MovieChat Forums > Secret Army (1977) Discussion > I've wanted to watch this for years, sta...

I've wanted to watch this for years, started it watching it, and oh

posted 16 years ago by somepi
12 replies | jump to latest

I love books about the French Resistance, have read probably close to a hundred. Naturally I've always wanted to watch this; I ordered it years ago, it arrived to day I've cracked on with it and, all I can hear in my head, ALL THE TIME is

"I waz pizzing by the bonk"
<Tired laughter>

Will it remind me of Allo Allo all the way through the other series or will I be able to get past it once I get over the fact that rene in ze cafe with ze wife is NOT repeat NOT going to mention the stolen madonna.
Wish Me Luck was better than this.

[–] Startanew 16 years ago

I'm not a Allo Allo fan so I'm fine with this. I really don't think it bears much similarity, as it's so much sadder and more tragic and other than Albert and Monique, there's no adultery. And no one comes in saying 'listen very carefully, I shall say this only once'. :P

And it's not even set in France.

http://notnegativenews.com
Interactive News For Those Who Hate The Negative Media.

[–] joyfarrah 15 years ago

I really do not understand why the BBC chose to put out this series ALlo Allo as a sort of parody of Secret army. SA was a huge hit for them and was considered a very good popular drama about a very tragic era....But it seems to me that they insulted the people who made SA (not to mention the real life people involved in the War) by making a comic parody of it.....

[–] chuffnobbler 15 years ago

Some of Allo Allo is really excellent sitcom stuff ... but there is no doubting that it blows a huge hole in Secret Army. If I'd worked on Secret Army, I'd be very narked about Allo Allo.

[–] joyfarrah 15 years ago

I think that a lot of the actors were annoyed, but couldn't say much... I really can't understand why they appeared to take this mocking tone to one particular programme...If they had "just" been making fun of the cliches of war movies, it might have been less hard to take....

[–] andrew-258 15 years ago

I like both shows, and never once does the spectre of the other prevent me from enjoying the one I'm watching at the time. Secret Army is absolutely enthralling, all thought of Allo Allo gets pushed out of your head by... oh, the second episode probably.

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] carlin4737 15 years ago

I watched Allo Allo when it was originally shown but i don't think i would have much desire to watch it again now, for me it hasn't stood the test of time as well as some other comedy programmes from the same era.

Secret Army on the other hand is still as great now as the time it was made.

------------------------
When you have to shoot, shoot, don't talk

[–] davesidious 14 years ago

I don't think Allo Allo was specifically a parody of Secret Army, merely a parody of the thousands of films set in WWII. Yeah, it clearly makes reference to Secret Army, but it's not an attack on or attempt to diminish the selfless efforts made by the tens of thousands of resistance workers across Europe during WWII.

What I will say, however, is that Allo Allo's take on the "accent = language" device was a wonderful device that would have made Secret Army make far more sense. The scenes involving RAF airmen, German officers, and Belgian locals all talking together makes no sense - what language are they speaking? It would have to be English, as the British are notoriously bad at speaking second languages (I'm British, before anyone has a pop at me), yet some scenes feature British airmen overhearing foreigners speaking their own language between themselves, and they understand perfectly. Other times, they don't. With Allo Allo, it was perfectly clear what was happening, as they seemed to put a lot of effort into that. Sure, there were Germans speaking with German accents to French people who would reply with French accents, but the British would never understand anything until someone spoke to them in an English accent.

Secret Army is an absolutely wonderful drama series, full of suspense and well-thought-out characters with associated development and story arcs, and Allo Allo is a brilliant piece of slapstick, farcical comedy. Enjoyment and appreciation of both is perfectly possible, as I know I love both, but for different reasons.

[–] joyfarrah 14 years ago

I think it was a conscious "dig" at Secret Army per se.. not just at general war movies. The cafe location, the owner having an affair wtih a waitress, Rene even looks a bit like Albert. The "fallen Madonna" joke was a parody of an episode about Nazis stealing art in SA.. I dont really undersand why the BBC chose to make such a direct "joke" of one of its best popular dramas... but I think its pretty definite that they did consciously parody SA rather than generally war movies... I beleive a lot of the actors were displeased but could not say anything....
As for the accents thing, the Germans did speak in SA with soemthing of a German accnet but generally, the actors did not use accents... IIRC that was a concsious decision that actors playing Germans would use a slight accent to convey that they were the "outsiders"... but the others woudl not....
I think that from the context it is usualy possible to guess what language people are meant to be speaking. German officers interrogating British officers are probably speaking in English, sicne they would IIRC have had to pass an exam in English to get to a certain stage in intelligence work.... They problaby speak a limited French to the locals... The Lifeline people would have problaby learned a bit of English in order to speak to the airmen...
I think with British officers over hearing and understanding ohter languages, it would depend on the demands of hte plot at the time... while its true that most British probably couldn't speak French or German, some could....

[–] Ms_Belladonna 13 years ago

"Imitation is the best form of flattery"

It might have started out as a parody of SA, but Allo Allo ended up being a parody of itself. Let's be honest....would the BBC commission a parody of something that was bad?........well maybe...but in this case they chose to parody something that was good.

I enjoyed Allo Allo when it was first broadcast....it was good cheap laughs once a week when we only had 4 channels to choose from....I have re-watched some episodes recently it not a show I have any desire to watch again in it's entirety. I also recall watching SA at an early age 5 or 6 but I was too young to understand it....I'm sure it was on before Blakes 7.

Allo Allo did not ruin SA for me.....but perhaps SA did ruin Allo Allo for me.

I'm only half Troll....on my mothers side.

[–] justin-893-172036 12 years ago

I had the same issue as the original poster except that this was from the age of 7 to 12 standard Saturday (or Sunday?) night viewing .. And I had the worry that I was going to hear someone say "I will say ziz only once".

Mon Dieu .. I'd never realised as a child how dark this program is .. In an early Episode where Albert murders an allied airman then returns to the cafe and says (something like) "The problem has gone away", I'm sure stuff like that happened, but the cold blooded (which was also I'm sure realistic) way he dealt with it was shocking.

Also Secret army is shot and lit (in the studio sections) like what it is, it's dark, I can't remember a scene where the sun is shining, it's always drizzling and the sky is dark .. However the Germans offices are all lit up (compare them to the lighting in the candide).

Allo Allo looks and feels like a light entertainment show .. Oddly the same writers wrote Dads Army and I read an article years ago that they had questions as to would it be offensive. The justification (for dads army) was that most of the stories were based on things that really happened and that at no point is there any suggestion that any of the characters were not prepared to lay down their life in defence of their country however silly their behaviour. I'm not 100% sure if the same is true of Allo Allo !

[–] joyfarrah 12 years ago

I'd never realised as a child how dark this program is .. In an early Episode where Albert murders an allied airman then returns to the cafe and says (something like) "The problem has gone away", I'm sure stuff like that happened, but the cold blooded (which was also I'm sure realistic) way he dealt with it was shocking."

I agree that it was very dark but not "fakey" and pretentious. It was just realistic and matter of fact about the horrors of that war.
There's an ep where Albert has to kill an SS infiltrator, who has been put in pretending to be an Alleid airman, by Brandt. Monique has been taken in by him and had a brief sexual encounter with him.. and Albert half suspects this and says to her "I hope it was worth it, becuase he's an SS man and I had to kill him."
I think that Albert was hardened by what he had to do, more than the others, but they all had to harden themselves to do things that were horrible, just to win the war and save tehir Line. There's the ep where Alain has to kill an airman who might betray them and he hates doing it.. and says "I'd never do that again, not for you or Lifeline". but if he had to, he probalby would....