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5 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
Funny and honest coming-of-age tale, 23 August 1999
8/10
Author: Ed Wood-3 from Osaka, Japan

Although you might expect broad humour from Michael Palin ("Monty Python"), he goes for the subdued approach on this wonderful coming-of-age tale. The embarrassing predicaments of the lead character are so painfully real that it seems more like a documentary than a movie. For all the teenage boys out there!

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4 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
thank god for the sixties!, 5 February 2007
8/10
Author: richard-meredith27 from United Kingdom

The 50's were a strange time for British youth and families. The war was over and er...that's it. Its the fag end of empire and this film is the fag end of childhood and seaside holidays.

The film is a rites of passage film and tells us how awful it was to have raging hormones, no outlet and be in a situation where family and society did not know about teen-age, or frivolity. Everybody, from the Elderly down to Child, exists in a vacuum of dullness. The only exception to the 'rule of grey' is the sexually promiscuous Dutch girl who knows everything is so boring and has to change, or be changed. (No doubt she ended up hanging around in Hamburg with Astrid, Klaus and Stu Sutcliffe.) The film is a skillful piece of work by Michael Palin and is based on his own childhood memories of holidays on the Suffolk coast. It is a pity he has not continued to write more films like this, instead of concentrating on the lucrative travel documentary market, because he brings a mild absurdity to everyday life giving 'East of Ipswich' a dusting of John Betjeman over an Alan Bennett prosaic narrative.

But perhaps I am being too serious. It is a jolly film with some belly laughs and good lines, and well paced.

There is a lot to look and listen out for. The nod towards fellow Ex-Python Eric Idle's 'nudge, nudge' sketch; the cast, all of whom are solid TV and stage characters; the Sea Side Mission (recently the subject of a radio discussion); the skiffle and jazz soundtrack; the cricket commentary and, of course the grotesque boarding house.

Made by the BBC for Screen Two and subsequently shamefully neglected it deserves a new audience and a place on the cultural history curriculum.

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Another lost gem - what are you doing BBC?, 7 July 2009
10/10
Author: Dunks999 from United Kingdom

I agree with richard-meredith27 - this is a lost gem. They released all of Palin's 'Ripping Yarns' on video & then DVD some time ago but this seems to have been passed over. Shame as it was BAFTA nominated in 1988. It was one of the first things I recorded on my brand spanking new VHS video recorder in 1987. I still have the tape somewhere.

I wasn't born in the 1950s but I certainly remember going to stay with my family at a musty old boarding house in Bournemouth in the late 1960s so it rings wonderfully true with me.

Edward Rawle-Hicks is superb as the repressed and frustrated Richard and John Wagland gives him good support as the 'worldly wise' bullshitter, Edwin, who befriends him. The class observations are so accurate of the period - Edwin's father appearing as a bit of a spiv and a ladies-man (he's come on holiday with his boys but HAS NO WIFE! The scandal!!) Whilst Richard is firmly lower middle-class: third-rate public school; father in middle management; smothered only child. The Hargreaves who ingratiate themselves are also lovingly detestable - nouveau riche, he's in the up-and-coming sportswear market and they're both rapaciously hungry social ladder-climbers.

The object of Richard's affection - Julia Horrobin (Oona Kirsch), is way out of his class league and thus all-the-more desirable, whilst her companion, the slutty Dutch girl, Anna (Pippa Hinchley), is the only character who actually knows what is going on & foresees the change that is just around the corner (this is pre-Beatles, remember). The trendy vicar (Roger Brierley) is also a sweet nod to this: "I hear there's a vicar in Eastbourne who does skiffle evensong!" "Well done to Team B. And they win - a bottle of lemonade!" Richard is played with such beautiful, knowing understatement that any male cannot fail to wince at the mind-numbing boredom and the appalling embarrassment he witnesses and endures, the intermittent cricket commentary providing a cheeky Greek Chorus to all of this.

The film is populated with many well-loved and experienced character actors who play (to a greater or lesser extent) perfectly observed grotesques of the period - notably Joan Sanderson who will forever be, to people of my generation, Miss Ewell from Please Sir! and the crotchety, deaf Mrs Richards in the Fawlty Towers episode "Communication Problems". She's outstanding, as always, but so is everyone else. It's an impressive ensemble, notably during the group cricket match: "Right, I'll give you one of me Specials!" I agree with others - this is not just a warm, gentle comedy, it's accurately observed social history.

And the killer line of the film is the last line spoken (young lads, remember this!), by Richard's Dad:

"All bodywork, those Rovers, no performance!"

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A Jolly Good Show, 31 May 2008
10/10
Author: Buzzardschoice from United Kingdom

A very well written play by Michael Palin, set in the late 1950s. It's about a young man 'Richard Burrill' who has to suffer a two week holiday with his parents at the seaside. Richard is at the age where young ladies are becoming more interesting than cricket, and his parents are in the way of his movements towards the opposite sex. They stay at a guest house where the landlady is a really ghastly character played by Joan Sanderson. Richard meets up with 'Edwin Macklin' who likes to give the impression he's a big hit with the ladies. As the play draws to the end it's a rather shy 'Richard Burrill' who is the real big hit? Filmed at Southwold Suffolk in 1987 by the BBC.

I recorded this play on VHS way back in February 1987 and have recently transfered it onto DVD. The picture and sound quality is really quite good. If anyone would like a copy then contact me at midforda@aol.com and I will be happy to oblige for a small fee....

Many Thanks for taking the time to read my small review.

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