Revolution!! (1989 TV Movie) User Reviews

Very funny

[harry-105 · 9/10 · 9 January 2006]

Hard to describe in a way that conveys how funny this was. The two grey-suited men (Desmond "Olivier" Dingle and his put-upon sidekick Wallace) re-enact major events of the French Revolution, assuming various characters by using differing headgear and occasional shawls.

The weirdest thing I remember about this is how surprisingly moving was their portrayal of the farewell scene between Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI. Even though it's clearly two English blokes in boring suits, the emotion came across, especially from Wallace/Marie Antoinette. No wonder Jim Broadbent went on to get an Oscar.

Strongly recommend this if you ever get the chance to see it. Even my French brother-in-law (very French, not a fan of TV, not a fan of much British humour) thought this was good.

The very best of the National Theatre of Brent

[jub-jub-1 · 9/10 · 25 January 2006]

I have followed the National Theatre of Brent through a great many productions and a good number of cast changes (other than Wallace, that is) but this is the high point. The format is as old as the double-act: the idiot who knows everything and the idiot who knows nothing. The two of them (Desmond Olivier Dingle & Wallace) always alone and always in modern day suits whether they are enacting epic battle scenes or intimate romantic encounters.

Revolution!! combines laugh-out-loud pompous idiocy, manic flailing improvisation and, at times, genuinely involving and moving moments. This is the peak of their absurdity, and a better insight into history than many a serious drama. Catch it if you can.

So in comes Charlotte Cornwall and wallop!

[tg_richards · 9/10 · 13 December 2010]

I taped this off the telly when it was shown to coincide with the bicentenary in 1989, onto VHS from a very grainy picture. Sadly, this is the one and only copy I have ever seen of this amazing televisual gem.

I mercilessly forced all my friends to sit and watch it, and the catch-phrases have long since passed into legend among us. For most of them, you 'had to be there', but they still make me laugh even now.

* (embarking on the Channel ferry) "So, come with us on a Journey through History as we travel through the very Port-Holes of Time itself" "<<'portals' Wallace>>" "...through the very Port-als of Time itself"

* (Wallace as Robespierre, austerely sipping a glass of water for breakfast) "It is time to finally free ourselves from the iniquities heaped upon the French poodle, by the Bastions of Feudalism and Decadence!!" "<<'People', Wallace>>" "...the French People, by the Bastions of Feudalism and Decadence!!"

* (trying to reenact the storming of the Bastille while simultaneously trying to figure out where it might be) "Just hold the fort Wallace" "I haven't exactly got a fort to hold, Desmond...um...Aha! There is the la Bastille! With its massive granulated ramparts and flying mattresses!!" "No, that's an office block!!"

* (same sequence, Wallace continuing to fill in while Desmond rushes around making enquiries) "We, that are who, who shall be who, who shall be those who we, who were those present on that fateful day...May 17th 1879...1799....16...49....1979...1789!! Storm! Storm, I say!!" "It's gone" "What?" "Knocked down" "What??" "It's not there anymore, Wallace!!"

* (preparing to re-enact Death of Marat) "So what's the name of this bird who kills him then Desmond?" "Charlotte Corday" "And that's me is it?" "Yes, Wallace" "And why's you in that bath?" "I'm Marat, that's where he was" "I see - so you're in the bath, then in comes Charlotte Cornwall and wallop!"

* (Wallace as border guard running through list of standard questions on clipboard, with Desmond as Louis) "What is your name?" "Monsieur...DuPont" "Smashin...Do you have you do have, or have you do you have had, recourse to a crown, for the wearing thereof?" "On the head?" "Yes" "Yes"

* (kindly jailer attempting to comfort Louis on the eve of his execution) "I'm sure it'll all be alright in the morning." "Well no it won't actually, I'm havin my head chopped off." "Ooh...yes...I forgot...sorry bout that..."

If only I could find a decent copy to show the kids...

A really fruity Bastille!

[highlandland · 8/10 · 8 January 2006]

I have not seen this show in a very long time, fifteen years probably, but I still remember it very well. I'm too young to remember "The Nation Theatre of Brent"'s TV appearances in the mid-80s (their hey-day) but after seeing "Revolution", I listened to Patrick Barlow's 1990 radio series "From Lemur to Cosmonaut" (Desmond "Olivier" Dingle with his faithful sidekick "Wallace", played by Jim Broadbent) and - ten years later - their Channel 4 millennial series (without Jim). The idea of a TV historian is probably even more topical now than it was in the 1980s (when Barlow's bad-suited Dingle seemed to be a hazy impersonation of Sir Alan Clarke circa 1969) and it's a shame we can't see Desmond amongst the Simon Schamas of the modern day. "Revolution!" lives long in the memory, straight from the beginning when the intrepid duo set sail to France on the Newhaven ferry to visit the land of Robespierre and The Terror. Always in a grey suit, but with an occasional powdered wig or dagger, Barlow reenacts scenes from the French Revolution as if they're bad am-dram educational plays for schools, with the long-suffering Wallace sometimes cajoled into being a humiliating second fiddle. The scene with Dingle in the bath, as Jean Paul Marat, still in his suit but with a bandaged head, trying to get Wallace to kill him by shouting "now!" is still stuck in my brain. Then there's the street scene with the two of them pathetically trying to reenact huge crowds without anyone else around, but with some dramatic camera angles and much shouting. And at the end there's even pathos, as Wallace rebels against Dingle by over-acting as the judge who executed Danton, and Dingle ends the show with a street-sweeping Napoleon, waiting patients to clean up the mess of La Revolution ...