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allo+allo | Directed: - John B. Hobbs - David Croft - Martin Dennis The British Are Coming Mention "Are You Being Served?" to someone, and their eyes will light up. Mention "Allo Allo!", and you'll probably be hit with a quizzical look. This has been my overall experience, and it has always been a frustrating one. I link the two series, because both are brainchilds of Britcom comedic masters Jeremy Lloyd & David Croft. Both are absolutely hilarious. But it seems as though "Allo Allo!" has taken the shorter end of the popularity stick here in the US, but with this release of its first season on DVD, I hope that can change somewhat. The first 7 episodes of the classic Britcom are featured on this collection, and they are the start to a most wonderful, long-running show. The story starts during WWII, when France is being occupied by Germany. Our protagonist is Rene Artois, who runs a cafe. He is the (mostly) sane center to a storm of off the wall characters. Rene's wife, Edith, is older than he is, and is a terrible singer. The local Gestapo agent, Herr Flick, is a psycho with a limp. The German officers are all nutty, and one of them even fancies Rene. The women of the French Resistance are always sneaking into the cafe to cajole Rene into daring missions for France, and then there are also the British airmen -- shot down over France, and now in hiding at Rene's cafe. They don't speak the language, and their appearances in each episode are always good for a laugh. Rene is also quite keen on his bar maids, Yvette and Maria. It is a secret he must keep from the ever-suspicious Edith. All of this, I'm sure, sounds like a lot of information to take in. And it is. "Allo Allo!" rarely slows down the pace, and this eventually leads to Rene opening every episode talking to the audience, bringing them up to speed on the previous episode's events. The storylines flow from one show to the next, and over the years we are treated to a host of madcap adventures. I think it takes until Series 3 before "Allo Allo!" really finds its groove, but Series 1 is still a solid start to a truly great television show. Once the disc is over, I'm sure you'll want to see more. And it only gets better. There are many more episodes of "Allo Allo!" to come. I hope that we get to see the rest of them released on DVD someday. The show deserves it. Don't miss this!! If you like or LOVE British humor/comedy, you won't want to miss this series. I bought mine from Amazon.UK and we have truly enjoyed it...it's one of the best. I just hope more episodes are released in the future. I have a PAL/NTSC converter DVD player, but with the release of this series for Region One players, everone in the US and Canada will have the opportunity to enjoy ALLO! ALLO!. The setting: A small French Cafe in German occupied France during WWII. Lots of little sub-plots and excellent writing, casting and acting. Not perfect but a must see I actually bought a multi region DVD player so I could buy Allo Allo from the UK to show people in CA. The cast of characters is far wider than you get in virtually any other comedy. To describe it as a mixture of other things is neither fair nor adequate. The writers will use anything to get a laugh, and it works. You may recognize some of the ideas, the whole idea of the cafe used for escaping prisoners is taken directly from "Secret Army" which was a sucessful drama, but there is nothing quite like Allo Allo. One similarity to Red Dwarf is that it takes a couple of series to really get into its stride, but unlike Red Dwarf the first series are essential in setting the stage for what follows. Nobody escapes the characature, the british pilots are upper class twits, the british secret agent can't speak french to save his life, the german regular army will do anything for a quiet life, the gestapo are incompetent... and into a bit of cross dressing, the tank commander is gay and sweet on the lead character, the french resistance are naughty school girls in trench coats, the wife is the singer at the cafe and could break glass, and that's only half the cast of a regular episode. Buy Allo Allo at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  Search with Walhello on the Internet on Allo Allo Search with the Priority Search Engine on Allo Allo This page in other languages: Suomeksi | Nederlands | Deutsch
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