The Dave Allen Show In Australia DVD Review
Summary: A consummate story teller and icon of Irish comedy, Dave Allen was not shy about expressing his views on religion and authority and life in general with laughs along the way.
3.5
Irish Wit
Part of my youth was spent watching Dave Allen. Numerous specials on tape had our family laughing heartily. So a few years ago, with a hankering for some of that witty story telling, I went on a search for Dave Allen DVD’s and though I didn’t find much I’m sure I came across a story that went something along the lines of “Dave didn’t want his shows to go into re-runs, he wanted that network time to be used to provide a platform for new talent…” So it was with some humour I noted that The Dave Allen Show In Australia DVD states on the back “Due to unavailability one episode of the original 6 part series is not included in this DVD.”
Dave Allen was a very smart man and he would use that intellect to poke fun at and debunk religion (particularly the Catholic Church). This particular collection certainly suffers from it’s age in terms of “political correctness” of some segments (rampant sexism and use of black face being two examples)… but there are still moments of that captivating story telling for which Dave was so well known that shine through.
I will also say that I wasn’t so thrilled that the show veered to a more “variety” style set up later in the series… but that’s only really a couple of episodes. The visual quality is pretty rough but this is not something I’d put down to transfer issues but simply the quality of the material available to work with… we are talking 1970’s television studio cameras set ups. But the quality is made up for with quantity in this case with approximately 230 minutes of entertainment.
Having sat through this collection I would have to say it doesn’t feature his best work, there are some great bits… but (though my memory is questionable at the best of times)… I’m sure there are other Dave Allen shows that had a higher success rate with their sketches, but perhaps that’s also to do with the world we live in today and our modern sensibilities compared to what they were when the show was first aired.
As much as I am a Dave Allen fan… I’m not inclined to highly recommend this collection. I wouldn’t discourage purchasing it either… but I’d give the caveat that I don’t think it’s his best work. If you’re a completionist (firstly, sorry for pointing out that this will always leave you at least one episode short) then you can still find some laughs here.
DVD Details
Actors Allen, Dave
Film Genre TV Comedy
Label Umbrella Entertainment
Audio English 2.0
Running Time 230
Aspect ratio 1.33:1
Region Coding 4
TV Standard PAL
Rating PG
Consumer Advice Mild coarse language and sexual references
Year of Release 1975
Primary Format – Movies/TV DVD
About the Author
Chris O'Connor Father of four, husband of one and all round oddity. Gaming at home since about 1982 with a Sinclair ZX Spectrum. Moving on to the more traditional PC genre in the years that followed with the classic Jump Joe and Alley Cat. CGA, EGA, VGA and beyond PC's have been central to my gaming but I've also enjoyed consoles and hand helds along the way (who remembers the Atari Lynx?). Would have been actor/film maker, jack of many trades master of none.
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