Jonathan Winters – Rare & Riotous
Picture: C
Sound: C Extras: D Main Programs: B-
One of the comedians of the past who never saw a peak, yet
lasted for decades, is Jonathan Winters.
Instead of being a straight out voice mimic like Rich Little (who could
to uncanny things with his appearance sometimes) or exaggerated impersonator
like Jim Carrey, Winters’ characters were played straight. Then, the humor would be based in reality
and laughs come from that. Of course,
some characters were intended to be funnier than others, and you can find many
of them in the new compilation Rare & Riotous.
The show consists of his own A Wild Winters Night
TV special with guest star Art Carney, a Chevy-sponsored Andy Williams Show
from 1964 and a “Pitch In” Public Service Announcement (PSA) against litter
where he uses his talents as several characters to make the point of laziness
that causes trash to begin with. The
amazing thing about Winters is the concentration in which he does his
characters. He becomes the characters
and distracting him is something you can forget about. The three programs run over an hour and are
a pretty good combination.
The 1.33 X 1 frame is on all three parts, all made for
TV. The first two are in black and
white and a bit on the muddy side. The
PSA is in color that is like EastmanColor starting to go, but is very well
done. The color footage is the best by
default. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono on
all three programs is problematic, with the older two showing their age, while
the optical track on the PSA has its own limits. It is a little cleaner and clearer, but the volume is slightly
lower. It is interesting and worth a
look.
- Nicholas Sheffo
