Before Monty Python, there was Beyond the Fringe, a quartet comprised of Alan Bennett, Peter Cook, Jonathan Miller, and Dudley Moore, who brought their inspired brand of satirical sketch comedy to London's West End in 1961 and Broadway in 1962. Since the group's disbanding, fans have had to content themselves with audio recordings (a 3-CD compilation titled The Complete Beyond the Fringe was issued by EMI in 1996), but now here's the gala farewell performance taped for television broadcast in London in 1964 and recently discovered in a producer's vault. The images are muddy and the sound only fair, but the material retains its brilliance: Shakespearean parody, the takeoff on a BBC World War II documentary, the End of the World finale, Bennett's ludicrous sermon, Peter Cook's miner-wanting-to-be-a-judge monologue, and Moore's piano doodlings are all here. Beyond the Fringe represented the beginning of what would be later called the New Satire, but this team still had a degree of old-fashioned control and subtlety that their more manic successors would abandon in favor of over-the-top illogical humor. In other words, the humor here is performed with a comedic scalpel, which makes it cut all the deeper. DVD extras include cast biographies, background notes, and the original Broadway Playbill. A comedy classic, this is highly recommended. (F. Swietek)
Beyond the Fringe
Acorn, 116 min., not rated, DVD: $24.99 Volume 20, Issue 6
Beyond the Fringe
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