Dad's Army 1971 Film Review

There are certain films that are just perfect for certain events in the year like for example at Christmas time there's The Muppet Christmas Carol and more and at Halloween there's quite literally any film in the Halloween franchise. Well for this time of year there is also another film that's perfect for this time of year as even tho not alot of people will know about this but this film is being written the day before remembrance Sunday where we remember those who have lost their lives during wars and well the film i'm going to be talking to you all today is a film that is not only set at a war but near enough at the start of the second world war and so then join me as I review the film that came out at the exact same time as both Diamonds Are Forever and On The Buses with the film in question being called simply just "Dad's Army" enjoy.

The plot of this film is when there local church is attacked by a bunch of Germans at the height of World War Two the worst homeguard there has ever been has to try and prove themselves by taking it back. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad however tho this films plot really isn't all that good as this is really really a film a film of two plots with the first half of the film dealing with how the local homeguard from the Dad's Army TV show was formed in the first place and the second half of the film deals with the Germans attacking there local church and homebase with it being the first half of the film that's all the more interesting as that's something that we didn't get to see in an episode of the show and is really something that could only be told in a feature film format where as the second half of the film whilst it does have the more action packed plot is also something that not only could have been done in an episode of the show but also was something that was done in an episode of the show with the only difference being that the film had a much more bigger budget and that's it and yet both halves of the films plot are tied together really well by the films writers and the shows co-creators Jimmy Perry and David Croft with the plot on the whole being a really strong plot that does work just as well in a feature film format then what the concept of Dad's Army did on the TV show as well with the plot of this film also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Starring in this film is Arthur Lowe as Captain Mainwaring , John Le Mesurier as Sergeant Wilson and Clive Dunn as Lance-Corporal Jones. Also starring in this film is John Laurie as Private Frazer , James Beck as Private Walker , Arnold Ridley as Private Godfrey , Ian Lavender as Private Pike , Liz Fraser as Mrs Pike , Bernard Archard as Major General Fullard , Derek Newark as The  Regimental Sergeant Major , Bill Pertwee as Chief ARP Warden Hodges , Frank Williams as The Vicar , Edward Sinclair as The Verger , Anthony Sagar as The Police Sergeant , Pat Coombs as Mrs Hall , Roger Maxwell as General Wilkinson , Paul Dawkins as N**i General , Sam Kydd as N**i Orderly , Michael Knowles as The Staff Captain and Fred Griffiths as Bert King.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. With this films acting being good mainly due to the fact that all of the leading actors from the show reprise there roles for the film and they would therefor know how best to perform there character as they would have been doing for three almost four years straight when this film was being made with the films acting also being good due to the fact that alot of this films actors are a bunch of really good actors in their own right as well with there really only being one actor from the show who didn't make the leap to the big screen that being Janet Davies who played the role of Mrs Pike on the show but was recast in the film and replaced with Liz Fraser who is passable in the part but at the same time tho it would have helped if Janet Davies was cast in the part that she helped to flesh out as to many who would have gone to see this film back when it first being released she just was Mrs Pike with the best actor in the whole film being Arthur Lowe who manages to make what could have been seen as being a really annoying an unlikable character seem likable and while granted alot of that work would have been in the show it is something that does come across here n the film as Captain Mainwaring does have alot of scenes in the film where he could have been seen as being unlikable but Arthur makes him this really likable and almost sympathetic character with the acting that's in this film really being helped by the fact that this films script is just so good that all this films actors have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is somethin that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very film. 

Character wise it is a bit hard to judge this films characters due to the fact that this film is based off of a hugely successful and still to this day very popular British comedy TV show. With this being something that does mean that you have to watch the show in order to understand the characters in the movie as they are pretty much the same as they were in the original show with the film basically being a prequel to the show as well which does give us the audience a chance to see just what these characters were like before they all joined up which is something that the film sadly doesn't take full advantage of as the film does have the characters the exact way before they meet up as they are after the homeguard is formed and so we we the audience don't really get to see anything unique from these characters as we are just seeing them act how we know them to act from the show which in a way does make sense as it does mean that the makers of his film had written the characters the exact way as they were in the show but at the same time tho it also doesn't give us a chance to see any new sides to the characters and instead makes them feel like cardboard cutouts of a characters with a great example of this being the fact that we don't get to see how the feud between Hodges and Mainwaring started as the two of them don't really like each other when the film starts when it is something that would have made both characters all the more fun to watch if we got to see that feud start over the course of the film like maybe Mainwaring and his men could inadvertently cause of the film something which would have made sense as both characters are very stubborn characters who think that they know best and seeing them clash over the course of the film would have added to the films humor. 

Believe it or not this film out at a really good time for British cinema with films like And Now For Something Completely Different , A Clockwork Orange , Diamonds Are Forever and On The Buses all being released in the exact same year. Yet even with those heavy hitters coming out this film finished as the fifth highest grossing film in British cinema's for that year which does mean that for a little while this film was more popular then both a Monty Python film and a new James Bond film starring Sir Sean Connery in the lead role which is just unheard of as usually it's the more well known films like the And Now for Something Completely Different and Diamonds Are Forever that would normally storm to the top at the yearly box office and stay there and yet it was this small film that had the budget of about £5 pounds that beat them both and while yes the other two films are more well known today it doesn't change the fact that this is the little film that could as no one would have expected this film to not only go toe to toe at the yearly box office with a James Bond film but also become the fifth most popular film of the year as a result of it as by all rights this is film that shouldn't have been as popular as it was as movies that are based off of TV shows are very rarely popular in the first place and yet this little film was exactly that with this proving that it doesn't matter what size the budget of the film is what matters most is if this film is good or not and while it is debatable these days on if the film is any good or not what matters the most was what people back in the early seventies thought of it and they quite clearly loved it more then Diamonds Are Forever , And Now For Something Completely Different and A Clockwork Orange.

As was started earlier on in this very review this is a case where it would be best to have seen the first three seasons of the show. As this is a film that really doesn't bother in setting up the main premise of either the film or the show and instead just throws you right in at the deep end with the film expecting you to know all of the characters and all of there stories and whilst that might seem like a tall order the show itself is one that still does get played regularly on British TV with the same thing even being true for this film infact one could argue that the film has become just as popular as the show that it's based off of but in saying this tho the film is still very easy to follow and understand even if you don't know the basic set up of the show as the whole point of the entire first half of the film is to set up the shows premise in the first place with the film even pretty much being a prequel episode to the film with there only being a few very minor differences between both the show and film with the only major difference apart from the recasting of Mrs Pike being the fact that the films location Walmington-on-Sea now has walking extras on it and that's really it something that really couldn't have been possible given the fact that the show had a tiny budget in the first place and couldn't really afford to have walking extras in it with this film even taking advantage of the fact that it's got more of a budget this time around by showing us parts of the town that we never got to see before and by showing us alot more of what the soldiers did before forming the homeguard all of which do make this film feel like something something that really could only work in a film and not something that could have very easily have been done in an episode of the show itself.

Whilst the film does make some changes to the show some of which do work but there is one major one that really doesn't work all that well. That being the fact that the film does show us alot of more of the Germans and makes them more of a threat then what the show ever did and this is something that really doesn't work as while it does make sense from a dramatic point of view to feature more of them it could be argued that seeing less of them makes more scary because of the fact that we have no idea what it is that there planning in the first place whilst in the film the characters straight up tell us what it is that there planning alot of the time and all this does is make our main heroes look even more dumb then what they already are as now we are one step ahead of the characters interms of what it is that they know about the Germans when this is a case when we should be on equal footing with them but in saying this tho making the Germans more of an on screen threat does make sense as they were the biggest threat during WW2 and therefor showing them plotting attack to Britain and openly sneer at our heroes at several points in the film is a good way to include them and to make the threat of there possible invasion just as real to us the audience as it was to the characters of the film it's just something that could have been handled alot more better then just having them in a few scenes here and there and then suddenly having them attack the towns church near the end of the film as all that does is make them feel like an after thought like there was no real plan for them and so the makers of this film just stuck them in there just to get them out of the way.

Now then this film has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly one hour and thirty four minuets and thirty nine seconds. Which to be fair to this film is pretty much the exact running time that you'd expect a film like this one to have with the film even having the ight amount of plot there to really cover that amount of running time in the first place however tho this is a film that really doesn't use it's running time all that wisely as the plot of the film isn't that well developed which is mostly likely because of the fact that the film does basically have two plots each of which aren't given the amount of time that they really did need to be fully fleshed out with the more interesting plot of showing how the homeguard came to be not really lasting that long and the films second and basically main plot not being interesting enough in the first place with this being something that could have been fixed if the film just had the one plot and fully developed that one plot instead of squeezing int two plots into a film that doesn't have a short running time with the film not really developing it's characters all that well either which is something that does make sense as the show would have been where alot of the main characters got all of their character development from in the first place but at the same time tho there should have been something in this film that made it worth watching as the films characters despite having plenty of chances to get some character development can't get it because of the fact that the film is rushing from one plot to the next but I really will admit that this film really does have some really good pacing to it tho.

So now then as this is a comedy that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual comedy that' actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. With the film having alot of really funny moments in it all of which because of the fact that the characters themselves are really likable characters that we want to see succeed and that we want to see more of with there being plenty of jokes in there for adults as there are for little kids as well as this is a film that will have family members of all ages laughing with the films best joke not just being one joke in particular but rather the whole sequence at the training camp were our heroes arrive late after there van breaks down and end up crushing there own tents plus lots of equipment but also cause General Fullard to get stuck in the middle of a pontoon bridge which begins floating after Jones and the other members of the platoon let go to give him a salute which means that they then have to try and find a way to get both him and his horse off the bridge to safety only for it to be later revealed that the water that they were floating on wasn't that deep in the first place with this being a really good example of just how funny that this films comedy could be as just when you think the joke has gone as far as it could have gone they then take one step further like by having the platoon infiltrate the church dressed as choir boys which is already funny enough but then they sing a verse of "All Things Bright And Beautiful" with them adding in there own verse detailing exactly what there going to do to capture the Germans which is just such a good and smart joke in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Overall this film really is a good one to watch if you want to celebrate remembrance Sunday and don't really fancy watching something serious as it does get across the fact that the Germans were evil during this time period but it also doesn't take itself to seriously either and isn't afraid of being a fun and funny dumb film in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad thigs that re in this very film in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very film really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 6 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well the boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get images really from this very film being the really great Google Images this is really because of the fact that really all of the images that I really indeed got and really used from Google Images are all really high quality really with all of the images that really are all and of course really currently up and on the really great and the really solid Google Images really are all being really fairly high in quality and as well as them all really being fairly high in definition.