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Dom Robinson reviews

National Lampoon's Animal House

It was the Delta's against the rules
and the rules lost.

Distributed by
Pioneer LDCE

Cover

Cat.no: PLFEB 36921
Cert: 15
Running time: 104 minutes
Sides: 2 (CLV)
Year: 1979
Pressing: 1998
Chapters: 42 (24/17+1)
Sound: Mono
Presented in Fullscreen
Price: £19.99

Extras : Trailer for "The Blues Brothers"

Director:
Producers:
Screenplay:
Music:
Cast:

National Lampoon's Animal House is an outrageous, screwball comedy set at Faber College, a small NorthEastern campus, in 1962, following the hilarious off-the-wall adventures of the rowdy Delta fraternity. The mayhem is centralised around Bluto Blutarsky - and he and the cast get up to a number of things you wouldn't normally do such as smoking pot with your teacher, assassinating a horse, a Toga party that they'll never forget - and that's not to mention the performance of an impression of a zit being popped - and the problems of getting an erection while standing on a ladder peeking through the window to a girl's dormitory...

Animal House began a whole series of films from the 'National Lampoon' stable, including the two 'Vacation' films starring Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo, although in the opinion of this reviewer it's always the earlier films which have been the best.

Leader of the pack in this comedy is without a doubt, John Belushi, who also shone in other comedies such as The Blues Brothers and Neighbors. Those other members of the cast that stand out are John Vernon as the embittered Dean of the school, Thomas Hulce as the one of the new guys who looks the least likely to participate in the crazy madcap happenings, Stephen Furst who suffers as the fall guy in a number of sketches against the pranks carried out by the cooler members of the fraternity - and Donald Sutherland as the politically incorrect teacher who has more than an eye for the ladies... :)

Most of the rest of the cast are people who have familiar faces, but have certainly not had their fair share of fame since this outing, but one that stands out is Mark Metcalf as Doug Niedermeyer, one of the egg-heads at Omega House, the first place Larry and Kent come to, who also starred in a more recent John Landis film, The Stupids, although I remember him best as an angry teacher in the Twisted Sister promo video, "I Wanna Rock". He's one of the best people-who-shout-in-films and could be a fine contender to R. Lee Ermey's performance in Full Metal Jacket.

The picture quality is as good as it can get. A good print has been sourced - and while there are a few specks in the print from time to time, on the whole watching this disc looks just as good as broadcast TV quality. The film is presented fullscreen and while I have not seen a widescreen version before the film looks as if it has been shown open-matte which would add some extra information at the top and bottom while losing a little at the sides, although there's certainly nothing vital missing and the 4:3 composition looks perfectly comfortable on the screen.

The mono sound is clear - and the disc has plenty of chapters (41 encompassing the film itself) making all your favourite scenes easily accessible. Finally, the disc is rounded off by a trailer for another John Landis/John Belushi collaboration, "The Blues Brothers", which is also available on PAL Laserdisc - and quite a timely reminder of the film as its sequel, "Blues Brothers 2000" gets its cinema release this year.

It's worth pointing out also that as it says on the back, some of the music has been changed for this laserdisc (and also the corresponding video release).

Overall, this disc comes best recommended to those laserdisc owners who have long-since worn out their copy of the video, as well as to anyone who wants one of the best comedies of the 1980's - and with the extensive chaptering proving a definite bonus, the low price puts the icing on the cake. Buy it now!

Film: 5/5
Picture: 4/5
Sound: 3/5

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 1998.

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