Fawlty Towers (TV Series): The Complete Collection (DVD)

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Comedy has been a staple of the television industry since its earliest days in the Forties and Fifties. First came the variety shows with comedians like Milton Berle, Jackie Gleason, and Sid Caesar and then the situation comedies like "I Love Lucy," "The Adventures of Ozzie Harriet," and "The Phil Silvers Show." Since then, we've had countless sitcoms, and everybody will have their favorites, from "The Dick Van Dyke Show" to "Mary Tyler Moore," from "Bob Newhart" to "MASH," and from "Cheers," "Seinfeld," and "Frasier" to "Friends" and "The Office."

My own favorite is "Fawlty Towers."

John Cleese, fresh from his success with "Monty Python's Flying Circus," starred in two six-episode seasons of "Fawlty Towers" for BBC Television, the first season in 1975 and the second in 1979. OK, you might say, it's easy for a series that runs only six episodes a season to be good compared to the twenty or thirty episodes a season required for American TV. Fair enough. But it doesn't make the twelve episodes of "Fawlty Towers" any the less funny. It just makes it a pity the "Fawlty Towers" crew didn't make any more episodes than they did. Nevertheless, let us relish what we have on this newly remastered, three-disc DVD set.

"Right; well, I'll go and have a lie down then. No, I won't; I'll go and hit some guests."

Cleese plays Basil Fawlty, an arrogant, prudish, supercilious, and forever-bumbling owner and manager of a small resort hotel in Torquay on the southern coast of England. He is always right, except on those occasions, which are most times, when he is not. But don't tell that to Basil. He will listen to no one, least of all to his nagging wife, Sybil (Prunella Scales), who henpecks him to death. At least, when she's not on the phone chatting with her friends, which is most of the time. Basil attempts to bully everybody and is afraid of nothing except his wife, from whom he is forever hiding for fear of her acid tongue. Basil's descriptions of Sybil are priceless; for instance, holding an imaginary piece of bread in his hand, he asks "Ever see my wife making toast?" and blows on each side of it. Well, she may be a fire-breathing dragon, but it is her continual conflicts with her husband that demand our attention and produce the most-hilarious results.

The bulk of the humor in "Fawlty Towers" derives from Basil's interaction (or lack thereof) with the other characters, his sarcasms, and the deflation of his insultingly pompous manner. His attitude toward almost everyone around him, including the guests in his hotel, you see, is almost unfailing deprecating unless it's somebody he thinks is important, in which case he's groveling to make an impression. Small things lead to bigger things lead to catastrophe.

The regular supporting cast add their distinctive touch. Connie Booth (Cleese's real-life wife at the time of the first season and daughter-in-law of comic actor Bert Lahr) plays Polly, the maid, the only character in the hotel with an ounce of common sense and the character who tends to hold the action together. Andrew Sachs plays Manuel, the Spanish waiter just learning English ("You'll have to forgive him. He's from Barcelona"). Basil is a cheapskate and Manuel works cheap; you figure it out. Poor Manuel is the scapegoat for most of Basil's frustrations, some of it self-induced as both men engage in much mischief of their own blundering. And Ballad Berkeley plays Major Gowan, the hotel's oldest resident guest, an amusingly dotty, absentminded old codger who suffers from deficiencies of hearing and sense.

Of course, it's no use trying to explain why "Fawlty Towers" is funny. Trying to explain any joke, British or American, is a futile business, and in any case much of the humor comes from Cleese's facial and bodily expressions. Nevertheless, one example that springs to mind is Basil at the front desk trying hopelessly to figure out one of Polly's erotic drawings and then answering the phone by announcing without ever noticing what's he's saying, "Hello, Fawlty Titties." Sure, you hadda been there, but when one funny moment follows another in rapid succession--verbal jokes, sight gags, and slapstick combined--it makes for sometimes sidesplitting humor.

Here's a rundown of the twelve episodes involved. If you're already a fan of the series, you'll recognize them instantly by their titles alone. If you're new to the series, you're in for a treat if you watch them.

Season One:
"A Touch of Class": Basil falls all over himself to please a man he thinks is a member of the aristocracy.

"The Builders": Basil's penny-pinching is on parade as he hires the most cut-rate contractor he can find, O'Reilly (David Kelly), to do some work inside the hotel. Needless to say, O'Reilly screws things up royally, and the situation only gets worse.

"The Wedding Party": Basil's prudish nature gets the better of him when he thinks some of the guests are up to a bit of hanky-panky. He does his best to seek out and break up sin wherever he finds it, this time leading to misunderstandings of monumental proportions.