Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13856 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-04-25
• Rating: Exempt
• Formats: Box set, Limited Edition, PAL, Special Edition
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 80 minutes

Synopsis
A collection of animated Public Information Films from the Central Office of Information. Plus a bonus disc featuring the original 'Charley Says'.

Customer Reviews

Almost as good as it can get
I'd echo the other positive reviews here. If you're something of a Generation X'er, whether at the high end or the low end of the age range, this will bring back memories and generally wrap you up in a warm blanket of childhood nostalgia. Sure, there are plenty of PIFs on the discs which fall outside of the golden era of the seventies which most will probably buy it for, but they're quite cool in their own way too.

I used to own the VHS versions of these when they first came out as Charley Says and Charley Live, and it's nice to see that some well-remembered omissions from these two releases have been corrected on these DVD discs- at least three of the popular missing PIFs I remember have been added, along with one or two others which sparked some recognition though I didn't know them all that well from memory.

This collection isn't perfect, however- there is one missing PIF I can remember seeing quite well as a child, concerning overtaking bicycles, which I know almost word for word. I had hoped that would be here but it isn't. Also, as others have stated, disc 2 seems to be the weaker of the two. I noticed that the PIFs on disc 1 had been more carefully edited, having equalised sound levels and fade-outs at the end, whereas disc 2 has wildly variable sound levels, a few foreign langauge PIFs that could have been omitted without any worries and no fade-outs, which may seem a little thing but does really make disc 1 seem altogether smoother. Still, there are some gems on disc 2.

There's been some criticism of the amount of RAF ads included here, but I can't entirely agree- yes, they're pretty dull to view, but to be fair the COI is increasingly tasked with producing ads for the armed forces so they are kind of relevent.

One thing that does strike you while watching the seventies-made PIFs is that the COI seemed to have an intense and pathological dislike of Austin 1100's; particularly red ones- second only to Basil Fawlty's hatred of his. I lost count of the PIFs in which 1100 owners were either awful drivers or were gruesomly killed. And as a rule, you'll find the PIFs from our youth to be a lot more graphic and toe-curling than anything than would probably be allowed today. The warning about broken glass on the beach particularly induces an agonising wince.

So, if you grew up with Donald Pleasance doing the voiceover for Death; the screams of "Jimmy!" as the frisbee-thrower gets electrically toasted and the sight of Rolf's wrinkly foot- to paraphrase the man himself- "you'll love it."

Highly, highly recommended. After all, where else are you going to get this stuff?

Great if you have at least 2 hours to spare
After seeing many classic public information films on YouTube and as archive footage on TV, this set of 2 DVDs is very entertaining. I wasn't even born when a lot of these films were shown but they make a great change to today's PIFs.

The first disc is definitely the best. It starts off with a string of animated PIFs (including Charley Says, Joe and Petunia and Tufty to name just three) followed by some live action PIFs (Save It, Play Safe, Green Cross Code, etc). A lot of these films were made in the 1970s which is when they were the most popular.

The second disc has more of the same footage as the first disc. There are quite a few 1940s black and white films with the same man as well as lots of road safety films, but they are still worth watching.

This set could have been improved if more Protect and Survive films, the grim Apaches and the full-lenth Play Safe film were included. I don't understand why the Dangerous Diamonds and Wear Something Light films are on both DVDs though.

Bonkers but brilliant
I think you might have to be a slightly strange sort of person to spend your evening watching a thirty year old collection of public information films but hey...don't knock it 'til you try it. It looks as if we were a pretty dozy lot in the '60s and '70s. If we were not setting the chip pan on fire, drowning in disused quarries, or being frazzled to a crisp flying our stunt kites into electricity substations then we were driving at speed in fog, setting out to sea in unsuitable craft, trashing the countryside or (a particular favourite this for some reason) failing to use the pelican crossing correctly. It feels sometimes that about half the films (okay, so I exaggerate a little) are about using pelican crossings (compared to a mere two or three about surviving an all out nuclear holocaust; same style, totally terrifying: "if anyone dies in your shelter..." "place a second label on the body..."). What was it with the pelican crossing? Something non-intuitive about the flashing green man and flashing amber stage, it seems. Gosh, were we all really so dim? Looking at the backgrounds of the virtually signless and marking less roads and the neat rows of butchers, grocers and hardware stores on the well kept suburban streets it is difficult not to feel more than a little nostalgic about this "lost Britain". Almost all of the films are interesting and the best are little masterpieces of mood, image and cinematography. Take care now!