Whacky Signs.

[Jeremy Cumberland]

7 minutes ago, KeithMacdonald said:

 

 

(Quick, hide the picture of the Madonna With The Big Boobies)

I'm shocked!

 

Connecting 'Allo 'Allo and Secret Army is straightforward (and I am surprised it isn't done more often - perhaps people have forgotten Secret Army). But I never dreamt of linking 'Allo 'Allo and Casablanca.

[Chris M]

To fully enjoy Allo Allo you have to have have watched secret army. It was such an obvious Micky take. I don’t know how they got away with it.

[KeithMacdonald]

4 hours ago, Jeremy Cumberland said:

I'm shocked!

 

Connecting 'Allo 'Allo and Secret Army is straightforward (and I am surprised it isn't done more often - perhaps people have forgotten Secret Army). But I never dreamt of linking 'Allo 'Allo and Casablanca.

 

Quote

Croft and Lloyd devised the concept as a parody of BBC wartime drama Secret Army. .. Rene's intermediary role between the Germans and the Resistance reflects a comic version of Rick from Casablanca (as well as directly matching the proprietor of the café in Secret Army.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/'Allo_'Allo!#Cultural_references

 

3 hours ago, Chris M said:

To fully enjoy Allo Allo you have to have have watched secret army. It was such an obvious Micky take. I don’t know how they got away with it.

 

Quote

... The show's premise was not to make fun of the war but to spoof war-based film and TV dramas, and in particular the BBC1 drama Secret Army, which ran from 1977 to 1979 and dealt with the activities of a Belgian "escape line" that returned allied pilots to Britain, working from a Brussels café and later restaurant. Many of the elements and characters are directly taken from Secret Army, such as the café owner having an affair in the restaurant under the nose of his wife, a bed-ridden woman in a room above who knocks on the floor for attention, a pianist who is also the forger, and the enmity between the Gestapo and the German military.

 

Plus

 

Quote

Many storylines for 'Allo 'Allo also derive directly from episodes of Secret Army, such as the valuable paintings and the accompanying forgeries, which both the Germans and the Resistance are seeking to obtain in the Secret Army second series episode "Weekend". Some actors from Secret Army also appear in ''Allo 'Allo!: Richard Marner, Guy Siner, John D. Collins, Hilary Minster, David Beckett and Louis Sheldon. Inspiration was also drawn from patriotic black-and-white British melodramas of the 1940s.

 

[Colin_McLeod]

[Michael Hodgson]

5 hours ago, Chris M said:

To fully enjoy Allo Allo you have to have have watched secret army. It was such an obvious Micky take.

 

When I was working in Belgium, the locals were all watching Allo Allo regularly - they had decent reception of British TV stations.  They absolutely loved it, but I doubt if they had seen Secret Army.  I suspect its appeal was based on the national caricatures and stereotypes seen in so many WW2 films - the Italian officer with his flowery language and plumed hat, the Nazi walking with a limp, the French onion sellers, the cafe girls dressed as French Maids and flirting all the time, the RAF with their public school behaviour and handlebar moustaches, the sexy blonde having to ask permission to kiss the Gestapo officer.  And of course "Flick ze Gestapo " was not lost on them. 

 

I think continual exposure to British TV was why most of the people I was working with had such excellent English.

[Ozexpatriate]

48 minutes ago, Michael Hodgson said:

When I was working in Belgium, the locals were all watching Allo Allo regularly - they had decent reception of British TV stations.  They absolutely loved it, but I doubt if they had seen Secret Army.  I suspect its appeal was based on the national caricatures and stereotypes seen in so many WW2 films

Similarly the movie "Airplane!". On its own it is funny. When you've also watched "Zero Hour" you realize that many of the scenes in Airplane! are shot-by-shot parody remakes. It is funnier back-to-back with Zero Hour but this is not necessary to 'get' the jokes.

[PhilJ W]

I once spent Christmas in Ostend. All the TV sets in the hotel could only get British stations.

[melmerby]

59 minutes ago, Michael Hodgson said:

I think continual exposure to British TV was why most of the people I was working with had such excellent English.

I thought it was more to do with not wishing to speak the opposition's language.

So to communicate they used a third language - English.

[melmerby]

27 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

I once spent Christmas in Ostend. All the TV sets in the hotel could only get British stations.

I once spent a week in Brussels, we stayed in Anderlecht on Bergensesteenweg.

Most spoke English or Arabic! (or French)

Edited May 18, 2023 by melmerby

[KeithMacdonald]

20 minutes ago, melmerby said:

So to communicate they used a third language - English.

 

 

[kevinlms]

3 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Similarly the movie "Airplane!". On its own it is funny. When you've also watched "Zero Hour" you realize that many of the scenes in Airplane! are shot-by-shot parody remakes. It is funnier back-to-back with Zero Hour but this is not necessary to 'get' the jokes.

Airplane, is called Flying High around this parts - Australia/New Zealand/Pacific Islands.

[Ozexpatriate]

14 minutes ago, kevinlms said:

Airplane, is called Flying High around this parts - Australia/New Zealand/Pacific Islands.

According to IMDB, so it is. My recollection is that it was called 'Kentucky Fried Airplane!' * when it was released in Australia. (Could be wrong of course, it was only 43 years ago!) I first saw it in the US on video.

 

* As a follow-on to 'Kentucky Fried Movie' (also written by the Zucker brothers.

[kevinlms]

42 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

According to IMDB, so it is. My recollection is that it was called 'Kentucky Fried Airplane!' * when it was released in Australia. (Could be wrong of course, it was only 43 years ago!) I first saw it in the US on video.

 

* As a follow-on to 'Kentucky Fried Movie' (also written by the Zucker brothers.

That list says 'Kentucky Fried Airplane' was a working title for the US. I always thought that 'Flying High' was the real title and had never heard of 'Airplane'.

[Stubby47]

"Airplane" was based on "Flight into Danger", by John Castle and Arthur Hailey ( of "Airport" fame). 

A lot of the film dialogue is lifted directly from the book, especially "handles like a wet sponge".

[Hroth]

9 minutes ago, Stubby47 said:

"Airplane" was based on "Flight into Danger", by John Castle and Arthur Hailey ( of "Airport" fame). 

A lot of the film dialogue is lifted directly from the book, especially "handles like a wet sponge".

 

I'd read an Arthur Hailey book (slim for one of his!) that was just like a novelisation of "Airplane" though it clearly pre-dated the film. I just couldn't remember the name of the book!

 

[Ozexpatriate]

11 hours ago, Stubby47 said:

"Airplane" was based on "Flight into Danger", by John Castle and Arthur Hailey ( of "Airport" fame). 

A lot of the film dialogue is lifted directly from the book, especially "handles like a wet sponge".

Arthur Hailey wrote the screenplay for 'Zero Hour' - based on his earlier 'Flight into Danger' teleplay broadcast in Canada in 1956.

Quote

In 1957, Flight into Danger was adapted into the feature film Zero Hour! 

 

Zero Hour! (1957)

Quote

Writers

Arthur Hailey(screenplay) (teleplay "Flight Into Danger")

Hall Bartlett(screenplay)

John C. Champion(screenplay)

 

 The book was published in 1958 (after Zero Hour!).

Quote

Hailey's story was adapted as a novel by John Castle (a pseudonym for Ronald Payne and John Garrod), with Hailey receiving credit as co-author. The book was called Flight into Danger (Souvenir Press) for its British publication in 1958, but retitled Runway Zero-Eight (Doubleday) for its American publication in 1959.

 

As noted earlier, Airplane! is a shot-by-shot remake (including dialogue) of Zero Hour!. Both were owned by Paramount - so no copyright issues. Even the name of the protagonist is the same - Ted Stryker/Striker. (George Spencer* is the protagonist in 'Flight into Danger'.)

 

* Played by James Doohan (aka Montgomery Scott) apparently.

 

Edited May 19, 2023 by Ozexpatriate

[62613]

On 18/05/2023 at 22:50, PhilJ W said:

I once spent Christmas in Ostend. All the TV sets in the hotel could only get British stations.

In May 1977 I was aboard a ship in drydock in Europoort; we watched the FA Cup Final on a direct BBC feed on Belgian TV, with a Belgian commentary (although you could hear Barry Davis, or whoever, underneath). I think we also watched the European Cup Final on the same ship, from Rome (Liverpool - Roma) direct from the BBC

 

Edited May 20, 2023 by 62613

[dagrizz]

I was out walking in the Trossachs today, it would seem the local wildlife need to be literate.

 

 

 

Graham

[martin_wynne]

 

[PhilJ W]

[PhilJ W]

[PhilJ W]

[PhilJ W]

[PhilJ W]

[PhilJ W]