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Porterhouse Blue [1987]
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Porterhouse Blue is a wonderfully grotesque and not inaccurate depiction of an Oxbridge college that has set itself resolutely and decadently against the modern world. Crammed with hoggish, port-swilling dons who are more concerned that the college stay "head of the river" than with academic achievement, the highlight of Porterhouse's year is the Founder's Feast, in which students and tutors gorge debauchedly on roast swan stuffed with widgeon, to the horror of the new vegetarian master. Jason's Skullion looks on approvingly: he's a stickler for Porterhouse's inverted values, disapproving, for instance, of student Zipser (John Sessions), the only fellow at the college actually there to work. When the master eventually fires Skullion, the forces of traditionalism gather in sympathy and attempt their revenge. Unfolding over 190 leisurely minutes, Porterhouse Blue is an elegantly turned comedy in which practically every morsel of dialogue is to be savoured for its delicious tang. Jason and Richardson are reliably excellent in what is an overall exhibition of British TV thespianism at its finest. --David Stubbs
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Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review
Based on Tom Sharpe's satirical novel and set in a fictional, all-male Cambridge College, 1987's Porterhouse Blue is a crusty delight. Ian Richardson stars as the austere moderniser who takes over as master of Porterhouse with a view to bringing in radical changes; David Jason is Skullion, head porter for 45 years and a bulldog-style traditionalist.
A funny and merciless satire on British class snobbery and Oxbridge traditions
Review date: 2007-08-09 Rating: 8 out of 10
The master has just died...of a Porterhouse Blue. That is, of a stroke brought on by overindulgence. Long tradition insists that the masters of Porterhouse College name their successors, and that is to be the last man named by a dying master. Porterhouse, a very traditional college in the Cambridge mode of English privileged education, depends on all of its complacent traditions. "You know my view," says the Dean of Porterhouse, "if a little learning is a dangerous thing, just think what harm a lot of it can do." The college is so traditional, in fact, that its rights and privileges haven't changed in centuries. The deans and tutors seem just as ancient. However, the dying master did not name a successor. With no successor, the Prime Minister steps in and chooses a new one...Sir Godber Evans (Ian Richardson), a weak but sly fox of a politician with a wife, Lady Mary (Barbara Jeffords), who is as strong-willed and zealous as an executioner's axe. Sir Godber, however, is about to come up against two bastions of self-satisfied tradition, the Dean (Paul Rogers) and the Senior Tutor (John Woodnutt). But not even in Sir Godber's worst dreamings could he envisage the real defender of Porterhouse tradition...Skullion (David Jason), the head porter, a man who has been a fixture at Porterhouse for 45 years, who knows all the secrets and who keeps lists. Skullion is not a man to be trifled with.
Sir Godber and Lady Mary are determined to haul Porterhouse into the Twentieth Century. Finding that the college is in debt by a million pounds -- it maintains a fine cellar and chef for the High Table -- doesn't seem upsetting to those who have the long view. Take the college Feast, a magnificent affair with cooked, stuffed swans with all their feathers replaced, with the great ox cooked on a spit, whose dripping skeleton is festively paraded about the dining hall to the cheers of all. "Don't you find this a little indulgent? Particularly in the present economic circumstances." says Sir Godber. "Oh, we never bother with 'present economic circumstances'." says the Dean. Chimes in the Senior Tutor, "We find that they tend to go away after fifty years or so."
As Sir Godber and his wife set out to bring women into the college, bring financial order to the budget and bring contraceptive vending machines to the student restrooms, The Dean, the Senior Tutor and the other Fellows plot...and Skullion is just about to have a fit. He knows a gentleman when he sees one, and Sir Godber is not doing what a gentlemen does. He embarks on a campaign to see that Porterhouse traditions will be protected and that he'll be able to keep his job. In this vicious, amusing satire on class snobbery and England's Oxbridge ways, no one is spared and a few even die. In fact, one of the funniest turns of the knife depends at the conclusion on another episode of a Porterhouse Blue.
The program was adapted from the novel by Tom Sharpe, an author who specializes in novels which skewer class pretensions. If you like Evelyn Waugh, you'll probably find Porterhouse Blue a rip. David Jason and Ian Richardson are in great form. And only Britain could come up with such a collection of fine actors able to play the aging protectors of tradition and fine wines. I remember years ago seeing Our Man in Havana and being impressed by Paul Rogers, a man I'd never heard of before, playing a key role amidst the star power of Alec Guinness, Ernie Kovacs, Noel Coward and Ralph Richardson. At 70, Rogers plays the Dean of Porterhouse with great, self-serving style and sly humor. He is one of the many actors in Porterhouse Blue who are, as they say, spot on.
The quality of the DVD transfer is not bad, about what you'd expect from a good VHS tape.
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Reviews
Patchy adaptation of a comic classic
Review date: 2005-05-05 Rating: 6 out of 10
This much-praised adaptation of Tom Sharpe's wild farce set in a Cambridge college is nicely shot and generally well cast, with David Jason standing out as the monstrous Skullion and Paul Jacobs as the Dean giving a horrifyingly accurate impersonation of the worst kind of Oxbridge academic. But the pacing of Malcolm Bradbury's screenplay now seems far too slow for the two-episode format and his attempt to expand the role of Lady Mary succeeds only in making her even more of a cartoonish grotesque. The soundtrack is by The Flying Pickets (remember them?) which adds to the slightly dated feel. It's fun in places, but not nearly as much fun as the book.
Not Bad
Review date: 2005-02-07 Rating: 8 out of 10
It's not bad could be funnier. John Sessions is good.
It's not laugh out loud though.
Not much here
Review date: 2004-07-22 Rating: 4 out of 10
This is kind of stupid. It did not age well and it does not have much going for it. I would say it was one big inside joke for male English university students, but that would be an insult to them. Two stars for not funny and not entertaining.
sharp production
Review date: 2004-03-26 Rating: 8 out of 10
The literary style of Tom Sharpe is baldy and blunt, with comic situations that form within the mind of the reader. Adaptations of his (i think wonderful) books have occasionally hit the television screen, (Blott on the Landscape...) but to my mind, David Jason is perfect as Skullion.
Some of the depth of charichters has not transfered too well from the book, and it has lost some of the rich tapestry that Tom Sharpe weaved into the book, but remains a great adaptation none the less, and a good introduction to this writers work.
Product Details/Specifications
Actor(s):
John Sessions
Charles Gray
Griff Rhys Jones
David Jason
Ian Richardson
Director(s):
Recording label: Cinema Club
Manufacturer: Cinema Club
EAN: 5014138290580
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: Full Screen, PAL,
Release date: 2002-07-15
Number of discs: 1
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
Audience rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 194 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1987-06-03
Language: English (Original Language)