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Porterhouse Blue

starring: Ian Richardson, David Jason

: Porterhouse Blue
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Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 0054961937394
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC
Label: Acorn Media
Manufacturer: Acorn Media
Number Of Items: 2
Publisher: Acorn Media
Region Code: 1
Release Date: June 26, 2007
Running Time: 200 minutes
Sales Rank: 45758
Studio: Acorn Media
Theatrical Release Date: 1987



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Editorial Review:

Description:
A hilarious romp through the hallowed halls of British academia

For more than 500 years, Porterhouse College has cherished tradition above all else. Unfortunately, its traditions mostly involve decadent banquets, drunkenness, and undistinguished scholarship. Enter Sir Godber Evans (Ian Richardson, Bleak House, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy), a new master hell-bent on reform. Of course, the dinosaurs on the faculty resist him at every turn. But Head Porter Skullion (David Jason, A Touch of Frost) emerges as Sir Godber’s most formidable foe -- a self-appointed guardian of Porterhouse’s most hallowed traditions, with plenty of tricks up his tweedy sleeve.

Based on Tom Sharpe’s uproarious bestseller, Porterhouse Blue crackles with dry wit and bristles with satirical barbs. It punctures British pomposity in Oxbridge and beyond, taking dead aim at dotty dons, stodgy aristocrats, hypocritical reformers, and TV reporters. Winner of an International Emmy® and two BAFTA Awards (including David Jason’s for Best Actor), Porterhouse Blue rewards viewing after viewing with fresh laughter.

DVD FEATURES INCLUDE bio of author Tom Sharpe and cast filmographies.

Amazon.com:
Porterhouse Blue begins as an insular lampoon of stuffy British academia but rapidly escalates to dizzyingly absurd--even grotesque--heights of satire. Porterhouse College (a fictional part of Cambridge University) has lost another Master to a Porterhouse Blue, a stroke induced by the college's legendary excess in food and drink. But the newly appointed Master, Sir Godber Evans (Ian Richardson, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy), is a former Porterhouse student with a dim view of its traditions. Egged on by his progressive wife, Evans proposes to encourage scholarship, admit women, put contraceptive vending machines in the bathrooms, and eliminate the large staff of college servants--which incurs the wrath of the college's head porter, Skullion (David Jason, A Touch of Frost). As Skullion maneuvers to foil Evans' plans, a student named Zipser (John Sessions, Gormenghast) wrestles with his lust for his housekeeper, a passion with explosive results. Over the course of four hour-long episodes, the college's meager dignity is destroyed by media scandal, a masquerade orgy, and a courtyard swarming with gas-filled prophylactics. The excellent performances rise from a low boil to a furious pitch of indignation, desperation, and revenge. Anglophiles will enjoy the freewheeling bite of the humor, which compares with Evelyn Waugh's caustic wit. The unusual soundtrack, by a-cappella group the Flying Pickets, adds to the miniseries' unique flavor. --Bret Fetzer



Customer Reviews
Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars - "We have the permission of Her Majesty ... not the current monarch, the first Queen Elizabeth."
This is vintage British snob comedy with a distinctly blackish tinge.

It is far from ... Read More


Rating: 3 out of 5 stars - A failed black comedy
Despite the fine acting and production quality, this film is a great disappointment. The problem is ... Read More


Rating: 4 out of 5 stars - A funny and merciless satire on British class snobbery and Oxbridge traditions
The master has just died...of a Porterhouse Blue. That is, of a stroke brought on by overindulgence. ... Read More


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Copyright ©2003, Mark Carey.