The Good
Nobody does comedy like the British.
The Bad
Only six episodes. No real extra features.
In Rising Damp, Vol. 4 we get the final 6 episodes showcasing Leonard Rossiter as Rigsby. He runs (if you can call it that) a rooming house and is your typical bad landlord. He doesn’t want to spend money, he isn’t particularly nice to his tenants and he also has a deep rooted crush on Miss Jones (Frances de la Tour). The only problem for Rigsby is that this woman is interested in anybody but him. So what ensues is a game of cat and mouse and all of it is surrounded by what Rigsby calls his life. Aiding Rigsby (again, if you can call it that) is Philip, a bookish sort who tries in some ways to lend a little bit of order to Rigsby’s life.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
I have mixed feelings about Rising Damp, Vol. 4. Part of me feels that this is very good show while another part of me thinks that this show might be over my head. Decide for yourself, I guess.
Features
Aside from production notes and cast filmographies there are no real extra features.
Video
4:3 - Full Screen. This show looked good if not highly dated. In fact it seemed to come from so long ago that the clothing and props shown in the various scenes took on the tone of being almost anachronistic. The DVD compression seems to have done a solid job of holding these episodes together, and I didn’t notice too many hits or even that much dirt on the images. Overall, Acorn Media has done a pretty solid compression job.
Audio
Dolby Digital. The audio for this show was good. As I have said when reviewing other Acorn Media stuff, I am starting to get very comfortable with all the accents. Someone who isn’t familiar might have a hard time keeping up with all the jokes and slang, but since Acorn sends me these discs on a fairly regular basis I am becoming very familiar. I turned up the volume on this release to a decent level (before it started playing) and I didn’t need to alter it really after that.
Package
With purple overtones, this front cover gives us Leonard Rossiter with a big smile on his face as he holds up a picture. The background behind him is some atrocious looking wallpaper. This wallpaper background is continued on the back of this release, where we get to read a nicely put together description about this show, an episode listing and some technical specs. There’s nothing too special about this cover but I don’t think fans of this show will care that much.
Final Word
For some reason when I watch a show like All in the Family (also based on a British Sitcom), I don’t mind it being dated in terms of how it looks. It is something that I accept because the subject matter is still so current and vital. Now, when watching a show like Rising Damp, for some reason I have a hard time with its dated look even though the subject matter is still relevant. Afterall, who doesn’t have a little Rigsby in them? Who hasn’t experienced at least a little bit of what this character has? It is these relatable qualities that probably accounts for why this show is so popular overseas.
Do I think this disc is going to blaze up the DVD charts here in the states? Probably not. However, I am sure that there will be enough of us Yanks that find it worthwhile.
Rising Damp was released .
