Merolliv
I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.
Fairaher
The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.
Allison Davies
The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
mike-frinton
I thought it was time to add my contribution, and to refute a misconception.
Freddie Frinton is (was) my dad. I was 14 when he died.
The reviews and comments here are fantastic to read, and I know that dad would have been astounded by the ongoing appeal that the sketch has in Europe.....especially in Germany. Sadly, he died in 1968, still at the top of his game in this country, but without Dinner For One ever having been shown in its entirity in the UK.
Now for the clarification......I read here and elsewhere on the reviews that Freddie "did not like the Germans, or Germany", or that he "refused to speak German" ! This is not true, and our whole family are mystified as to how this rumour ever got started. Mum is in her 90's and my older sisters in their senior years, and they were with dad when he recorded the sketch in Germany. I remember waving them off as they all drove away, the car loaded with all the clothes and kit for the sketch....including the tiger skin.
They were all very excited about the recording, and going to Germany, and working with the Germans at NDR. None of us in the family ever heard dad say a bad word about Germans or Germany, and he worked there on at least three occasions. I have also read somewhere on this site that dad "hated the sketch at first and had to be persuaded to do it"....this is also untrue.
He LOVED doing Dinner For One, and did so from first seeing it, and of all the sketches he wrote or developed, this was the one he would always try to "fit" into whatever show he had signed-up for. Be it Panto or summer-season, or variety, he always wanted to find the 15 to 16 minutes in a show where he could show off his favourite work.
As a family, we are very proud of the sketch, and still enjoy watching it and hearing of other people's enjoyment.
None of us can resist saying to any German's we meet, whether here or abroad......." Hello, you don't know me, but you know my dad"......and EVERY time, they DO !.......It's priceless. Thanks, Mike.
diktor-1
I saw a review from a Dane and I can only agree. Like in Denmark it's always shown on SVT here in Sweden on every New Year's Eve. It happens that I miss "Ring, klocka, ring" (a tradition that this poem is read by some famous Swedish actor from Skansen in Stockholm at midnight that day), but I never ever miss Dinner for One. Even if the number of times I've seen it is now is close to 40, I never get tired of it. In my opinion is it the best, funny short movie that ever is done together with The Plank and Mr. H Is Dead. The acting is superb and the story is funny, even if it's a simple one, or just maybe because it's so simple. And I'm certain, there will be no New Year if I don't see it. :)
TrekkieGrrrl
In Denmark, this is the ESSENCE of New Years Eve. Aired every year (except one which I bet the TV station regrets because it was stormed by angry viewers) this is what really spells New Year's Eve in danish! Aired since god knows when, it's simply not new year until you've seen this!I know that the same thing is true for Germany and a lot of other countries.Trivia: Freddie Frinton (The Butler) wouldn't even participate in the skit in Germany in the first place, but eventually agreed, as long as it was kept in English. To this date it's one of the few non-dubbed movies in German television
giw
During preparations for Thanksgiving a few years back, my dad noticed that no one had made any candied yams. Fine, we bought a can, warmed them up and set them out. Nobody touched them, pa included. "Why," we asked, "did you insist on the yams?" Simple--tradition. With Thanksgiving you need candied yams.And with New Years in central Europe, you need "Dinner for One." That people here love it, is clear. *Why* they love it is an absolute mystery. I honestly believe that it is enjoyed primarily because it is tradition -- it is beloved, so people love it. Being married to a German, I have now seen this short at least five times; I *have* laughed during it. Of course, I can pretend to like yams, too.The film relies entirely on the clownish antics of the protagonist, Freddie Frinton, as he steadily drinks himself into oblivion. Purely pie-in-the-mush humor here, with gags that were old when the film was made forty years ago. Neither is Frinton a genius of physical comedy, his timing truly hit-and-miss in the skit.If you are from central Europe, you have already seen this film. Otherwise, spare yourself the bother.
