[Inspector Abberline]

Well over the last few months there have been some rather surprising blu ray releases when it comes to British cinema, both the Sweeney films, Man About the House and The Likely Lads to name a few. All came out as a bit of surprise to me, while I thoroughly enjoy all those films, was or is there a growing demand for mid 1970's tv shows that were transported to silver screen to be seen in Hi def..???..Case in point The Likely Lads film version, is one of the most successful attempts at transporting its characters from the small screen to the large, using all new material and using the tv show as a jumping off point instead of just re-cycling old episodes and tacking them together to make up the 90 minutes running time.(which is exactly what they did with the Rising Damp film version, a much maligned and criticised it was because of it, the death of Richard Beckinsale should of really put paid to any attempt at a screen version)…Luckily the cast of The Likely Lads were all present and correct at the time of filming, with only a few incidental characters going AWOL. (mostly family members who are alluded to but never seen)..As a comedy the film really stands the test of time, of course there are a few left over relics of the 1970s,but nothing that would offend, even the most hardened of our ultra PC police could take offence to..I'm big fan of this film, but the question remains, did we need a blu ray version,what's next a 4K transfer of the On The Buses trilogy??? Its not that I'm not a fan, of 1970s British comedy, its just where do we draw the line. Its not that there badly made, quite the contrary, its more the fact that were not really gaining much from watching these movies films in all there hi-def glory, lets be honest Britain in the 1970s was a wash with beige and brown, not to mention nicotine stained fingers...Is this Hi def for the sake of hi-def or is there a ground swelling for a George And Mildred movie restoration project in the offing. I was going to review the Network Blu Ray of the Likely Lads movie, well its Ace...I think I've lost my train of thought...
“In the chocolate box of life the top layer's already gone. And someone's pinched the orange creme from the bottom”