Ooh, You Are Awful (1972)

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	Comedy	None
Rating
Year Of Production	1972
Running Time	92:54 (Case: 97)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Cliff Owen
Studio Distributor	British Lion Films Madman Entertainment	Starring	Dick Emery Derren Nesbitt Ronald Fraser Pat Coombs William Franklyn Cheryl Kennedy Norman Bird Roland Curram Liza Goddard Ambrosine Phillpotts Brian Oulton David Healy Steve Plytas
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$19.95	Music	Christopher Gunning

    The late comedian, Dick Emery's legacy to British comedy is significant. Like many performers of his generation, he started in radio during the 1950's. During this time, he also gained a reputation on television, working with other great comic talents such as, Tony Hancock.

    Dick Emery helped pioneer the "reoccurring character" theme in television comedy. The highly successful, The Dick Emery Show ran for a staggering 18 seasons (166 episodes) from 1963 - 1981. It introduced us to a myriad of eccentric characters - all created and played by the man himself. Most of these characters also had their own catchphrases. Audiences may have known the punch line, but they enjoyed the build-up in anticipation of the delivery. Today, the success of programs such as, Little Britain owe a debt of gratitude to Emery's brand of comedy.

    One of Dick Emery's most loved characters was Mandy Dunit - a buxom blonde, middle-aged woman. Mandy would usually feature in street vox-pop's, being interviewed by a reporter about a particular topic. She would always find a double entendre in the reporter's line of questioning. She would then say the line, "Ooh, you are awful...but I like you", before giving him a descent shove to the chest and walking away. This routine happens in the opening scene of the 1972 Dick Emery feature film, Ooh, You Are Awful, so it's appropriate that part of the catchphrase would form the title.

    The screenplay by John Warren and John Singer perfectly caters for Dick Emery's menagerie of characters - these include many guises from his TV series. The story concerns two con-men, Charlie (Dick Emery) and his womanising mate, Reggie (Ronald Fraser). Reggie has the names of all his female conquests tattooed over his torso.

    Charlie and Reggie defraud an Italian father and son of 500,000 pound and make plans to deposit the money into a Swiss bank account. Little do these con-men realise, they soon have the mafia hot on their heals.

    Charlie is apprehended by police at the airport and is sentenced to 6 months in jail. This leaves Reggie to open the account and deposit the money. However, Reggie meets his demise before he can give Charlie the bank and account details. Just when all appears lost, Charlie discovers that Reggie tattooed a segment of the account details onto the buttocks of four of his girlfriends. In true British comedy fashion, Charlie must track down each girl and find a way of viewing their unique tattoo.

     Sure, it has a ridiculous plot and some of the comedy is a little dated, but this film is a good natured, light-hearted British farce. Like most British comedies of the era, Ooh, You Are Awful wouldn't earn any medals for political correctness, but it's all the more enjoyable for it. A note of trivia: Liza Goddard (Clancy from the hit Australian TV series, Skippy), plays one of the tattooed girlfriends.

Video

    The film is presented fullscreen in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, which is not 16x9 enhanced. The Internet Movie Database lists the correct aspect ratio as 1.85:1.

    To be honest, I wasn't expecting too much from this transfer - I was pleasantly surprised. Although there is some occasional softness, overall the image was quite sharp. Blacks were clean and shadow detail was also good.

    Colours were well balanced and free from over saturation - even vibrant colours held up well.

    MPEG artefacts weren't a significant issue. There were a few instances of some minor aliasing. Brief, but negligible reel change markings were also noticeable at approximate 20 minute intervals. In general, film artefacts were frequent, but not overlay distracting. Most consisted of fine marks and scratches.

    There are no subtitles available on this DVD.

    This is a DVD 5, single layer disc, so there is no layer change.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    There is one audio track available on the DVD, English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono (224Kb/s).

    I didn't have much trouble hearing and comprehending the dialogue.

    There seems to be quite a bit of ADR (automated dialogue replacement) used in the film and most of it is obvious. During these scenes, some of the lip movement appears slightly out of sync. However, this is certainly not an issue relating to the transfer. Apart from these examples, audio sync appeared fine.

    The music score by Christopher Gunning is very 1970's, but suits the film well. Christopher has had a prolific career in screen music, mainly for British television.

    The surround channels and subwoofer were not used.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

    The main menu is static, 16x9 enhanced and features a looped music sample from the film.

    There are no extras on this DVD.

    At the time of this review, there is no R1 version of Ooh, You Are Awful available.

    There is a UK, R2 edition of the film, released by Optimum Home Entertainment in October 2006. I can't directly compare the transfer quality of both versions, however, all the specifications on the disc appear to be the same. Both versions have no extras.

    Ooh, You Are Awful is fun, light-hearted entertainment from an era before rampant political correctness.

    The transfers are quite acceptable.

    There are no extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall