The Best of Benny Hill

In 1974,Benny Hill,the Crowned King of British Comedy heard that one of his comic allies had peiced together all of their best stuff to run in theaters.Not to be outdone,Benny did the same thing and was a big success.Having conquered stage and the small screen,it was inevitable that his success would spread to movies.The Best Of Benny Hill contains much of his trademark humor from making men look like idiots to his sophisticated lectures mangling and contorting the English language.Anyone who can call Benny dirty old man hasn't seen him do an Irish accent and completely befuddle and confuse Henry McGee, the straightman's straightman.He's on this tape too along with Bob Todd, little Jackie Wright and all of the beautiful Hill's Angels.This tape is a must for pure die-hard Benny Hill fans !

I can't say I'm a big fan of Benny Hill. I do however like him and his sense of humor. There's a big difference between Benny Hill and Adam Sandler. Both don't use sophisticated humor , yet Hill never was so vulgar like Sandler. His comedy was always lighthearted , cartoonish in style , but always enjoyable. In some ways he continued humor that was evident in silent era movies. Benny Hill was a classic comedian and I doubt that even the most stuck up person haven't laughed at least once at one of Hill's jokes.

What we have here isn't really a movie , but more of a collection of jokes from "The Benny Hill show". It's similar to Monty Python's "And now for something completely different". There is no plot here , just longer or shorter jokes. The whole movie is short ( not even 1 hour 30 minutes) and fast paced.

I'm not quite short is this is really the best of. The level of the jokes is uneven. Some jokes are rather unfunny and boring – The musical in boutique , the Chinese guy at airport , boring song "Garden of love" , "Passengers of love" , The life of Maurice Dribbe… The jokes also have tendency to repeat themselves . I mean how many times does Hill dress up as woman here ?

Thankfully most of the jokes are good. Some even are brilliant – parody of TV commercials , parody of interview with French movie director , training in the gym , evening with Tommy Tupper or the hospital bit.

For every fan of Benny Hill it's a must see. Those who are mildly interested in Hill or just looking for good comedy should check it out too. I give it 7/10.

Benny Hill is Britain`s greatest ever TV comedian but this TVM compilation of his television show isn`t perhaps the best tribute . My complaint isn`t so much with what`s included but more with what`s not . For example what about the oft used sight gag of someone doing an intricate martial arts move only to have Benny pull out a gun and shoot them ? ( Indiana Jones does the same gag in RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK ), or the legendary " Flashdance " where a bunch of flashers do a dance routine with raincoats ? What about the classic sketch of a man with a goose stuck down his trousers that keeps sticking its head out of his flies ? And how can you miss out send ups of WORLD OF SPORT or SALE OF THE CENTURY ? I guess the send ups are missing because this film has its eyes on an American/ international market and no one outside of Britain would know about the shows getting the Hill treatment.

Anyway let`s concentrate on what we did get .... A hilarious chatshow spoof called TUPPERTIME where chatshow host Tommy Tupper invites Britain`s oldest man , a footballing Vicar , a pipe smoking hellraising actor and a drunken singer onto his show with shocking results . Steve Coogan made a career out of the same idea . And we get to see Mr Chinaman arrive at immigration to be greeted by Bob Todd`s Indian immigration officer : " Why you broody repleat evelything ? You got clopped eels ? I`ll give you broody clumbs " . And of course we get Hill`s angels in various states of ( Un)dress

Entertaining enough but not too representive of the comic genius of Benny Hill

It is difficult to realise that this compilation was actually made for showing in cinemas. They were that desperate.

I remember his shows on the BBC which I thought were far superior to those he made for Themes.

Some of the sketches in this compilation were funny such as the parody of a thirties film,were the print lost parts of the film through splices.

However he always seemed to revert back to unfunny speeded up sketches and woman in their underwear.

So it is not difficult to understand why he eventually got the boot from television. His comedy had become repetative,unfunny and of course in pc. He just could not adapt to the times.

Benny Hill was a true comedy great, evident in this fitting tribute of him, shown here as a compilation of his very best shorts. His comedy is admittedly quite bawdy, as Benny makes men look like idiots and lectures mangling the English language, but I like bawdy and particularly it suits Benny to a tee. The quality is a little grainy and washed out, but the shorts are still a lot of fun, Tuppertime especially is priceless particularly with the vicar who comes on the air with his flies undone, and Benny is as wonderful as ever. Jackie Wright and Bob Todd do their usual selfless stooging to perfection, and Patricia Hayes is delightful in her appearances. The scripting is also top notch and the music is well done. Overall, I truly enjoyed myself, a really nice 83 or so minutes to spend your afternoon. 9/10 Bethany Cox