Rating: 
Summary: Watch it, become a believer and DON'T MENTION THE WAR!
Review: I have to admit that my thoughts about Fawlty Towers pre-viewer were, "can anything be THAT funny?" (I have rather a pessimistic nature) And the answer is yes, yes YES!John Cleese is at his hysterical best (in both senses of the word)as Basil Fawlty. He is a comedian who makes a nervous breakdown the funniest thing in the world. Then there is the marvelous Prunella Scales as Cybil, his wife and (as he calls her) his little puff adder. Andrew Sachs is great as the sweet but always confused Manuel (he's from Barcelona). And of course, Cleese's real life wife at the time and writing partner, Connie Booth as Polly who runs back and forth between the bickering Fawltys and usually manages to benefit herfelf in the process. The cast, as you can tell, is the reason it all works so well. For anyone who has never seen Fawlty Towers, it concerns the adventures of the staff and owners of the afore mentioned hotel. They have a talent for making a small problem into a full scale disaster until it blows up in Basil's face. And don't feel sorry for him either, he is a horrid person but a funny one. My favorite episode is also "The Germans" with Basil suffering from a concussion ordering Polly and Manuel not to mention the war to some German guests all the while doing impressions of Hitler and other insulting things. As the German guest put it, however did they win? The best tape in the set in the one with Communications Problems. It was the first one I saw and I nearly imploded from laughing so hard. This is the Sistine Chapel of sitcoms (quothe Entertainment Weekly) and you definately owe it to yourself to try it out.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best.....but not the best dvd?
Review: If you love british comedy you'll love Fawlty Towers. Perhaps one of the most overlooked due to its short run, but short can be sweet! While I love the series, the DVD is not really the best. The transfer is great with only a few bad spots, finally gets rid of the fuzz fom my videos. The sound is average, no 5.1 but really is it needed. Now onto the other stuff. The commentary, as others has stated is about useless. The extras, including outakes and montages, is lacking. It's nice is there, but i want more outakes!! The one shining extra are the menus. THey are very cool. This is still one of my favorites, and while be displayed with pride in my collection...until Are You Being Served? and Red Dwarf make it to DVD.
Rating: 
Summary: FAWLTY TOWERS - - - A CLASSIC IN COMEDY
Review: Possibly among the best of British comedy, the irreverence and absurdity is what makes this series great, of course. No sacred cow is safe as John Cleese playing Basil Fawlty and his wife Sybil played by Prunella Scales have at it episode after episode. Sybil: "For Gawd's sake, Basil, what on earth is THAT racket?!" Basil: [Sniffing indignantly] "I am playing my new record of Beethoven's Ninth RACKET on the grammophone!" Somewhat analogous to Archie and Edith Bunker in America's ALL IN THE FAMILY, FAWLTY TOWERS goes beyond that series by each episode being filled with clever slapstick and misadventures on top of the comedic dialogue. Shame on the DVD producers for handing in a low tech product. Outrageous! There is no excuse for lack of competent technical editing in the Digital Age ... in particular the avoidable drop outs and pixcillations; certainly, not at top-of the-line prices. However, the writing and acting in FAWLTY TOWERS letse the viewer overlook and forget the irritating, occasional glitches that we should never have to discuss because they simply should never have been there.
Rating:
Summary: Crystal clear picture - poor special features
Review: The picture quality is so much better than the VHS versions! However, there are only a few out-takes included and as the other reviewers mentioned, the director's commentary is a waste of space. The interviews with John Cleese and "Manuel" Andrew Sachs are good but it is the wonderful quality of the picture that makes this set a must-buy for the Fawlty Towers aficionado.
Rating: 
Summary: Highly recommend, but.....
Review: First, let me say that I am a big fan of John Cleese, and I love Fawlty Towers....My video tapes (you remember those big clunky things?) were played so often that the picture quality was beginning to degrade. This is not merely funny, it is hillarious, and it has made me belly laugh so many times, I cannot even count. So, why do I give it three stars....well, I don't, not really, I give the DVD's three stars. I notice that all the previous reviews were from before the DVD set was released. I have watched every episode on my DVD's and 4 of them had a "pixel" problem (sorry, I'm not an electrical engineer and may be describing it wrong, but what happens is the image becomes heavily blurred by pixels, if that makes any sense). This is not a problem with my DVD player as I have tried it on all three of my DVD players and had the same problem. If this is a problem with all sets, I say forget it and buy the Videos, soon enough they will make DVD recorders as cheap as VCR's and you can make your own copy. If it is only my copy, then go for it, it is a great set! (Don't expect a lot from the outtakes though, I would have liked to see more).
Rating:
Summary: Worst commentary ever!
Review: The dvd looks great, sounds great, and the extras are ok, but the commentary track is literally the sound of an old man wheezing and snorting most of the time! Occasionally he points out what you are seeing on the screen, but he only speaks briefly every 2 minutes or so. The sound of his breathing, swallowing spit and shifting about in his seat are excruciating! I can only imagine the microphone is somewhere in his nasal passages. Buy this set of dvd's but avoid listening to the largely pointless commentary.
Rating:
Summary: fatty owls
Review: Anyone who has seen any of these on public TV knows the title fatty owls as each show opened with the name jumbled up. THese are the 12 funniest shows around. Clesse is tremendous and any Python fan has to get these. There are too any funny lines to list here.
Rating:
Summary: As expected, this is a must-have
Review: If you are not familiar with John Cleese and the series Fawlty Towers, then shame on you! This series might be called the British contribution to comedy in the 20th century. And it's a remarkable one at that. For those of you who remember watching this show years ago, the (quite affordable) DVD will bring back tears of laughter and the stich in your side that you remember in your previous viewing. This is a must-have for DVD collectors with a sense of humour.
Rating:
Summary: Why writing matters
Review: For sheer rewatchable pleasure, it would be hard to find a better DVD investment than Fawlty Towers. I've watched the episodes many times and keep finding new comic bits, puns, or facial expressions to laugh at. The writing is tight and well-crafted. One understands why this series is watched 25 years after it initial broadcast and will be watched for decades to come.
The DVD is cleanly transferred and is filled with extras, most notably interviews with Cleese and the cast. Unfortunately, co-writer Connie Booth does not appear. The directors commentary is sub par and filled with bad sound and heavy breathing marring the otherwise high quality of the other bonus features. If Shakespeare ever did a sit-com this would be it. Good writing like this series lasts. One can only hope hollywood will get a copy of this DVD and start hiring writers again. All the rest follows, including the superb cast who all credit the high-level of the writing as their primary motivation for doing television.
Rating:
Summary: Great show, terrible director's commentary
Review: One of the best shows ever, this DVD was nearly done in by the awful director's commentary. If you want to hear an old Englishman nose-breathe for six hours, listen to the director's commentary track. The man breathes heavily, not saying a word for minutes at a stretch, then says one or two things, then breathes again. Worse, it becomes patently obvious the director put no thought or effort into it. He has not seen the shows for years, and didn't bother to give them a look before doing the commentary, and so many of his all-too-rare comments are along the lines of "I don't even remember doing that scene." In "Gourmet Night", he doesn't even remember what Basil had gotten the duck switched for at Andre's restaurant until someone off-mike reminds him it's a trifle! Frustrating, pointless, and embarrassing. However, there is much good in the DVD. The shows are themselves great. The interviews with John Cleese and Michael Sachs are very interesting, indeed, and there's a mini-documentary about Torquay that is worth a look. A couple of other niggles: the interviewer for Michael Sachs digs into his ear with his finger on-camera, and the English subtitles are chock full of misspellings and typos. A poor effort for the special features, but if you get the DVD at least the resolution will let you see a few things you couldn't with the videotapes--like Polly's satiric drawing of Mr. Fawlty as a junkyard with a collar and tie under it. Only the show itself gets this DVD 4 stars. Don't buy it for the special features, as except for the interviews with the cast members, they're pretty awful.
| 
