User reviews

Miss Sophie (May Warden) believes that her birthdays should be celebrated even though she has outlived her dearest friends. So on her ninetieth the party becomes a fantasy and James the butler (Freddie Frinton) has to go along with the make-believe. With only two players, it is in my opinion one of the funniest short TV movies ever to hit the screen. I laugh even at the thought of it. Freddie Frinton does a superb job as the butler serving the three courses with the accompanying drinks. He not only impersonates each of the four imaginary guests (which he does in such admirable style that at the end we feel we know each of them so very well) but the arrangement is that he must quaff down all the drinks as well. His antics as the alcohol starts to take effect have to be seen to be believed. Miss Sophie, a lady of some standing(graciously played by May Warden although she doesn't look 90) seems to be totally unaware of her butler's inebriated condition. This contrast probably heightens the humour of the piece. She keeps insisting that the party should "proceed as usual". If by the end of the birthday party you have not fallen off your seat with uncontrollable laughter, then the very suggestive final punchline should do it. In short, a wonderful little movie and a lasting memorial to Freddie Frinton who died in 1968 just 5 years after the film was completed.

I have been trying to see this for some years as I saw Freddie Frinton perform it on stage c 1955 where it was a standard routine of his stage act. As a television program it probably seems very stagy and dated for UK tastes but it is great that a classic piece of comedy has been preserved. I still remembered the names of the guests - Admiral Von Schneider etc from when I was 9. Good to see it again. Frinton's drunk was always a classic and I think he appeared in a number of films in the background doing just that. I do not know if May Warden appeared with him on stage but she was a regular character actress in the 60's. It would be interesting to know how many TV airings it has had in Germany. I do not think it has ever been shown in the UK.

This title is relatively unknown in Australia, but as someone who has studied comedy for 40 years and taught gifted students about it as a form of expression, communication and development of the comic conventions and constructs used in various forms of 'standard' literature, I consider that this film can be considered as one that stands out in its own field as a latter-day 'standard' of classic comic form and execution.

In some ways it falls into the same category as films from the great Silent Era in Hollywood (e.g. the works of Sennett and Chaplin), the W C Fields' "The Great Chase" and Eric Syke's "The Plank" - but it also equates in some ways with Oscar Wilde's comedy (e.g. "The Importance of Being Ernest") - all are great examples of mixing visual activity, remarkable energy, the innuendo and the written and/or spoken word.

I thought it was time to add my contribution, and to refute a misconception. Freddie Frinton is (was) my dad. I was 14 when he died. The reviews and comments here are fantastic to read, and I know that dad would have been astounded by the ongoing appeal that the sketch has in Europe.....especially in Germany. Sadly, he died in 1968, still at the top of his game in this country, but without Dinner For One ever having been shown in its entirity in the UK. Now for the clarification......I read here and elsewhere on the reviews that Freddie "did not like the Germans, or Germany", or that he "refused to speak German" ! This is not true, and our whole family are mystified as to how this rumour ever got started. Mum is in her 90's and my older sisters in their senior years, and they were with dad when he recorded the sketch in Germany. I remember waving them off as they all drove away, the car loaded with all the clothes and kit for the sketch....including the tiger skin. They were all very excited about the recording, and going to Germany, and working with the Germans at NDR. None of us in the family ever heard dad say a bad word about Germans or Germany, and he worked there on at least three occasions. I have also read somewhere on this site that dad "hated the sketch at first and had to be persuaded to do it"....this is also untrue. He LOVED doing Dinner For One, and did so from first seeing it, and of all the sketches he wrote or developed, this was the one he would always try to "fit" into whatever show he had signed-up for. Be it Panto or summer-season, or variety, he always wanted to find the 15 to 16 minutes in a show where he could show off his favourite work. As a family, we are very proud of the sketch, and still enjoy watching it and hearing of other people's enjoyment. None of us can resist saying to any German's we meet, whether here or abroad......." Hello, you don't know me, but you know my dad"......and EVERY time, they DO !.......It's priceless. Thanks, Mike.

This little short comedy is an annual tradition in my family. Every year on new year's eve, it's shown on Danish television. I don't think there's been a new year's eve in my life where I haven't seen it. Even though I've seen it so many times, and my family must have seen it far more times, we've never gotten tired of it. The laughs fill the room, and everyone is sitting in anticipation and with the laughs just below the surface for the whole thing... except when we're roaring with laughter, which is most of the duration. I don't believe there is anything that has a greater or even equal ratio of laughs to seconds passed than this little sketch. Here in Denmark, it's only 14 minutes long, and I don't think there is ever more than just 5 seconds in a row without a laugh or two. The comedy is universal... I don't know anyone who doesn't find it funny. Plot, pacing, acting and characters are all top-notch. I doubt there will ever be a new year's eve where I don't see this. I look forward to seeing it more so than the actual celebration of new year's. I can't really say anything more... words don't do it justice. If you have a chance, see it. Chances are you'll enjoy it. I have yet to meet one single person who doesn't. 10/10

It is to be wondered why the "Dinner For One" has never been a smash hit in the UK. It is a fact that it has been around for decades. Yet only two people have mastered this sketch in an unforgettable way: The artist Freddie Frinton and his graceful partner May Warden. During a visit to Blackpool, German entertainer Peter Frankenfeld and his colleague Heinz Dunkhase witnessed their great performance and managed, with some hardship, to persuade Frinton to come to Germany to film this most peculiar dinner. Frinton was not at all keen on Germany and its inhabitants and he would not perform in German either (This was perhaps a very wise decision). He also insisted on the tiger over which he stumbles more than once in 18 minutes. The ice bear, that has been organised by the producers had a bigger head than the tiger and this, according to Frinton would really have sent him flying. For eighteen years the Butler James had faithfully served Miss Sophie and her late guests. He would drink at least 4 pints of Sherry, Champagne and Port, always the same procedure as last year, and he would give his mistress a hand up when she decides to retire promising to do his very best. Frinton died five years after the filming just three weeks before the sketch was to be shot once more, in colour. (Sadly enough one of the German TV-stations attempted this once more a few years ago. With German actors and in German. Quite a disaster, if not downright sacrilegious in my opinion.) It is a pure joy to watch this sketch, same procedure as every year and I hope for many a repetition in the future.

It has always astonished me that it is the Germans, not noted for their international sense of humour,who have kept this quite wonderful skit alive. Danke Deutschland! It is superb. 10 out of 10 any day. However beware, there is a video /dvd about that claims to come from Switzerland that is cut to ribbons - only 11 minutes (out of the original 18) and is of quite dreadful quality. Avoid this like the plague. Catch it on your TV at Christmas if you can. You get the full works and the very good introduction by Herr Piper. We even get it here in Australia now. It is a real gem.

One thing leads to another: playing Good Morning by the Beatles last night led to thinking about Meet The Wife from UK TV in the '60's to Freddie Frinton to this. Having just watched It's A Wonderful Life probably helped me think of other iconic Christmas films too. I used to enjoy Meet The Wife with him and Thora Hird although I was probably too young to fully understand even that level of slapstick, but I don't think that would have applied to Dinner For One! It's never shown on UK TV as they've all too clearly pandered only to sick, seedy and cynical humour for decades, but I finally saw it on German TV in the '90's. I thought it must have been a clip, now I'm not so sure as I've just seen it in its entirety of 18 minutes including introduction.

Elderly Miss Sophie entertains her four guests at dinner served by her elderly butler – the only potential problem is she's outlived all her guests and the sane and sober lady gives her meal and drink orders to an increasingly drunk and boisterous butler to perform. Especially the last one! To most of the hundreds of millions of people around the world who've seen Dinner For One it represents an unbreakable tradition of seasonal hilarity, to others it represents repetitious pisstaking of alcoholics and the aged; such is humour. Frinton had trailed the sketch around UK variety stages for a decade before German TV filmed him doing it, the end result being the most repeated TV programme in the world ever. I used to like Frinton, he died too soon if not too young and because he had made too few films and too much of his TV material was thrown away he's been too easily forgotten over here. Just as funny as the sketch to me is the thought that ultimately this will be rightly remembered more fondly and longer by far more people than by any of the deadbeat filth UK TV pumps out nowadays instead. The sketch is on youtube in various versions and imho is well worth watching for Frinton's truly tour de force performance – he certainly did his best!

Every evening on the new years eve is a very special television event in Germany. It's called "Dinner for One". It tells the very funny story of an old lady called Sophie who celebrates her 90th Birthday. Her butler James represents Sophie's friends which have died long years ago. During the meal with various courses the butler has always drink to the old lady and he has to play all the deceased persons. At the end of the sketch the butler is totally drunken. The sketch was founded in England at the beginning of the 60s. But it was surprisingly no success there. It runs since 35 years in Germany and it belongs to the most popular television shows here.

The poster who compared "Dinner For One" to the candies yams on Thanksgiving comes very close to the truth of the success of "Dinner For One". The other poster who brags about the sophisticated British sense of humor doesn't seem to know that bragging with one's own sense of humor only shows that person's lack of it. Watching "Dinner For One" on New Year's Eve in Germany, Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands and some more European countries is a tradition and at least in Germany you have lots of dialect versions and parodies of it. "Dinner For One" may not be the greatest comedy piece on earth but it surely has its qualities, mostly butler James's absolute loyalty toward Miss Sophie which causes him year after year to act as her four late friends which seem quite different characters. This elderly man seems fully aware of the consequences of his part in this story from the very start and he hates it. His loyalty and his being caught in this tradition ("Same procedure as every year") make him a kind of tragic figure, especially when in the end you get aware that poor old James, who's already dead drunk, after dinner in Miss Sophie's bedroom may have to do the work of four men again ("Well, I'll do my very best").

I give it 7 and next year I'll watch it again.

"Dinner for One" looks at the story of Miss Sophie (played by May Warden) who is celebrating her 90th birthday. She has invited four of her friends to her party - Sir Toby, Admiral von Schneider, Mr Pommeroy and Mr Winterbottom - all of whom have died years ago. So her butler James (played by the great late Freddie Frinton) serves Miss Sophie her dinner while serving drinks to the "guests" (and also acting as those guests), all with hilarious results.

For me, it's always "the same procedure as last year" - turn on the TV and just reel back with laughter for the next 20 minutes. Even when I told a friend about the sketch (which he'd never heard of), he was laughing hard as well!

Even 20 minutes after it's finished, my face would still be aching from all the laughter. To be honest, it's THE ultimate comedy sketch of them all.

It's so funny, I'd rather rate it 11 out of 10.

This short film is an annual classic. It has a very simple style of comedy but it pays off. It starts with a simple premise and repeats it with an irreverent sense of escalation until it reaches its climax.

During preparations for Thanksgiving a few years back, my dad noticed that no one had made any candied yams. Fine, we bought a can, warmed them up and set them out. Nobody touched them, pa included. "Why," we asked, "did you insist on the yams?" Simple--tradition. With Thanksgiving you need candied yams.

And with New Years in central Europe, you need "Dinner for One." That people here love it, is clear. *Why* they love it is an absolute mystery. I honestly believe that it is enjoyed primarily because it is tradition -- it is beloved, so people love it. Being married to a German, I have now seen this short at least five times; I *have* laughed during it. Of course, I can pretend to like yams, too.

The film relies entirely on the clownish antics of the protagonist, Freddie Frinton, as he steadily drinks himself into oblivion. Purely pie-in-the-mush humor here, with gags that were old when the film was made forty years ago. Neither is Frinton a genius of physical comedy, his timing truly hit-and-miss in the skit.

If you are from central Europe, you have already seen this film. Otherwise, spare yourself the bother.

This short comedy is an unforgettable classic. A solid element in every new years eve celebrated in Denmark. One year, DR (national danish TV broadcast station) decided not to air it, but the next day, they were telestormed by viewers. DR hasn't skipped it once since, and unless the television is phased out, I can bet you that "Dinner for one" is here to stay for many years to come.

This short is definitely one of the funniest short films ever created. It is easy to consider it a simple, stupid slapstick with a guy acting drunk, and/or making fun of old people, but then you miss the point. This is not primarily about drunkenness or age, it is about British conservatism. And maybe that's why the British people never cared much for it, while other Europeans love it.

Note that Miss Sophie is not suffering from senile dementia. She knows exactly what she wants: She wants things to be just like they always were. The poor James does his best to fulfill her wishes, and as he gradually drops out of his role, while miss Sophie still insists that everything should be done after the "same procedure as every year" things get truly hilarious.

The sketch actually exists in two different versions, one slightly shorter than the other (11 or 14 minutes). The shorter one has better planned close-up shots, while the longer includes the "Must I?" questions, which clarifies that miss Sophie knows very well what she is doing. So both have strong points.

No matter what version you see, you are likely to enjoy it... unless you are British, I guess. It is a British humor gem about British conservatism.

LOL

Dinner for one is some of the most brilliant, universal humor I have ever seen. Everyone can have a good laugh at this drunkend butler, mostly because we laugh at ourselves.

Hysterical, 10/10 :)

mGoLos

Every new years eve in sweden this sketch goes on television.In sweden this is a classic.

Just hilarious and Great. I will watch it as long as I live.

Other reviews cover the virtues of this short made-for-television film from 1963. However, the mystery remains, or rather, the mysteries since there are two of them. (1) Why do the Germans (and several other countries) watch this film every year? and (2) Why have the English never broadcast it, not even once? I offer my humble opinion on both of these points.

First, I think the main reason that this film is viewed so often that it holds the record for the most broadcast film of all time is that it is funny. Yes, simple as that. This does not mean that everyone who watches it will find it funny. There is no accounting for different tastes. Some critics say it only has two gags! So? Is humour measured by the number of gags or cameras or dollars or what? For me this short film is a gem of humour honing the art to its simplest form.

Second point, why do the English not broadcast it? I believe this has something to do with the fact that the original film is shot in German. Nowadays, the English do not have a problem with anything originating from Germany. That's not the point. I think it's just that this original film with the titles and introduction in German may be offputting to English broadcasters. Another reason might be that technology is making it harder to show material that is shot in lower resolutions.

One more question remains for me: why do the Irish not broadcast it? Methinks it's because they haven't heard of it. Time to change that. Come on, Irish television, let your viewers see this little gem of humour!

Finally, a tip for those who want to watch the film on youtube: there are lots of versions out there, some of them woeful remakes to be avoided at all costs. The orginal can be found by looking for "Dinner for One oder Der 90. Geburtstag" and then picking the version that is 17:51 minutes long! Skip to 2:25 if you wish to avoid the introduction in German.

Oh, and yes, people do look this silly when they take too much alcohol!

Getting back home after seeing an incredible live show by The League of Gentlemen, I felt like seeing a short and sweet Comedy title. Picking up the DVD a few years ago after hearing that this is shown on German TV every New Years Eve,I decided it was time to serve up dinner.

View on the film:

Keeping the sketch stage-bound, directors Heinz Dunkhase & Franco Marazzi do well at making the extensive use of wide-shots not become dull,thanks to panning the camera to follow each of James mishaps. Originally written in the 1920's, the script by Lauri Wylie impressively still feels like a relevant satire of British Costume Dramas,with James and Miss Sophie continuing to try and appear regal,even as James chugs down all the booze in sight. Originally turning down offers to play the part,Freddie Frinton finally saying yes led to a terrific duo performance between Frinton and May Warden's Miss Sophie,with Warden's supplying the dry,dead-pan wit to Frinton's multiple servings of physical comedy.

In Denmark, this is the ESSENCE of New Years Eve. Aired every year (except one which I bet the TV station regrets because it was stormed by angry viewers) this is what really spells New Year's Eve in danish! Aired since god knows when, it's simply not new year until you've seen this!

I know that the same thing is true for Germany and a lot of other countries.

Trivia: Freddie Frinton (The Butler) wouldn't even participate in the skit in Germany in the first place, but eventually agreed, as long as it was kept in English. To this date it's one of the few non-dubbed movies in German television

Every year in Sweden when it is newyearseve wheeeeeeeee sit together all the family and watching "Grevinnan och betjänten" and we laugh every year since 1969.It is my favorite short film and one of the best short movies ever.

I'm not really sure how to rate this as a film. I watched it after hearing about its incredible popularity across Europe and was intrigued particularly that it was played multiple times a day in several countries on new year's eve. It's very short, all takes place in one room and has only two characters and is mostly a physical comedy routine with escalating hilarity. Maybe there is a subtext of the absurdity of the British class system or maybe it's just an absurd meangless comedy sketch, but either way it is genuinely funny and doesn't take much time out of your day!

Am I the only person in the world who does not find Dinner for One in the least funny? The sketch belongs to a low, unsubtle type of slapstick, something that may appeal to some non-Anglosaxon audiences. A world apart from the best of subtle humor (as in Yes Minister), or the best of slapstick for that matter (as in Laurel and Hardy movies). Even if some of the incidents could be regarded as comical (for example, the butler's frequent collisions with a tiger's head on the floor), their very repetitiousness engenders tedium. All the 'comical' bits are contained in the first three minutes, after which they are repeated ad nauseam. Mocking the frailties of old age seems unworthy to me. The success of Dinner for One remains a mystery.