MovieChat Forums > Till Death Us Do Part (1969) Discussion > Some thoughts....

Some thoughts....

posted 8 years ago by stanleybix-1
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Just got the DVD, and watched it for the first time. The DVD cover has the photos of Warren Mitchell and Dandy Nichols, but the photos are identified as Warren Mitchell and Una Stubbs?! Being an American, I'll have to watch it a few more times to get all the snappy British lingo. Dandy Nichols is one of my favorite comedic characters, but being nineteen years older than Warren Mitchell, I felt the part should have gone to a younger actress, (Wisecracking Miriam Karlin comes to mind). The skipping of the twenty years (1946-1966), left me a little empty. The World Cup part was too long and overdone, imo. But I'm sure with a few more viewings, I will enjoy this movie even more.

"Irwin, we're gonna' have to kill him"!

[–] PurpleProseOfCairo 8 years ago

Funny, I got the DVD and watched it just before Christmas too. However, I saw it in the cinema as a kid when it came out! Weird that a child of 11 or 12 was allowed to watch such strong stuff (though the fact that it was Ireland and not Britain may have been a factor).

As a kid I loved the World Cup section - I was football (soccer) mad and the WC was fresh in my memory. Watching it now, as you say, it takes up far too much of the movie - it's like the centrepiece, and bears little relation to TDUDP as we know it (apart from Alf's jingoistic baiting of the German fan, which gets a little repetitive).

When I first put the DVD on I was amazed at how young Dandy Nichols looked (in her "pre-war" guise) - the make-up boys did a great job. Alf's "white" moustache and eyebrows aren't as convincing in the harsh light of DVD and HD, so they didn't do quite as good a job of ageing him! I'll have to check my DVD re the photo bloopers you mention.

All in all it was worth watching, but probably not as good as a 90 minute TV episode might have been (ie without the wartime and World Cup set pieces).

Finally I have just ordered the sequel, The Alf Garnett Saga, not easy to get hold of, and quite poor as I recall (no daughter/son in law). But I seem to remember it IS like an extended episode rather than having the big screen aspirations of the TDUDP movie.