Man About the House 1974 (Network)

[ZombieTwin2]

Originally Posted by ltb2.0

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

Yes, I think it would be. 😎

Kev W

[Spiderwalk]

Originally Posted by Ste7en

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

His current living arrangements aren't so great. It makes me feel really sad.

[Show spoiler]

[CompleteCount]

Originally Posted by ZombieTwin2

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

Kev w

It's even mentioned on Network's press materials.

[Cosmo Valdemar]

Originally Posted by Aclea

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

The films of Rising Damp and George and Mildred were not made by Hammer. Hammer was in receivership at the time that these were in production. Cinema Arts International made the two films and it was they that acquired what was left of Hammer and become Hammer MK II. CAI were headed by ex-Hammer people Roy Skeggs and Brian Lawrence, so maybe that's where the confusion lies.

[newgen2005]

Originally Posted by Cosmo Valdemar

The films of Rising Damp and George and Mildred were not made by Hammer. Hammer was in receivership at the time that these were in production. Cinema Arts International made the two films and it was they that acquired what was left of Hammer and become Hammer MK II. CAI were headed by ex-Hammer people Roy Skeggs and Brian Lawrence, so maybe that's where the confusion lies.

So is it only Hammer films they are releasing?

[CV19]

Originally Posted by Aclea

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 loses 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).

Thanks for your post, and frankly I can't say I'm surprised at its box-office failure. I'll bet ITV wouldn't have had to pay much for the rights to screen it either, even so soon after its theatrical release.

As for Rising Damp, I didn't know that was a flop as well. I realise the film was essentially nothing more than various sketches from the series strung together to make a full-length film, but I still enjoyed it nevertheless. I would have been interested to see what their original intentions were if it's true about the original script being rejected, but I doubt it could have been much worse than George & Mildred.

[RossyG]

Originally Posted by ltb2.0

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

Yes. An a kid in the early Eighties, film spin offs were my introduction to most of these ITV sitcoms which weren’t being repeated. On the Buses, Please Sir etc were films in their own right to me rather than extensions of series.

Man About the House starts with the initial situation - a male cookery student shares a flat with two girls - taken as read, but it’s perefctly accessible if you’ve not seen the show and it’s a fairly good introduction to the characters and set-up.

[Aclea]

Originally Posted by Cosmo Valdemar

The films of Rising Damp and George and Mildred were not made by Hammer. Hammer was in receivership at the time that these were in production. Cinema Arts International made the two films and it was they that acquired what was left of Hammer and become Hammer MK II. CAI were headed by ex-Hammer people Roy Skeggs and Brian Lawrence, so maybe that's where the confusion lies.

Skeggs certainly muddied the waters in that case: as well as both titles being announced as part of Hammer's slate before The Lady Vanishes flopped, Skeggs described them as Hammer pictures that were made through a shell company (like Shadow of the Cat) and cross-collateralised with the Hammer House of Horror TV series to get round Hammer's financial problems - though making them for ITC distribution when they were on their own way to the knacker's yard was probably a frying pan/fire interface.

[lemonski]

Originally Posted by Spiderwalk

His current living arrangements aren't so great. It makes me feel really sad.

I'm sure he's very well looked after in that place, he'd be a lot better off than most. Still sad though, to see someone who was so young and full of energy on the show, and to see him now.

What I can't believe is Brian Murphy still being alive, even in 1974 he looked decrepit.

[Tripprobin]

Originally Posted by Aclea

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

]

That doesn't really apply to MATH at all. When the film was made the series was at its height. The show only began in mid 1973 and was so popular they had a second series on new year 1974 and a third in Autumn 1974.
So not flogging a dead horse.
The problem with most of the sitcom spinoffs was 2 fold.
Firstly a lot of the audience quite rightly didn't think it worth paying to see what was basically a long episode at the cinema when they could see it at home for free.
Ironically MATH was one of the few spinoffs not to fall (too far) into the trap of taking the cast away from their regular cosy surroundings away on holiday or something similar. While they did venture outside the house and pub the furthest they went was to Euston Road and the studios of Thames for the ill judged finale where the Love Thy Neighbour cast turn up amongst others.

But today it stands out as one of the better spinoffs along with the first 2 On the Buses films.
I've always wondered how ITV got away with showing the G&M movie only months after the cinema release. I would guess it had nothing to do with its box office performance. Rules such as the 5 year rule were set in stone in the union dominated companies of the time (although that had changed to 3 years by 1982) so I would suspect that rights to the tv show were given by Thames in exchange for an early screening as part of the deal. ITV could not just decide by themselves to break the rules because they wanted to. Only 12 months earlier they had been off the air for almost 3 months thanks to union disputes so I doubt they would have taken any chances on that front.
But the G&M movie did fall into the usual trap and embroil the cast in a ludicrous plot.
One other alternative could be that permission was given to show the film as a tribute to Mildred. Actress Yootha Joyce had died earlier in the year as production on the next series of the show was underway. She even read the scripts in hospital before she died.
A sad end to a typically basic but perpetually enjoyable ITV comedy

[Tripprobin]

Originally Posted by Aclea

Skeggs certainly muddied the waters in that case: as well as both titles being announced as part of Hammer's slate before The Lady Vanishes flopped, Skeggs described them as Hammer pictures that were made through a shell company (like Shadow of the Cat) and cross-collateralised with the Hammer House of Horror TV series to get round Hammer's financial problems - though making them for ITC distribution when they were on their own way to the knacker's yard was probably a frying pan/fire interface.

ITC was not on the way to the knackers yard at all in 1980.
At the time their basic function was to distribute ATV material around the world. The ITC series made by and owned by ITC (such as HHOH) were just an offshoot by Lew Grade initially to sell shows around the world.
ITC was a subsidiary of ATV. Despite some reports ATV did not lose their Midlands franchise. But at the end of 1981 they kept it but had strict conditions imposed by the IBA. Ironically it was Grades obsession with selling product around the world that allowed the IBA to claim he was neglecting his responsibilities as the Midlands franchise holder. So they had to completely restructure ATV, change the management and kick Lew Grade out by creating a new company called Central.
At that point ITC became an independent company and it retained ownership of the entire ATV archive. Much of the ITC archive then turned up on home video and got tv repeats. So much of it got licenced for video by Polygram that Polygram ended up buying ITC lock stock and barrel.
They kept it for about 10 years before Carlton bought it back and their morph with Granada into what is now ITV means the ITC library is owned by ITV and licenced to Network. |
Ironically, most of the movie spinoffs were made by other companies and the rights mostly lay with Studio Canal but Network also have a deal with them so that makes it easy for Network to produce releases that sometimes mix and match the product owned by the various companies including Fremantle who own the Thames archive.

[CinemaScope]

I used to love the TV series in the seventies, I'm not too sure about the film. I think part of the reason for its success was Paula Wilcox, people were in love with her (I was), I mean you wouldn't say no to Sally Thomsett, but with Paula it was the real thing, funny, as in this & The Lovers that came before it, she played someone with a morbid fear of sex. One thing of interest, Richard O'Sullivan (Robin Tripp) played someone who was totally in love with Paula, but in real life was having a fling with Sally Thomsett.

[newgen2005]

Here we are

Screen caps to follow.

[newgen2005]

Very impressed with the transfer. I have seen the film in HD when it aired on ITV3 HD a couple of years ago.

Screen shots don't really do it justice, looks better in the flesh.

[Show spoiler]

[Dickieduvet]

Thanks for the caps, looks great. Ordered

[spearce8]

Pre-ordered a while ago, received but not yet watched, wonder what the next batch will be? Can't see Network releasing Man about House/likely lads/Till Death etc and not contining to release 'Film Sitcoms', unless they pull a 'Carry on'.

[Caladriusse]

Just picked this up for £4.

You lot have mentioned that many ITV comedies had film spin-offs. Did the BBC get into the action as well?

The one that springs to mind is Dad's Army. A film version was released in 1971, (several years before many of the films mentioned above). Fairly good if I remember correctly, I first watched it on DVD.

Not being alive in the 70s that is the only one I know of. Were there any others?

Edit: Also, it would be great if Network could release the Dad's Army film on Blu-ray!

[Modman]

Originally Posted by Caladriusse

Just picked this up for £4.

You lot have mentioned that many ITV comedies had film spin-offs. Did the BBC get into the action as well?

The one that springs to mind is Dad's Army. A film version was released in 1971, (several years before many of the films mentioned above). Fairly good if I remember correctly, I first watched it on DVD.

Not being alive in the 70s that is the only one I know of. Were there any others?

Edit: Also, it would be great if Network could release the Dad's Army film on Blu-ray!

Yes there are quite a few others, off the top of my head, Till Death Us Do Part (Network Blu-ray), Are You Being Served?, The Likely Lads (Network Blu-ray) and Porridge. Plus Up Pompeii and it's two spin offs, The Alf Garnett Saga, Steptoe and Son and Steptoe and Son Ride Again.

[Ste7en]

Porridge and the Steptoe films are particularly good.

[WaverBoy]

I’m getting to this thread pretty late. I love both the series and the film, and first snagged the ratty old 4:3 DVD of the film many years ago, then I found it had been released on remastered anamorphic widescreen DVD in Australia and was really happy to have found an out-of-print copy of that, and now it’s on Blu-ray at last. As soon as Amazon UK starts shipping to the colonies again I’ll definitely be ordering. I would love remastered Blu-ray sets of MATH, Robin’s Nest, and especially Dick Turpin, the DVDs of which are from ancient broadcast masters of the original 16mm prints. Dick Turpin would look mighty fine if remastered from 16mm in HD; such an immensely entertaining show.