The British have always had a healthy attitude towards religion.  They are able to laugh and poke fun at religious institutions.  Comedy shows like Father Ted and The Vicar of Dibney could never be made in America.  One earlier program that shows the funny side of religion is Oh Brother!, a series about a clumsy friar and his long suffering companions at the Priory.  Airing from three seasons starting in 1969, only eight episodes have survived the years and these are now available in a two DVD set.

Oh Brother! stars Derek Nimmo as Brother Dominic, a clumsy, not too bright, and accident prone man who has a kind heart and has devoted his life to God.  Unfortunately this causes no end of trouble for the other men who have taken orders and live at Mountacres Priory, especially Father Anseim (Felix Aylmer) who is the head of the abbey and Father Bernard (Colin Gordon) the Master of Novices.

In each episode the fathers try to come up with some task or job for Brother Dominic that will put the priory safely out of harm's way.  No mater what he does however, Dominic manages to make a mess of things.  While watching the cattle in the fields he causes a tree to fall on a banker's car, (the banker who happens to hold the Priory's mortgage) and while ringing the bells for lunch he causes them to fall from the tower.  Is there nothing that poor Brother Dominic can do right?

This show hasn't aged well.  Though the humor may have been funny decades ago, it doesn't really work that well today.  Much of the verbal word play is mildly amusing but doesn't get any real laughs, the plots are just too silly, and the resolutions are easy to see from a long way off.  There isn't a good laugh in entire eight episodes.

The humor is rather rudimentary by today's standards.  The Saint of the Priory is Saint Twytt (pronounced twit of course), the patron Saint of jesters and fools.  That was good for a lot of jokes, many more than they should have included, and none of them were funny.  "Oh, I'm sorry I thought you were a Twytt."  "What a Twytt." etc. etc.   Though there's no bathroom humor, if you find Dominic's constant tripping and falling at the most inopportune times amusing, knock yourself out.

This two disc set contains all of the episodes of Oh Brother! that still exist.  The rest of the shows were wiped by the BBC.  These eight episodes are presented on two DVDs which come in an single width keepcase.

Audio:

The two channel mono soundtrack is acceptable.  The range is very limited and the show sounds flat, which is understandable for a show of this age.  The dialog is understandable though and the audio is good enough for a show of this type.

Video:

The color full frame image (the first episode is in black and white) starts off rough but gets better as the series goes on. After the first two or three episodes the show looks pretty good and is easy on the eyes.  There are a few video dropouts, there is some aliasing, and cross coloration does crop up fairly often.  Though it sounds like a lot of defects, the accumulation makes the video look only average.

Extras:

The only extra included with this set is a photo gallery.

Final Thoughts:

I didn't enjoy this show because it just isn't funny.  Mildly amusing in parts perhaps, but that's all it was.  The plots were stupid and silly, the jokes lame, and the resolutions predictable.  There are many good British comedy shows, this just isn't one of them.  Skip it.