Are You Being Served? (1977)

User Rating:

3.9/10   

Director:

Bob Kellett

Writers:

David Croft (BBC television series)
Jeremy Lloyd (based on the BBC television series written by)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Comedy

Tagline:

They're Free!! Ready to Serve You on the Big Screen ! [UK]

Plot:

The staff of Grace Bros. take a trip to Costa Plonka while the department is being remodeled.

Plot Keywords:

Holidays | Revolt | Farce | Sequel | Department Store

Cast

John Inman	...	Mr. Wilberforce Clayborne Humphries
Mollie Sugden	...	Mrs. Betty Slocombe
Frank Thornton	...	Captain Stephen Peacock
Trevor Bannister	...	Mr. Dick Lucas
Wendy Richard	...	Miss Shirley Brahms
Arthur Brough	...	Mr. Ernest Grainger
Nicholas Smith	...	Mr. Cuthbert Rumbold
Harold Bennett	...	Young Mr. Grace
Arthur English	...	Mr. Beverley Harman
Karan David	...	Conchita
Glyn Houston	...	Cesar Rodriguez
Andrew Sachs	...	Don Carlos Bernardo
Derek Griffiths	...	The Emir
Nadim Sawalha	...	The Emir's Interpreter
Penny Irving	...	Miss Nicholson

Also Known As:

'Are You Being Served?': The Movie

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

New Zealand:PG | Australia:PG | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (video rating) (1987)

Filming Locations:

Elstree Film and TV Studios, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England, UK

Company:

Anglo-EMI Productions Ltd.

Trivia:

The brief sequence at Heathrow of the Grace Bros staff boarding their plane was the only location work the cast ever shot until "Grace & Favour" (1992).

Quotes:

Mr. Dick Lucas: [Mr. Humphries waltzes into the airport in a pink outfit] Oh blimey, it's the sugar plum fairy!

Movie Connections:

Spin off from "Are You Being Served?" (1972)

Great TV Series - bad TV movie

I have seen "Are you being served" many times over since the early 90's. In fact, I could probably restate word for word every episode made over the 13 year run (1972 - 1985). While I loved every episode of the TV series, the movie did not provide the same level of satisfaction.

MOVIE PLOT: Grace Brothers store is being remodeled and the crew is offered a 2 week Holiday vacation in Costa Planka.

ACTING: If you are very familiar with the TV Series, you will notice right away that most of the jokes were taken directly from the various episodes. One joke per episode with laugh tracks worked very well. But when you combine 5 or 6 and remove laugh tracks, you quickly lose interest. It looked like they grabbed whatever material they had from the earlier TV series and just cramped it into a 90 minute movie in a different setting... You will also notice that the characters looked very distracted and from time to time it seemed like they weren't even paying attention to the surroundings. Pay attention how the hostess girl in the hotel repeats her line word for word within a minute when she is trying to cuddle up with Mr. Humphries. Looked like she was reading directly from the script. There were also many inconsistencies. At one point everyone wanted to run for the bathroom, but after Mrs. Slocombe used it, no one seemed to want to go anymore??? Have they forgotten? Another one is when they kept writing notes to each other at the dinner table. I can see how there could be one mixup, but 3 or 4? One of the very first episodes featured a similar mixup but it was done as a part of a bigger scheme. Not in a movie, though.

SET: Here is another failure. The set looked extremely cheap, it was very obvious that the whole movie was done inside a TV studio, the lighting and shadow was even worse than in a TV series. The general feel of the set was like a Soap Opera. They must have had a very little budget to do this movie. It would have worked much better if they did 3 separate episodes 30min each, with laugh tracks.

CONCLUSION: If you love the TV series, it is worth to watch this movie. It has its moments but for the most part there was nothing new that the 30 min. series offered.