British comedian Benny Hill (who died in 1992) developed his vaudevillian style with lowbrow innuendo and slapstick sex farces while a star on the government-sponsored BBC television during the '50s. After a decade-and-a-half, however, he jumped ship to the commercial Thames Television, where he enjoyed more creative control, a bigger budget, and the benefits of a color broadcast. Benny Hill Complete and Unadulterated captures Hill at that pivotal moment in his career, working for Thames (which brought him international celebrity through syndication) at the tail end of the swinging '60s. The 11 episodes included in this boxed set are full of the eye-rolling, shamelessly bawdy, sex-obsessed sketches with which Hill is most closely associated, but there is plenty of other material, too, demonstrating more diversity in comic ideas and originality in execution than you might expect. Among the highlights are Hill's spurious bloopers (essentially blackout sketches meant to look like outlandish production mistakes), and the "European Song Contest," an elaborate set-piece in which Hill brilliantly plays untalented crooners from every nation in Western Europe. While Hill's comedy doesn't exactly push the humor envelope, there's more here than mere comic titillation. DVD extras include the documentary "The World's Favourite Clown" and a trivia quiz. Optional. (T. Keogh)
Benny Hill Complete and Unadulterated: The Naughty Early Years, Set One (1969-1971)
A&E, 3 discs, 550 min., not rated, DVD: $49.95 October 18, 2004
Benny Hill Complete and Unadulterated: The Naughty Early Years, Set One (1969-1971)
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