Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9967 in DVD
• Released on: 2001-08-27
• Rating: Exempt
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Black & White, Colour, Full Screen, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 150 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
A priceless record of British society in the 1960s and 70s, Charley Says is two-and-a-half hours of public information films produced by London's Central Office of Information between 1959 and 1983. Topics, though numerous, are dominated by an obsession with safely crossing the road. Mid-1970s celebs such as Shaw Taylor and Jimmy Saville try to coerce us into wearing then-optional seat belts or propound the still-incomprehensible "Splink" theory of road awareness. Dave Prowse looks uneasy as the Green Cross Code superhero months before he found immortality as Darth Vader and Edward Judd briefly achieves cult status with "ThinkBike". Animation is also well represented, with the engaging psycho-babble of Charley the cat and the witty repartee of Jo and Petunia to guide us through the dangers of everyday living, while Tufty and Mrs Fluffytale look concerned as Willie the Weasel gets hit by every car in town. "Lonely Water", however, is a real spine-chiller, and the TV licence-detector man assumes a menace worthy of Quatermass. By the early 1980s, recourse to passing fads such as Space Invaders and break-dancing confirm that the era of paternalistic TV was almost over.

On the DVD: The 4:3 picture definition is generally excellent, with even the black and white films taken from masters, and the mono sound is more than adequate, though no subtitles are provided. The 157 shorts are individually accessible via four selection lists, but the random play facility throws up the same options a little too often. --Richard Whitehouse

Special Features
4:3 Full Frame
English
Region 0
Mono English
Mono
Random Play
Scene Selection
None

Synopsis
CHARLEY SAYS presents dozens of animated public information films from the Central Office of Information archives. This release features all of the classic 1970s characters, including Charley the safety moggy and the ever-careless Jo and Petunia.

Customer Reviews

Charley Says
“Charley Says”, if you hadn’t guessed is a collection of public safety films that were shown on national TV in the 1950, 60, 70 and 80. Almost daily viewers of the time would be subjected to countless videos snippets telling them how full to fill their chip pans and how to always let the coastguard know where you were going.

It’s the sort of thing you watch shouting out “I remember this!” over and over again. There are some great classics on here, the “Charley Says” ones are probably the most memorable, followed by Tuffy and how to cross the road, Rolf Harris telling us to learn how to swim and the cast of Dad’s Army teaching us how to use a Pelicon crossing. (I also learnt this stood for PEdestrian LIght CONtrolled crossing) And of course not forgetting the amazing side-burns of Alvin Stardust! “You must be out of you tiny minds!”

Buyer beware though, as other reviewers have pointed out, the construction of the DVD doesn’t allow for easy navigation around the clips and at a running time of over two hours it’s a bit lengthy to watch all in one go. Also, as much as I enjoyed watching some of these again I do question the regularity that one would watch such a film.

One final note of disappointment I have to mention is that even though there are over 150 classic clips they managed to miss off one I particularly remember. Where was the iconic clip of Richard O’Sullivan (?) directing a film in the street where the car overtakes the bike? “You’re meant to overtake her and wave, not knock her off her bike!”

Buy it now!
If you are interested enough to look at this listing then you won't be disappointed. If you're considering it as a gift for a person of a certain age the only issue is whether they already have it. This disc is almost worth buying a player for.

Do you know the only way that it's acceptable to mix cross-plies and radials? Why you shouldn't gloss paint polystyrene tiles? The wrong way to plug an electric drill into the mains? Where the phrase "do you want to see some puppies" originates from? How to use a Pelican crossing? What Pelican stands for (PEdestrian LIght CONtrolled. Incidentally the ones with the bike symbol are called Toucan cos TWO CAN cross. True)

There are numerous appearances from celebrities of the day including Jimmy Saville and the cast of Dads' Army. Slightly more interesting, to me at any rate, are the appearances by future celebrities. Half the adult cast of Eastenders is there including Gillian Taylforth in a drink driving ad she seems not to have heeded. You also get to see Roy Evans being creamed by a Mk2 Cortina.

It's a Mecca for 1960s and 70s car spotters, you could be forgiven for thinking you're safe as long as you stay away from Austin 1100s and Ford Cortinas. The street scenes and fashions will jog a few memories too.

The tone of these films is patronising at times, it's a good demonstration of how attitudes have changed. I think perhaps a few patronising messages on Stranger Danger, road safety etc might be appropriate today. You can actually see the tone changing over the couple of decades covered by the films.

My children both love these films, they also love the 1970s cartoons like Paddington, Roobarb etc that I bought "for them". Maybe these simpler images are more suited to children's tastes. I was a little taken aback when one of them asked why you were supposed to label the dead bodies you leave outside your nuclear shelter but I suppose it's a reasonable question.

If you're buying this you should buy SHUT IT!- The Music of The Sweeney which will bump the order up to free postage levels. The Sweeney CD is another thing that won't disappoint you if you like the look of it.

Putting a rug on a polished floor is like setting a giant tr
Those who grew up in the 1970's and early 1980's were very lucky, as this wonderful collection of PIFs (Public Information Films) released from the central government archives serves to remind us of what a dangerous place Britain was during the 1970's. If you were not electrocuted getting your Frisbee from a substation, badly injured by putting a rug on a polished floor or skidding off the road because you'd mixed cross ply's and radial tyres on your car you were probably hiding in your fallout room with the curtains drawn after hearing the air attack warning sound.

In all seriousness this is a wonderfully nostalgic look back at these films, which were once commonly screened on TV and really only highlighting basic common sense. Cheaply made using many famous faces, they were almost mini dramas with stern voiceovers and dramatic accompanying music getting louder as the danger becomes more apparent. They have slipped almost out of people's memories as they only tend to be screened very late at night now just before closedown, and modern PIFs tend to be less dramatic. Some of the PIFs on this disc are also much older and would have been screened in cinemas before films rather than shown on TV.

PIFs have a cult following as retro TV nostalgia, and this collection is a fine tribute to them.