It's hard to imagine that any programme about Dad's Army could be anything less than brilliant and thankfully this dramatisation of how Perry and Croft came together to write the classic sitcom is excellent.
The first scenes where Jimmy tries (and fails) to get a part in a BBC programme but gives his Fighting Tigers script to David Croft in an effort to act for the BBC is a joy and full credit must go to the actors who do a splendid job. The assembly of the Dad's Army cast is equally good, with most of the actors giving believable and witty interpretations of the actors behind the characters we know and love (the only exceptions being Mark Heap as Clive Dunn and Julian Sands as John Le Mesurier which perhaps don't quite work). Shane Ritchie is almost unrecognisable as Bill Pertwee while newcomer Kieran Hodgson is a dead ringer for Ian Lavender.
The eccentricities of Arthur Lowe (beautifully played by John Sessions) and the tensions between Perry and Croft and the stuffy BBC execs are well handled. The period costumes, transport and music are all spot-on. My only criticism is that there some factually incorrect details. Clive Dunn certainly wasn't offended by the classic line "they don't like it up 'em!" - he had previously recorded an equally risqué song called Isn't It A Beauty and would later publish a book of saucy jokes. Equally there is no evidence that John Laurie was offended by the original titles featuring footage of Nazi soldiers. The testing of the audience was done after one episode had been recorded, not all six. There would have been little point in doing testing after all six shows were made because they filmed in front of a live audience and the audience's reactions would already have given them the reassurance they needed that the show worked.
Also regarding the theme song, I wrote an essay on the music for the Dad's Army magazine and discovered that while Jimmy was indeed thrilled that his hero Bud Flanagan was to sing the theme song, when it came to the actual recording poor Bud wasn't up to the job and the final piece had to be constructed from segments of the numerous takes he had done during the exhaustive recording session. It certainly wasn't recorded in one take as they imply.
However despite these quibbles this is still a wonderful film made about a bunch of lovely people and is a fine way to spend an hour.
The first scenes where Jimmy tries (and fails) to get a part in a BBC programme but gives his Fighting Tigers script to David Croft in an effort to act for the BBC is a joy and full credit must go to the actors who do a splendid job. The assembly of the Dad's Army cast is equally good, with most of the actors giving believable and witty interpretations of the actors behind the characters we know and love (the only exceptions being Mark Heap as Clive Dunn and Julian Sands as John Le Mesurier which perhaps don't quite work). Shane Ritchie is almost unrecognisable as Bill Pertwee while newcomer Kieran Hodgson is a dead ringer for Ian Lavender.
The eccentricities of Arthur Lowe (beautifully played by John Sessions) and the tensions between Perry and Croft and the stuffy BBC execs are well handled. The period costumes, transport and music are all spot-on. My only criticism is that there some factually incorrect details. Clive Dunn certainly wasn't offended by the classic line "they don't like it up 'em!" - he had previously recorded an equally risqué song called Isn't It A Beauty and would later publish a book of saucy jokes. Equally there is no evidence that John Laurie was offended by the original titles featuring footage of Nazi soldiers. The testing of the audience was done after one episode had been recorded, not all six. There would have been little point in doing testing after all six shows were made because they filmed in front of a live audience and the audience's reactions would already have given them the reassurance they needed that the show worked.
Also regarding the theme song, I wrote an essay on the music for the Dad's Army magazine and discovered that while Jimmy was indeed thrilled that his hero Bud Flanagan was to sing the theme song, when it came to the actual recording poor Bud wasn't up to the job and the final piece had to be constructed from segments of the numerous takes he had done during the exhaustive recording session. It certainly wasn't recorded in one take as they imply.
However despite these quibbles this is still a wonderful film made about a bunch of lovely people and is a fine way to spend an hour.