Other material: British comedy films

DVD has been great news for film collectors as film rights are bought up and exploited in never-before-achieved quality. One company doing very well (for DVD issues) is French giant Vivendi Universal, whose Canal+/Momentum Pictures operation now owns the rights to much great British comedy output. They have released a box set of 4 DVDs of some of the best Ealing Comedies, all starring Alec Guinness: The Lavender Hill Mob, Kind Hearts and Coronets, The Man in the White Suit and The Ladykillers. Happily, The Ladykillers is presented in its original theatrical ratio of 1.66:1, and released in anamorphic widescreen. The print looks fantastic. All the other films are in 1.33:1 black and white. It has been confirmed that there is a fresh transfer of Kind Hearts, with the English intertitles this time (the previous print was issued with French inserts!) Print quality on all 4 films is impressive. You can see more here.

Following the success of the first Ealing Comedy box set (actually an Alec Guinness box set), an Ealing box set comprising three more classics has been released: Hue and Cry, Passport to Pimlico and a railway film to rival Porter's fame, The Titfield Thunderbolt (Ealing Studios' first Technicolor production). There is a fourth disc with a Forever Ealing documentary and introductions to all the films released from Ealing in this and the Alec Guinness box set detailed above.

Another release that may be of interest is this lovely box set of 4 Peter Sellers films. Featured are Carlton-Browne of the FO (a Terry-Thomas vehicle), the hilarious Two Way Stretch, the delightfully evocative Smallest Show on Earth and the offbeat but worthwhile Hoffman (the last of which is presented in anamorphic widescreen). It's a pity I'm Alright Jack isn't among them! You can see the box set here.

Another group of Peter Sellers films has been released by Carlton: Wrong Arm of the Law, Never Let Go, Waltz of the Toreadors and Soft Beds Hard Battles. To see what information there is, click here. Wrong Arm is very funny (Two Way Stretch part 2, effectively); Never let Go is not a comedy at all, but a horribly vicious kitchen sink drama; Waltz is adequate; Soft Beds reunited Sellers with the Boulting Brothers, with, shall we say, mixed results. But he does get to play Hitler. So a mixed bag, but definitely has its moments.

Widely available are the films of one of Will Hay's most competitive contemporaries, the gifted ukelele player George Formby, released on DD Video, and including two 5 cassette box sets. Take a look at the whole range here.

There is another box set from DD Video featuring “5 classic comedies” (Laughter in Paradise, Make Mine A Million, Brothers In Law, The Amorous Prawn and Three Men In A Boat), here. Whether any of these are in fact classic comedies, I couldn't comment.

Other material: British comedy generally

The BBC are also busy going through their back catalogue, releasing all manner of great TV comedy, including Fawlty Towers, Yes Minister, The Young Ones and The Office.

In the 1960s, comedy legend Eric Sykes made several silent films, very much in the style of low-budget Jacques Tati. Four of these films are being reissued on DVD (and VHS) soon: The Plank/It's Your Move and Rhubarb Rhubarb/Mr H is Late. Both are due out on 9 September.

The three series of The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin (arguably the Godfather I and II of British sitcom) are coming to DVD in October. Click to see series 1, series 2 and series 3.