Charley Says... Vol 1 & 2 (Over 300 UK Public Information Films)

Customer Reviews:

Bonkers but brilliant.......2007-05-31

I think you might have to be a slightly strange sort of person to spend your evening watching a thirty year old collection of public information films but hey...don't knock it 'til you try it. It looks as if we were a pretty dozy lot in the '60s and '70s. If we were not setting the chip pan on fire, drowning in disused quarries, or being frazzled to a crisp flying our stunt kites into electricity substations then we were driving at speed in fog, setting out to sea in unsuitable craft, trashing the countryside or (a particular favourite this for some reason) failing to use the pelican crossing correctly. It feels sometimes that about half the films (okay, so I exaggerate a little) are about using pelican crossings (compared to a mere two or three about surviving an all out nuclear holocaust; same style, totally terrifying: "if anyone dies in your shelter..." "place a second label on the body..."). What was it with the pelican crossing? Something non-intuitive about the flashing green man and flashing amber stage, it seems. Gosh, were we all really so dim? Looking at the backgrounds of the virtually signless and marking less roads and the neat rows of butchers, grocers and hardware stores on the well kept suburban streets it is difficult not to feel more than a little nostalgic about this "lost Britain". Almost all of the films are interesting and the best are little masterpieces of mood, image and cinematography. Take care now!

A Fun-Filled Nostalgia Fest.......2006-12-19

This is great fun for those of us interested in social history, those who want to revisit their youth, or those who just want to laugh at the fashions of the recent past. It's a real pleasure to look at the PIFs that frightened the life out of me in my school hall, as well as finding out more about what silly things the government were warning people not to do before I was born.

I echo the comments about the variation in audio quality (the Spanish ones in particular have truly appalling sound), but this doesn't really ruin the fun. The only thing that's missing is more information about the films; I'd love a short booklet telling you when and why each film was made, but I guess it would make the release less viable.

How we used to live.......2006-11-29

A very good value for money double disc set, featuring a huge assortment of (often hilarious) nostalgia from a different era. (Better or worse depends on your opinion). Britain was a simpler place, yet many of these messages are every bit as valid today as back then, and the better clips are still hard-hitting when watched now.

The first disc is undoubtedly the best, featuring most of the best-known PIFs. One or two of the road safety ones feature real stunt actors and make you wonder how they got away with doing what they did!

The second disc is much less essential and features a large number of more obscure (though worthwhile) older b+w clips - mostly featuring the same actor - and a few that aren't really PIFs, more RAF recruitment ads. It also feature a couple of Spanish PIFs, suggesting they were running out of material. Even so, there are some classics in amongst them. Sadly, the audio levels are very inconsistent on this disc.

I would like to have seen a selectable title and year caption available via subtitles on both these discs as this would have been useful, but neither have subtitles.

Recommended for all aged 30+, especially nostalgia fans.

Great Nostalgia.......2006-07-17

A great way to see all the PIFs released by Network in one place. Of note is that Volume 1 has been changed slightly so that random play has been removed, the index to films is better organised and for the first time you can move between each PIF with the next button on your DVD remote which didn't work on the original release. A great value buy. Here's hoping for Volume 3!

Customer Reviews:

ZIPPY IS A KOOL DUDE........2003-02-03

The Zippy DVD is amazing. There a 8 episodes of Rainbow each focusing mainly on zippy. The best one is where Zippy turns evil becuase he wants all the toys for himself and becomes the 'EVIL ZIPPPOID'!! Then george and bungle have to face him to get the toys back. There are also hidden extras on the dvd like the marmite advert and the rainbow dance video!!!

DVD:

DVD List

DVD