Man About the House 1974 (Network)

[newgen2005]

Can't wait for this.

[CV19]

Yes, I'll be going for that as well as Till Death Us Do Part, which comes out at the same time.

Oh, and of course, The Likely Lads.....crikey, I haven't seen that one in years. Thanks for the reminder.

[KevinM]

It’s a shame that this isn’t the full TV series, just the movie, but I’ll be purchasing it...Always loved the show...

[RossyG]

You can get the complete series as well.

https://networkonair.com/all-product...omplete-series

[KevinM]

But only on DVD...I want the TV series on Blu Ray (like the above movie)...

[spearce8]

I’ll pick this up Day1, along with TLL, TDUDP, hopefully Network will continue to release more of these ‘Tv made for Movie’ adaptions, as there were quite a few, On the Buses (Hammer though, so probably not) and Steptoe next please, just hope it doesn’t go the same way as the ‘Carry Ons’, release a small batch, and then nothing

[RossyG]

Man About the House is a Hammer film.

[RossyG]

Network dipped their toe in the filmed sitcoms waters a year or so ago with their Blu of Love Thy Neighbour (coincidentally another Hammer film) which was a terrific release in terms of a/v quality.

Great to see three more are coming. For me, the holy grails would be the On the Buses trilogy and Please Sir. Bless This House would be nice, too. I wouldn’t be surprised if Network had their eyes on all of those.

[CV19]

Originally Posted by RossyG

Great to see three more are coming. For me, the holy grails would be the On the Buses trilogy and Please Sir. Bless This House would be nice, too. I wouldn’t be surprised if Network had their eyes on all of those.

I'd love to have the On The Buses trilogy on blu-ray; and hopefully they'll release the first film in its original ratio rather than the 4:3 transfer that's on the DVD......and quickly before the politically correct brigade decide these films are unsuitable for us.

[CompleteCount]

Originally Posted by CV19

I'd love to have the On The Buses trilogy on blu-ray; and hopefully they'll release the first film in its original ratio rather than the 4:3 transfer that's on the DVD......and quickly before the politically correct brigade decide these films are unsuitable for us.

Let's hope it looks as good as their work on Love Thy Neighbour:

http://www.dvdactive.com/reviews/dvd...neighbour.html

OK, there are only two actual screen-grabs to be found, but the movie is appreciated.

But when it comes to Man About The House, remember: there's a lot you can do to a Steak Diane.

[CV19]

Originally Posted by CompleteCount

Let's hope it looks as good as their work on Love Thy Neighbour:

So far I've been very pleased with Network's blu-ray releases, so all being well these upcoming titles should be just as good.

The only film based on a TV series that I didn't like was George & Mildred. I loved the shows, but the movie was terrible in my opinion.

[newgen2005]

Yes please for the Steptoe and Son, On The Buses films.

I think these releases would be great, they look very good when shown on ITV3 HD.

[CompleteCount]

Originally Posted by CV19

So far I've been very pleased with Network's blu-ray releases, so all being well these upcoming titles should be just as good.

The only film based on a TV series that I didn't like was George & Mildred. I loved the shows, but the movie was terrible in my opinion.

It's certainly not one of the best UK comedy adaptions of the era, only fitting that it was the last of the genre. The odd thing is that the baddies are a rip-off of those in Superman: The Movie. The Lex Luthor port - including the succession of wigs - is obvious, with the moll and dumb henchman also rather easy to spot.

The really interesting bit is that the G&M writers were clearly working from one of the earlier scripts of S:TM, as it featured four villains rather than three, one of which was an erudite butler-type named "Albert". G&M also contains a fourth baddie remarkably similar to this eradicated one.

[CV19]

Originally Posted by CompleteCount

It's certainly not one of the best UK comedy adaptions of the era, only fitting that it was the last of the genre. The odd thing is that the baddies are a rip-off of those in Superman: The Movie. The Lex Luthor port - including the succession of wigs - is obvious, with the moll and dumb henchman also rather easy to spot.

I don't know how it performed at the box office, but there was criticism saying that one of the problems with the film was George & Mildred were taken out of their familiar cosy setting that viewers were used to seeing on TV, whilst On The Buses still maintained their familiar surroundings by and large.

Having said that, Holiday On The Buses was set in a holiday camp but yet this still manages to be as funny and as much fun to watch as the previous two films.

I should also mention Rising Damp - another one I'd love to see Network release on a blu-ray.

[CompleteCount]

Originally Posted by CV19

Having said that, Holiday On The Buses was set in a holiday camp but yet this still manages to be as funny and as much fun to watch as the previous two films.

I should also mention Rising Damp - another one I'd love to see Network release on a blu-ray.

I really didn't like the 1st On The Buses movie, as the writing really isn't great, and the whole "battle of the sexes" theme was loaded far too heavily on one side.

The other two are really fun to watch, and they're almost Shakespeare compared to the writing on the series. It's a bit of a bummer that in spite of all the classic horror movies Hammer made, Holiday on the Buses was the biggest hit they ever had.

Even with the quality of writing associated with Rising Damp, the movie still joined most of the other adaptations in ripping off gags/scenes from the show, which was a bit of a shame. Still, the movie was always going to feel somewhat incomplete, given an unavoidable missing element.

[CV19]

Originally Posted by CompleteCount

Even with the quality of writing associated with Rising Damp, the movie still joined most of the other adaptations in ripping off gags/scenes from the show, which was a bit of a shame. Still, the movie was always going to feel somewhat incomplete, given an unavoidable missing element.

You're right, there were a number of gags taken from the series. I don't know how true it is, but I read somewhere they did this because they weren't happy with the original script - it would have been interesting to see how that would have ended up had they gone with it.

And yes, I've nothing against Christopher Strauli, but he's no substitute for Richard Beckinsale who sadly died very young indeed.

[ZombieTwin2]

They’d better have the Love Thy Neighbour cameos intact, or’ll be pissed! ��

Kev w

[Aclea]

Originally Posted by CV19

I don't know how it performed at the box office

An absolute box-office disaster: it was on TV on Christmas Day just a few months after it opened in Autumn to empty houses the same year at a time when films still took five years from release to turn up on UK TV. Business was so bad there were reports that in many cinemas it played dark (UK cinemas at the time were legally obliged to show films at the time the performance was advertised in case there were any latecomers, but would cut their losses by turning off the heating and house lights if no-one showed up. The only two films that happened to when I was working in a UK cinema were the mid-week afternoon shows of Christine and Blake Edwards' The Man Who Loved Women).

I should also mention Rising Damp - another one I'd love to see Network release on a blu-ray.

Another box-office disaster - and, like George and Mildred and Shadow of the Cat, one of those Hammer Films they made through another company for contractual reasons*. Hammer's biggest problem was always beating a dead horse long after the corpse had decomposed and turned to dust, and, even more than with their horror films, the huge success of On the Buses led them to try to repeat the trick with every other ITV sitcom they could get their hands on to ever-decreasing box-office.

* Although some fans insist that because they didn't use the Hammer brand they're not Hammer films (an argument some still use for Shadow of the Cat), they're part of the Hammer library and licensed out as such:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hammer-Come.../dp/B00002MU7C

[Ste7en]

Even as a kid I was envious of Robin Tripp and his living arrangements

[ltb2.0]

Would this movie be a good introduction for someone who's only familiar with the American version of the show?