Far and away two of the funniest films ever made.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7087 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-06-16
• Rating: Universal, suitable for all
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Black & White, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 165 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Though he gets solo above-the-title billing, Will Hay was no more a solo comedian than Groucho Marx. Teamed with sidekicks Moore Marriott and Graham Moffatt the trio formed one of British cinema's greatest comedy gangs. Oh, Mr Porter!, one of their finest vehicles, finds Hay as congenial William Porter, an inept railway worker who is shunted off to the dead-end job of stationmaster in Buggleskelly, Northern Ireland. The delight of the film is in the interplay between Hay and Marriott, the single-toothed dotty old-timer, and Moffatt, the chubby smart kid, as they fail the most basic requirements of their jobs but come up trumps when investigating the ghost of One-Eyed Joe and his haunted mill. --Kim Newman

One of Will Hay's brisker comic efforts, 1936's Convict 99 sees Dr Benjamin Twist, Hay's clueless schoolmaster, caught in a case of mistaken identity and invited to head up a prison for especially hard-boiled criminals. It's a typical outtake from Hay's bizarrely lawless universe in which, for all his harrumphing and bluster, he's unable to exercise any sort of discipline whatsoever over the men in his charge. Hay plays exactly the same character from film to film, one so ill-equipped for any situation he's equally suited for all. Whereas Twist is an incompetent who somehow muddles through, Hay the comic actor is a master of timing and double-takes who knows precisely how to create the air of a shambles. --David Stubbs

Special Features
4:3
DVD 5
English
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital Mono English
Dolby Digital Mono

Synopsis

The Will Hay - Oh Mr. Porter! / Convict 99 DVD features what are arguably two of the best Will Hay films; both classic movies that give viewers a taste for Hay's inimitable creations. In Oh Mr. Porter!, when Hay is sent off by his relatives to work at a rural Ireland railway station, he gets up to mischief because there's so little to do. In Convict 99, the character of Dr. Twist (a Hay regular) turns up once again and gets mistaken for prison governor. This DVD is part of the Will Hay double-bill series.

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Customer Reviews

All aboard for Connemara!
Oh Mr Porter is 60 years old but still one of the best ever comedies. Hay, Marriott and Moffat spark off each other, the grainy black-and-white texture gives oodles of atmosphere; I just love the whole scene when Porter arrives at Buggleskelly in the pouring rain. Of its time, but timeless. Just enjoy!

Unappreciated comedy classic
Every time I see one of those"100 GREATEST COMEDY"list shows on TV I always want to throw something at the screen.I've seen lists with"Police Academy"in the pool for Chrissake!Only film guru Barry Norman seems to have remembered this British comic masterpiece.Hay,Marriot and Moffatt were up there with the Marxes,Laurel & Hardy,W.C.Fields and many rungs above Abbot & Costello.Perhaps because of their music hall backgrounds and relatively low budgets(Porter was a huge box office hit in its day)and lack of international recognition is the reason for its shameful lack of respect.But the sublime timing and interplay from these wonderful pros in a variation of "The Ghost Train"is a joy to behold.Once you've watched this, the classic lament,"You're wasting your time"will be with you forever.When something as abysmally unfunny as "The Three Amigos"can be incuded in a top 100 list then you know the lunatics have taken over.

Oh Mr Porter
Oh Mr Porter has been a favourite of mine for over 30 years. I can remember hiring an 8mm sound copy when a teenager. The story is well known and has appeared on TV many times but I just could not miss buying it on DVD. The sound seemed out of sync in a couple of places but not enough to be annoying, the picture and sound quality is good. A fine example of early British film comedy and the teaming of Hay, Marriott and Moffat is genius. Buy it.