Dad's Army (1971)
With the remake due out next year, I should imagine there will be a ground swell of nostalgia for the original tv series as well. Repeated constantly throughout my childhood , I would always watch when it was on television, it was a sitcom that appealed to all ages .Written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft ( they must of wrote the majority of sitcoms for the bbc during the 1970s and 1980s) ,it was probably one of the few 70s sitcoms that didn't really on Double entendre or saucy carry on style humour to get it laughs, the characters were kind of childlike buffoons who muddled through there exploits, it was this childish kind of playground squabbling that the characters had that probably appealed to any kids watching, seeing a bunch of old men acting like kids and basically playing soldiers, that was what me and my mates did in the playground, you could emphasise with them. The film version re-treads the same story as the tv series, with Arthur Lowe as Captain Mainwaring and John Le Mesurier as Sergeant Wilson forming the Local Defence Volunteers later renamed the Home Guard, after hearing a speech by Anthony Eden on the radio. With a film budget you do get a wider sense that Walmington-on-Sea is an actual town and the majority of the film is shot on location as opposed to there usual village hall training ground or that same stretch of road they used in the tv show. All the cast are present and correct,with minor characters added here and there, the only real change was to the character of Mrs Pike who was changed to Liz Fraser instead of Janet Davies who had been Mrs Pike in the tv series. If you liked the tv series then there's no reason not to enjoy this film version, its cast of silly eccentric characters defending England from those orrible Germans are just as funny and just lovable,heres hoping the remake is just as good. We're All Doomed.
Cpt. George Mainwaring: We have an invaluable weapon in our army, ingenuity and improvisation.
Pvt. James Frazer: That's two.
out of 5