cast did not all become Hollywood stars full of themselves makes it all the more appealing. It is professional amateurism at it its best.Delightful, charming, intelligent, witty, fun, light, in a world quite the opposite these days.
a typical brit-com series July 16, 2006
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
I won't summarize as the previous reviewer did a great job. I highly recommend this series. It was televised in the 70s and it stands the test of time - how many comedies can pass that test? Just be prepared for racist humor that was acceptable back then, the misery landlord is very Archie Bunker. Leave it to the British to make a very funny comedy that doesn't need a laugh track. No regrets buying this set as repeated viewings still makes me laugh. I enjoyed this series and look forward to the next.
A 1970's Britcom Classic--Finally Released on DVD! December 3, 2005
38 out of 38 found this review helpful
Rising Damp is a classic 1970's British Comedy starring the talented and comical late Leonard Rossiter (The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin--who died of heart failure in 1984, aged 58) as Rigsby, the crotchety, self-important, and highly-strung live-in landlord of a run-down boarding-house-style apartment. Rigsby is constantly scheming to attract the attention and affection of his tenant, Ruth Jones (Frances de la Tour). But Rigsby is hopelessly inept, and although Ruth tries to be polite, it is obvious (at least to the viewer) that Rigsby doesn't stand a chance. Furthermore, Ruth has her eye on another tenant, Philip (Don Warrington), a young black African college student. Philip, however, is about as interested in Ruth as Ruth is in Rigsby.
Philip shares a room with Alan (the late Richard Beckinsale (of Porridge) who tragically died of heart failure in 1979; he was only 31), an open-minded young medical student. Rigsby has a very low opinion of both Alan and Philip and is constantly insulting them. Rigsby takes his jabs where he can find them. With Alan, they're aimed at his long hair and tight trousers; with Philip, they're directed at his tribal African ancestry. Though hardly politically correct, Rigsby's jabs at Philip are counterbalanced by the fact that Philip is so obviously Rigsby's superior in every way, be it intellectually, socially, culturally, financially, or romantically. Actually, one cannot help feeling a little sorry for Rigsby. He's so critical of everyone else (save Ruth, who can do no wrong in his eyes), yet he is completely oblivious to his own shortcomings.
Four series were made in all (1974-1978), and this dvd set consists of the entire first series plus the pilot (1974-75) for a total of seven 25-minute episodes. It is a series that our family has really enjoyed, and we've rewatched it a few times now (on VHS). It is also a series which, like so many britcoms, only gets better as it goes on.
Though this was NOT the britcom that spawned America's All in the Family, ironically it is closer in tone to All in the Family than Till Death Us Do Part (the series that actually did spawn All in the Family)--at least that's my impression from the few episodes of Till Death that I've seen.
In short, it's high time this series was released on dvd. If you're a fan of British comedy in general (particularly the older britcoms--which I personally would take any day over the vast majority of new BBC Britcoms that have popped up since 2000) and are looking for a show which is considered to be a classic of that genre, you may want to check this one out.
|
|
|
 Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| |
