Folks, this is a big deal we’ve got up for you today. The folks out at MPI Video sent out a massive box set that may well comprise the single biggest review item we’ve ever undertaken, and it’s called The Honeymooners: The Complete Restored Series. Settle in and brace yourself because we’re about to take on one of the all-time greats.

The Honeymooners is the immortal story of Ralph Kramden, a city bus driver in Brooklyn, sharing a small apartment with his beloved wife Alice. Ralph wants his piece of the American dream, and thus is out to elevate himself and Alice in the universe. Ralph’s schemes are aided and abetted–and more than once hindered–by Ralph’s best friend, sewer worker Ed Norton and his wife Trixie. Thus will a series of misadventures begin as Ralph and Alice and Ed and Trixie live, love, and work in New York, struggling for their taste of the good life but often realizing that they have more of that good life than they realize right at hand.

But here’s the thing–you won’t just be getting the original Honeymooners episodes, all black and white and such. You’ll also get the original Dumont Network episodes from the Cavalcade of Stars variety show. Then there are the CBS Radio episodes, as well as eight “musical hours” that haven’t actually been seen, anywhere, since 1957. A good chunk of this stuff was actually lost until the Jackie Gleason Enterprises folks pulled originals out of their vaults for conversion to DVD, and so you’ll get to see it quite possibly for the first time ever right here.

The show itself is reasonably funny stuff–obviously some  of it is better than others–but you have to watch it in the correct frame of mind. Yes, much of what you see here will be trite and tired stuff by today’s standards; the comic misunderstandings, the sneaky plans that go awry…all of this is so very familiar. But at the same time, there’s a reason why it’s trite and tired. This is one of the places where all those things that are so very familiar came from in the first place.

This is no less than television history playing out here before you, and if you have any interest at all in either The Honeymooners, or the history of television in general, then you’re definitely going to want to check out what amounts to the last word in proto-sitcoms.

The Screenhead Ten Scale, meanwhile, gives The Honeymooners: The Complete Restored Series a full ten out of ten–it’s hard not to give that kind of score to something that brings its share of laughs along, as well as a whole lot of stuff that hasn’t been seen by mortal eyes in better than fifty years.

The day of celebrating Ireland, St. Patrick’s Day, hits pubs around the world this week (March 17th to be exact). Cinematic representations of the Emerald Isle range dramatically, from the desperately twee (The Quiet Man, Leap Year), to the noble yet gritty (The General, Once). But there’s more to Ireland than just films about the country. One of the many tricks of film-making is portraying a place without having to film in it. This is especially common with films based in mythical lands or in busy cities. Lately Ireland has become incredibly attractive for large-scale productions due to its apt facilities and tempting tax breaks. So to honour the day of getting notoriously drunk, here’s a list of famous films that you didn’t know were filmed in Ireland.

Saving Private Ryan
Steven Spielberg’s award-winning epic story needs no introduction. Set in WWII France, it commences with one of the most memorable sequences in cinema’s history: the invasion of US forces on Omaha Beach (watch it here). The sequence, shot in a handheld style, is brutal, exposing the audience to the horrors of surrounding enemies with bullets flying everywhere. For 30 minutes it takes us deep into the battle and the harrowing world of soldiers under fire.

The entire sequence was filmed in Ireland. For two months Ballinesker Beach in County Wexford was occupied by hundreds of cast and crew. Amongst the 2500 extras (many provided by the Irish Defence Force) were real amputees were hired to realistically portray the loss of limbs from explosions.

The Princess Bride
A cult classic that probably has more fans now that when it came out in cinemas, the Princess Bride marked the peak of 80’s fantasy films. In the film a faithful farmhand strives to rescue the virtuous Princess Buttercup. Rob Reiner’s US studio production was filmed in the UK and Ireland due to the extensive and lush green expanses of both nations. One of the film’s most exciting scenes takes place on top of the Cliffs of Insanity, where the masked man (the farmhand in disguise), fights a bunch of bandits to rescue Buttercup. The Cliffs of Insanity actually exist, but are known as Ireland’s Cliffs of Moher, situated in County Clare in the west of the country. The 700 foot-high, 8 kilometre wide cliffs are one of Ireland’s primary tourist attractions, and are vying for one of the Seven New Wonders of Nature. The Princess Bride also supposedly filmed in the nearby Burren, a barren 250 km-squared stone expanse.

The cliffs also appeared in David Lean’s epic Ryan’s Daughter, and in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

Braveheart
Another Oscar-Winner, Mel Gibson directed and acted in this story of Scotland’s conflict with their oppressors England. The film was noted for its savage battle scenes and for William Wallace’s (Gibson) cries for “freedom”, and also it’s fabrications of real events. And it’s not just the film that was rife with inaccuracies, but also its locations. While some of the earlier scenes were filmed in Scotland and northern England, it was Ireland where most of the film’s outdoor locations were filmed.

The Battle of Stirling Bridge (where Wallace makes his big pre-battle speech) was filmed in the vast Curragh Plains in County Kildare. Hundreds of members of the Irish Army Reserve were used for the sequence, and they doubled up to portray both sides as they rush to clash. See a clip here.Many of the battles scenes of King Arthur also used this location.

The Curragh Plains wasn’t the only Irish location Gibson filmed on. Trim Castle was used for the York Castle, which Wallace storms early in the film, as well as for the King of England’s courtyard. Close to Trim lies the ruins of Bective Abbey, where several scenes set in the King’s castle were shot. Westminister Abbey was recreated in Dunsaney Castle. And the castle grounds of Robert the Bruce, where Wallace is betrayed and ambushed, were filmed in county Dublin’s private Dunsoghly Castle. READ ON »

A bit of a history lesson comes our way courtesy of the folks out at Warner Brothers, who sent a copy of The Honeymooners Valentine Special for me to review.

See, in 1978, after the original Honeymooners shut down,  Jackie Gleason got the old band back together for four hour-long specials that comprised the last performances of The Honeymooners ever.  This one, the Valentine’s Special, is the third such performance.

And in this one, the Kramdens–and their neighbors, the Nortons–celebrate Valentine’s Day as only they can.  Ralph’s planning a surprise for Alice, but Alice has an even bigger surprise waiting for Ralph.  But Alice’s surprise might be a little more than Ralph can stand!  Ralph’s convinced that Alice is out to kill him, and as he tries to figure out what’s really going on, what he finds out may not kill him, but it’ll kill the audience with laughter!

Maybe I just haven’t seen many episodes of The Honeymooners, but the Valentine’s Special is an absolute panic.  I’ve seen a great many comedies in my day but seldom do I get so many laughs as I did with this one.  It’s hard to tell why this is so funny–many of the jokes in here are older than the hills, but the delivery is unaccountably funny.

This is where many of the memes and standards of modern sitcoms emerged–all the mistaken advances, the outlandish situations, and wild misunderstandings often emerged whole and breathing from shows just like this one, so if you’re in the mood to see where they were done first, or you just want a good laugh without committing an hour and a half to two hours to a movie, then pop this sucker in because it will be a laugh.

The Screenhead Ten Scale gives The Honeymooners Valentine Special an eight out of ten for packing plenty of great laughs into an easily accessible package, but it’s over so soon that you can’t help but regret it a little.