The Very Best of the Honeymooners

Very Best Of The Honeymooners 1

Overview

This mid-priced DVD is a bit misleading. Although it is never stated explicitly, the disc is comprised of three documentary programs about the show -- albeit with extensive clips -- rather than complete installments of The Honeymooners, with one complete show rounding out the disc. As it happens, this may be the best way to watch this particular body of episodes; rather than the "classic 39" filmed shows that have delighted audiences for nearly a half-century, MPI Home Video has the rights to the "rediscovered" live Honeymooners programs, preserved on kinescopes that turned up in Jackie Gleason's possession in the 1980s. The pacing isn't as careful or the direction as meticulous as components of the filmed shows, and so it is, in many instances, more entertaining to watch the distillation of the shows rather than the complete programs. Additionally, the producers have included clips of Gleason at work outside the boundaries of The Honeymooners sketches, offering glimpses of him in various roles (including The Poor Soul and Reginald Van Gleason III) as well as in his capacity as host of his different television variety shows. It's a little eerie to watch him age a half-dozen years and gain and lose what seems to be as much as 40 pounds from clip-to-clip. The first two documentaries, "The Honeymooners Funniest Moments Volumes 1 and Volume 2, love to dwell on the ad libs, flubbed lines, and miscues on the set. The ad libs include Gleason's spontaneous impersonations of Humphrey Bogart, Jimmy Durante, Peter Lorre, and Charles Boyer, as he tries to fill time around a delay backstage. One further problem with all three of the Honeymooners chronicles being assembled together is that the producers have used several of the same clips, sometimes to make identical points, in all three. The third, "The Wit and Wisdom of Ed Norton, has a little more diversity as it focuses on Art Carney's work, but even here there is overlap. The fourth section, "A Letter to the Boss, is one of the funnier of the so-called "lost" episodes, and it more or less justifies the existence of the DVD, although it might better have been included in a true "Best of the Honeymooners" compilation, not appended to a trio of documentaries. The sound and image are superior to the broadcast versions of these kinescopes, though they in no way match the quality of the 39 filmed shows.

Product Details

Release Date:	11/07/2000
UPC:	0030306608921
Original Release:	2000
Rating:	NR
Source:	MPI HOME VIDEO
Presentation:	[B&W]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital]
Language:	English
Time:	2:15:00
Sales rank:	53,856

Scene Index

Side #1 --
0. Funniest Moments Volume 1
1. Opening Title [:41]
2. The Great One [:46]
3. Bloopers [3:29]
4. Beat the Clock [5:07]
5. The Joke's on Jackie [2:17]
6. The Adoption [3:43]
7. The Art of Stalling [4:55]
8. Lemonade From Lemons [6:04]
9. Program Credits [:20]
0. Funniest Moments Volume 2
1. Opening Title [:42]
2. On the Fly [2:21]
3. The Song & Dance [5:52]
4. Body Language [2:19]
5. Horsing Around [1:35]
6. Breakdowns [1:37]
7. Slip Ups [4:10]
8. The Elopement [8:32]
9. Program Credits [:20]
0. The Wit & Wisdom of Ed Norton
1. Opening Title [:23]
2. A Full-Grown Nut [7:07]
3. Subterranean Socrates [2:29]
4. A Wisecracking Wizard [6:06]
5. The Eating Machine [4:25]
6. A Loose Screw [12:10]
7. Underground Mentality [3:58]
8. Take My Wife, Please [2:37]
9. A Wild and Crazy Guy [7:13]
10. Program Close [:44]
0. Letter to the Boss
1. Opening Title [:43]
2. A Neighborly Chat [1:33]
3. Ralph Gets Fired [4:57]
4. Adding Salt to the Wounds [2:02]
5. Ralph Dictates a Letter [4:03]
6. Ralph Reminisces [1:08]
7. Eye Opening Information [1:43]
8. At the Bowling Alley [2:06]
9. Ralph's Worst Nightmare [1:47]
10. Ralph Schemes [4:10]
11. Thieves in the Night [3:06]
12. Etc., Etc. [3:32]
13. What Friends Are For [2:14]
14. Program Credits [:19]

Menu

Side #1 --
   Play
   Programs
   Subtitles
      English
      Subtitles Off