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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mel O&#039;Drama" data-source="post: 383619" data-attributes="member: 23">Today - 27th December - is the official release date for the On The Buses Film Collection. And what better way to celebrate than by watching it?! Once again, I'm so chuffed my set arrived so early from Australia, giving me the perverse satisfaction that comes from owning and using something before one is technically permitted.Last night I kicked them off with (of course) the first one, On The Buses (1971) <img src="https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.senscritique.com%2Fmedia%2F000007801458%2Fsource_big%2FOn_the_Buses.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=afb21a7aad394e979a5521f935130beaaecdac6bd406a857b4d7cd7231325434&ipo=images" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /> I'll raise my hand and say that this was a greatly anticipated experience. I was a little excited about watching the films, even more than the series. This is partly due to them being in high definition and partly because I love British comedy films of this era. Plus the discussion here indicated this first one was pretty good. Let's get this part over with: first impressions were a little jarring. It had very little to do with the numerous changes made for this adaption, and rather more to do with the way it was shot. Being on film made it the aesthetics very different anyway and the ratio is different. Harry Booth has a TV background (I'm not familiar with the series he'd shot before this), but presumably this film has more time for setups and more going on in the background (location work, more interesting sets, more extras) that allows for more wide shots. There are far fewer close-ups than I'm used to seeing in the series, presumably in large part because it was intended for cinema (the thought of Stephen Lewis gurning and mugging  on a twenty foot high screen doesn't bear thinking about). But it's these wide shots that were part of the hurdle for me with the film. Since I'm watching this on the same screen as the series, the characters suddenly look very small and distant, which makes it feel less immersive and intimate. This enforced objectivity alone changes things and somewhat reduced connection with characters. Compounding this is the lack of the "shared experience" factor that the series had due to the studio audience. I wouldn't have wanted studio audience or (God forbid) canned laughter attached to the film because that would cheapen it (and studio audiences can be annoying. Especially when - as has been the case in a number of this series' episodes -  you get one person dead set on laughing louder, longer and sillier than everyone else so they can hear themselves when it's transmitted). All the same, there was a sense of absence or stillness that made the adjustment a significant one, particularly watching this back-to-back with the series. I suspect it would be very different taking this in isolation and without comparison, but it was hard to shake and meant that, while I enjoyed the film, it didn't blow me away. This is probably as much my own fault as the film's since, as I said, my expectations were high. Film vs. TV aside, though, I did thoroughly enjoy the film for so many reasons. Firstly, it's wonderful to see the ensemble complete once again. Given the discouragingly feeble end to the series, this feels like a joyful return to form. Stan and his caustic "How right you are" have been greatly missed and were especially welcome for me. There are lots of familiar faces both from the series and British comedy of the time. There's Wendy Richard (billed as "Richards", about which I'm sure she was none too pleased) playing "Housewife" (along with a cough and a spit from Reg Varney's daughter playing her friend, as I've just learnt from watching the audio commentary); There's the quiet blonde one from Hi-de-Hi! who's now married to George Roper in real life; David Lodge, Peter Madden, Brian Oulton, Andria Lawrence, Claire Davenport and Pamela Cundell will all be familiar names to anyone who knows their  British pop culture. Davenport was in a couple of OTB episode I watched just yesterday. Most of all, I enjoyed the abundant location work, with the fun of spotting all the early 1970s cars and fashions (one male extra in the background of an outdoor confrontation scene just screamed "Carnaby Street" with his turtle neck, big black sunglasses. I could swear he was Julian LeStrange made real). Location spotting is something I really enjoy, and there are lots of landmarks here. Today I've spent a bit of time looking at the <a href="https://globalfilmlocations.net/2018/03/03/on-the-buses-filming-locations/" target="_blank">various locations for this film</a> on different websites, and looking where they are and their proximity to one another. Unsurprisingly, most were within a couple of miles to Elstree, with many being shot in neighbouring streets. Indeed, the Butlers' home in this film is literally a stone's throw from Albert Square, mere feet away from one of the entrances to Elstree. The special features are probably just enough. The audio commentary is fairly dry, but informative, and clearly done by people who know their subject and British film in general (ooh - how I'd love to be a "film historian". Imagine making a living from watching and talking about this stuff. But I'm sure there's much more to it than meets the eye). I hadn't realised until after watching the film that there was an open matte version included. That could have been interesting, though these versions can sometimes show things that we weren't meant to see and distract from the actual film. Whenever I rewatch it (which I'm sure I shall) I'll try to remember to give the open matte version a spin. The interviews on Mutiny... look better still, with the main cast interviewed. All in all, an enjoyable slice of early Seventies Britain. And on the very same day I watched her as Blakey's equally annoying sister in Don't Drink The Water, she shows up in the On The Buses film as one of the women bus drivers with whom the regulars feud. And she worked really well here. Give her a supporting role and I actually quite like her. Which could also apply to Blakey.</blockquote>

Verification: What month follows July?