The Best Of Benny Hill

1974
Directed By John Robbins


SYNOPSIS
A best-of compilation of the long-running BBC TV series The Benny Hill Show released into theaters.

MY THOUGHTS

The Best of Benny Hill is a silly look at the classic TV show. It showcases all of the comic's most memorable strengths: silly songs, bawdy innuendo, mangling the English Language, poking fun at the upper class, and of course, chasing half naked women around.


The film could easily draw a comparison to Monty Python's first feature And Now For Something Completely Different, which also was a best-of of their series. The Pythons re-shot all of the sketches for the film and as a result, much of the film lacked the timing and punch of delivering the material fresh before a live studio audience. Benny Hill, on the other hand, just used the existing footage from the series, so that was not an issue.

I am so glad I never got to see this on the big screen. The primitive analog video would look absolutely horrible transferred to 35mm film and blown up to fill a cinema screen. It doesn't even look that great on DVD.

It looks bad and some of the humor is dated, but the film delivers a great variety of fun and is a great way to discover (or remember) the magic of Benny Hill.