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By
FRANK BEHRENS
Yes, I remember reading
"Bomba the Jungle Boy," "Tom Swift," and all the
lesser "boys' books" many a decade ago, but I
never thought to call them ripping yarns. But that
is apparently what the British called their tales
of high adventure; and that is the title chosen
for a mini-series scripted by Monty Pythoners
Michael Palin and Terry Jones. When it appeared on
Public TV back in the 1980s, it was quite a hit
among (at least) the college trade. So when I
report it is due to appear as a boxed 2-DVD set
from Acorn Media on the last day of August 2005,
many will want to place their orders early for
"Ripping Yarns."
There are 9 yarns, all of them with Palin in
several roles each, that range from the absolutely
hilarious "Tomlinson's Schooldays" (in which the
worst punishment is having to whip the Headmaster)
to the almost as hilarious "Escape from Stalag
Luft 112B" (with a very funny twist ending) and
down to the nearly laughless "Across the Andes by
Frog" (which never seems to get off the ground).
The other episodes are variable, especially when
Palin plays a boring person who begins to bore the
viewer after a short while. But there are enough
imaginative bits in even the weakest tale to keep
one's attention. "Whinfrey's Last Case," by the
way, is practically an "Avengers" plot, if one
recalls the very first Diana Rigg episode about a
small town taken over by… never mind.
The laugh tracks are intolerable, but all but two
can be turned off. I found the voice-over
commentaries less than fascinating, as I did
"Comic Roots: Michael Palin, 1983" in which I felt
I was interrupting other people's conversations.
There is a very funny deleted scene, a photo
gallery, a demonstration of the restoration work
done on the original tapes, and English subtitles.
A DVD-ROM feature contains the original scripts,
and an excellent booklet gives a good deal of
background information and complete cast listings.
The total running time is 274 minutes. |
