‘MY BROTHER AND I’ (TV)
Please feel free to comment on my review.
This is my absolute favourite Christmas Special episode from the ‘Dad’s Army’ TV series. It features Arthur Lowe playing two characters in it. They’re Captain Mainwaring and his brother Barry, who’s a drunkard. Barry causes trouble when he goes and visits his brother to get a gold watch back from him.
I’m impressed with Arthur Lowe’s dual performances as Captain Mainwaring and Barry Mainwaring. It’s an interesting and amusing contrast to see Mainwaring’s ‘poe-face’ exterior compared to his brother’s light-hearted and drunken manner. Mainwaring disapproves of his brother so greatly in this story.
The visual effects for Arthur Lowe playing both Mainwaring and his brother are impressive for their time. I’m sure it’s CSO (Colour Separation Overlay) effects that are being used to achieve the illusion as well as some clever camera effects. The brilliant acting by Arthur Lowe in the two roles helps that.
There is a scene where Mainwaring and his brother appear in the same room together. This happens when Mainwaring visits his brother at the Red Lion inn. I enjoyed some of the backstory shared between Mainwaring and his brother during the episode, especially with their father’s death.
Barry Mainwaring is someone who deals in ‘jokes and carnival novelties’. This can account for his drunkenness. I like how Arthur Lowe performs as Barry when he’s drunk and trying to control his drunkenness compared to how Mainwaring is sober, pompous and very disapproving of his brother.
Early on, Mainwaring tried to make a point to Pike in his ‘Hotspur’ article that Home Guard drinking in pubs is untrue before announcing a sherry party is taking place, which is funny. Mainwaring also says things about his family that aren’t true, such as his father being a master tailor instead of a draper.
Frazer is the first person who meets Barry Mainwaring on the train to Walmington-on-Sea. Frazer clearly shows pleasure in seeing Mainwaring humiliated by his brother and being shown as a fraud by the ‘black sheep’ of his family. It was interesting when Barry tells Frazer his story about the gold watch.
Barry eventually turns up at the sherry party that the Home Guard are holding in the church hall. It was very funny when Barry turned up and is exceedingly drunk. I enjoyed it when the ‘Dad’s Army’ members try to get Barry out of the church hall without his brother and the party guests seeing him.
It was funny when Barry nicknames his brother as ‘Poe-Face’ in the episode. I liked it when Barry meets Hodges at the sherry party and is amused when he hears that he calls Mainwaring ‘Napoleon’ and says that it’s ‘very good’. I liked it when Barry meets the Vicar, thinking it’s a fancy dress party.
Bill Pertwee guest stars as Hodges along with Frank Williams as the Vicar and Edward Sinclair as the Verger. I greatly enjoyed it when Hodges, the Verger and the Vicar are invited to the sherry party and they have Godfrey’s cucumber sandwiches. In fact, they eat all of the cucumber sandwiches on the first plate.
I’ve never known those recurring ‘Dad’s Army’ characters be so greedy. 😀 Godfrey is shocked when he sees them gobbled up by the Vicar, the Verger and Hodges. Godfrey sees only two sandwiches left and Hodges eats them up, telling him to go and get some more. Godfrey’s reactions are so brilliant in that scene.
This special episode also features Arnold Diamond as Major-General Anstruther-Stevens, who is like the main guest attending the sherry party and is the only one that talks in the episode. 😀 There’s also Penny Irving as the chambermaid at the Red Lion inn and there’s Colin Bean as Private Sponge in the special.
I enjoyed it when Frazer and Jonesy tried to get Barry Mainwaring out through the window, but they can’t because he’s too big and heavy to carry through. I also found it funny when they tried to get Barry Mainwaring in a large box to carry him out and it’s very funny that he managed to get out of the box.
I liked it and laughed at some of Barry’s lines of dialogue when he was being carried out in his drunken state. This includes when being carried out of a window, he says, “Is this a parlour game…like sardines?” Also, when he’s put into the box, he says, “You’re not going to saw me in half, are you?” and when he’s stepping out, “What floor is this then?” 😀
I found it interesting how the episode ended. Earlier, Mainwaring refused to let Barry have his gold watch when he saw him at the Red Lion inn. In the end, he gives it to him. When Wilson gets the watch back for Mainwaring, Mainwaring tells Wilson to return the watch to Barry and say he wishes him well. 🙂
‘My Brother and I’ is one of the best ‘Dad’s Army’ Christmas Specials ever made in the TV series. I enjoyed Arthur Lowe’s dual performance as Mainwaring and his brother Barry in the special. It highlights his talents as a comedy actor and it’s one of the Christmas Specials I always look forward to seeing again and again.
‘My Brother and I’ (TV) rating – 10/10
‘MY BROTHER AND I’ (AUDIO)
Please feel free to comment on my review.
I debated whether to consider the audio version of ‘My Brother and I’ as a Christmas Special to match to the TV version. Quite frankly, it doesn’t really, since the audio version of ‘My Brother and I’ is about 31 minutes long whereas the TV version is about 40 minutes.
The audio version of ‘My Brother and I’ is the second episode of the ‘Dad’s Army: The Radio Show’ audio release by Big Finish. Once again, Jack Lane and David Benson play many of the ‘Dad’s Army’ characters, including the guest characters of ‘My Brother and I’.
Jack Lane plays Captain Mainwaring, Lance Corporal Jones and Private Pike. David Benson plays Sergeant Wilson, Private Frazer and Private Godfrey. For the guest cast, Jack Lane plays Barry Mainwaring, as expected when he’s playing Captain Mainwaring. 🙂
David Benson meanwhile plays Private Sponge, Chief Warden Hodges, the Vicar, the Verger, the Barmaid (or the Chambermaid as she in the TV episode, played by Penny Irving) and Major-General Stephenson (as played by Arnold Diamond on TV). Quite a lot of parts. 😀
In terms of omissions with adapting the TV episode into audio, the opening scene where Mainwaring and the platoon return from an exhausting route march isn’t included. This is a pity. We don’t have the funny “Before we fall down, before we fall out” line said by Mainwaring.
We also don’t have Mainwaring going into the Vicar’s office to find Wilson reading Pike’s ‘Hotspur’ comic. The audio episode starts with Wilson telling the platoon to form three ranks in the church hall before Mainwaring says “Platoon, attention” and “Platoon, stand-at-ease”.
At least the “Hurry up, Jones” line said by Mainwaring is funny on audio as it is in the TV version. We also don’t have the quiet moments where Barry Mainwaring is aboard the train and he meets Frazer, like in the TV version. That probably would’ve slowed things on audio.
In the scenes where Jonesy, Frazer and Pike try to get rid of Barry Mainwaring at the sherry party, it’s reduced to about one scene where Mainwaring is being put inside a box. The audio version of ‘My Brother and I’ isn’t as good as the TV version, but it’s still entertaining.
‘My Brother and I’ (Audio) rating – 7.5/10
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