Futtocks End

A weekend get together at an English Country Manor House. It's a "silent" comedy in that nobody says anything, but that doesn't stop the soundtrack being over loaded with wheezes, grunts, groans, and the whole gamut of sound effects. This is the first of three such outings from Ronnie Barker (followed later by The Picnic and By the Sea). It has the advantage over these later efforts in that it is much ruder and lacks Ronnie Corbett, and does have Michael Hordern.

Barker's lecherous, befuddled dyspeptic Lord of the Manor staggering from Quail shoot to drunkenness to attempted amorous liaison is a genuine comic masterpiece matched by Michael Hordern's equally lecherous butler.

The Morning After breakfast is a gem with amplified Rice Crispies upsetting the delicate heads of the revelers. Can someone release it as an antidote to "Gosford Park" please?

Produced by David Paradine. Better known as television presenter David Frost.

Ronnie Barker wrote and starred in this saucy British seaside (almost) silent short.

Barker is the portly perplexed General Futtock who is hosting guests at his stately home Futtocks End.

His butler (Michael Hordern) goes to fetch them at the train station and a confused Japanese tourist ends up with them.

Before long the lecherous Butler eyes up the young nubile women who show off of a lot of flesh.

With bawdy carry On style humour. There are some nice sight gags but this was not enough for me. It feels very dated and I have seen Barker do this kind of thing afterwards that was better.

This 40 minute British comedy is a silly and genuinely hilarious silent movie style farce. With a soundtrack only a one man band could supply (or one woman if you see The Boyfriend's musical pit calamity).....it features a roster of music hall faces and characters including Ronnie Barker and Michael Hordern in a style of pre movie short feature that is forgotten today. This one is set in the Gosford Park world of FUTTOCK'S END, a creaking manor not unlike Fawlty Towers but more stately with an equal measure of carrying on, silly walking and bedroom leering. Perhaps some enterprising DVD outfit might stack all these 40 minute wonders on one disc and include the equally hilarious accident renovation farce THE PLANK released a few years before. Nobody ever believed me there was a film called FUTTOCKS END so I used to show it at my cinema before other comedies like EVERY HOME SHOULD HAVE ONE or CARRY ON UP THE KHYBER, just for fun and to hear customers responses when they phoned or asked for tickets. I would make them say the title and we would all have a good laugh. Not possible today with HOSTEL or THE HILLS HAVE EYES 2.

Watched it last night having previously seen it 20 years or so ago - sheer bliss! This is yet another example of Ronnie Barker's genius. His passing is a major loss to the world of comedy as he has stood head and shoulders above all the much over-praised second raters such as Morecombe & Wise, Cleese, etc. His imagination, skill and verbal dexterity have never been anywhere near matched by anyone else. It seems current day comedy is restricted to crudities thrown in for their shock value rather than being based on any intrinsic ability of making an audience laugh through pure wit, and imagination. I fear there will never be another comic of Ronnie Barker's calibre - I hope I'm wrong.....

Aug 21

This comedy short has just had a blu ray release, and its well worth checking out, with Ronnie Barker playing the crusty old Major.

A few years later Ronnie Barker teamed up with Ronnie Corbett to do 2 more similar themed shorts, "The Picnic" and "By The Sea".

Ronnie Barker basically plays the same character in all 3.

They are a lot of fun, although this one is slightly below the level of the other 2 for me.

8 out of 10.