bhowells

My previous thread about Cannon and Ball in "Boys in Blue." got me thinking about the three Morcecambe and Wise feature films. The big screen might not have been the best showcase for their talents but its a safe bet that most of us Eric and Ern fans regard them with affection.

I have seen The Inteligence Men and That Riviera Touch farily recently but its been a few years since I saw "The Magnficicent Two." the weakest of the trio.

The first two films are indelbly associated with Christmas as they were usually on at some point during the festive season.

Its incredible to think that when the duo made these films,they were were well known on tv for their ATV shows but they had yet to be the instituion they surely were in the seventies.

Marky B

I am one of Eric and Ernie's biggest fans,and while the films were good,they were not a testament to the boys' genius.
Ta Ta
Marky B

I am special. The heavens always open for me.

smudge

Whilst I do love some of the gags in THE INTELLIGENCE MEN, I think THAT RIVIERA TOUCH is the one of the three which works best overall.

THE MAGNIFICENT TWO is much, much harder work to watch - even with that gorgeous army of females...

Smudge

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Windthrop

They were the biggest thing on TV at the time from what I have read. The change to the BBC and Eddie Braben was what took them to another level. 40 minute shows and no commercial break, great guest stars and a gentle parody of showbiz conventions.

I like their films and agree TMT is the weakest. TRT is my favorite. The films are not great cinema but they do capture some of their avuncular charm.

Sadly they left the BBC because ITV offered a film as part of their package. The act never recovered IMHO and the film (made for tv) IMHO is simply very weak.

Thats the joke that killed the Music Hall !

Marky B

Totally agree!
Ta Ta
Marky B

I am special. The heavens always open for me.

EHV_Emmetts

I agree.

I don't know where they filmed the outdoor scenes in 'The Magnificent Two', but it must have been after a torrential downpour as the ground is covered in giant puddles and there's mud everywhere.

bhowells

The british film sight Screenline is of the same opinion that TRT is the best with TMT judged to be the weakest, I certainly agree with the opinion of the latter.

The site said that in TMT only Eric and Ern were playing it for laughs, I remember as a child being thrown by the serious bits when I saw it in the flicks.

bhowells

Three abiding memories of The Intelligence Men for me, Eric doing his bits of busines with the coffe peroclator with the sombrero, William Franklin and the sinister man who kept following Eric and Ern. Eric asks the guy at the end of the film whey he was folloiwng them and he turns out to be a bit camp and very inoffensive.

716Jones

My favourite of the three is definitely The Intelligence Men, a very good send up of the spy films of the period; the other two never really worked for me.

scholes

'That Riviera Touch' gets my vote.

Dr Harz

How about "Night Train to Murder"?

The TV film they did in 1983 - Eric always wanted to do more movie work (acknowledging their previous efforts weren’t great), it was the promise of doing a film that tempted them away from the BBC. The film was produced by Euston Films (the film arm of Thames TV)

I believe this was the last work they ever did together, certainly on film. By all accounts not great, even EM hoped it would be “buried in the schedule” – which indeed it was.

I remember seeing it years ago, did it ever get a video/DVD release? Anybody seen it more recently?

Windthrop

It was dumped on the dead zone the Christmas after EM died with little fanfare. I taped it and saw it some time later (about a decade) and was not impressed. It was an attempt at a Bob Hope The Cat and the Canary-style haunted house comedy. The script was feeble and it was recorded on tape not film in a studio which made it look even worse. The pace was a leaden when it needed to be brisk and it just didn't gel. IMHO if it had been made by the same team that did Riviera, which had some quite good 'haunted house' sequences in the villa, it could have worked. It was released on video at one time and can from time to time be seen on ebay/Amazon.

Thats the joke that killed the Music Hall !

tykepilot

First post - be patient!

The Riveira Touch does it for me, it is so deliciously dated - who can fail to be captivated by Eric and Ernie?

batman

1. That Riviera Touch
2. The Intelligence Men
3. The Magnificent Two

"Boom boom a baby .... Banham Zoo .... Banana pants! Hahahaha"

smudge

Hasn't NIGHT TRAIN TO MURDER been released on DVD recently? Like Cannon and Ball's THE BOYS IN BLUE it's a film I've only ever had the patience to sit through twice, with very long gaps inbetween viewings....

Smudge

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