50 Years Otto - DVD

Content: For over 40 years Otto Waalkes has been one of Germany's most popular comedians. With the broadcast of his first television show in 1973, he became known to an audience of millions, which has since developed into a loyal fan base. Whether records, CDs, books, TV shows or live tours - whatever Otto tackles, his fans are thrilled. He has also been able to celebrate great success in the cinema on several occasions and even set a few records. And in 2015, four decades after his first TV show, his popularity continues unabated. Now, 50 Years of Otto is a double DVD that pays tribute to the multifaceted career of the East Frisian.

This succeeds very well, especially the first contributions on DVD 1. The unfortunately much too short excerpts from the legendary Otto shows of the 1970s show once again wonderfully why Otto is simply timelessly good. The contributions from the 80s are no longer quite so brilliant, but still have a high cult character. A little tiring, however, is the much too long compilation of moderations from the cult music show Ronny`s Pop Show, in which Otto lent his voice to the chimpanzee Ronny, especially in comparison to the show excerpts. Not really mercifully, the ravages of time have gnawed at the Ottifanten from the 90s. The animated series, which is represented here with the first episode, is simply not particularly funny and, due to its somewhat cramped family friendliness, especially lacks the bite of the live programs. So this first DVD leaves a somewhat ambivalent impression, as there is too little from the great shows and too much Ronny and Ottifanten to see.

The second DVD starts with a TV special in which Otto was allowed to present his East Frisia at the beginning of the 2000s. There it goes about Emden also on the East Frisian islands like Spiekeroog, always accompanied by some singing interludes. The contributions are in themselves worth seeing and also amusing, but the songs are hard to bear even for die-hard Otto fans. That Otto Waalkes is in itself quite a talented musician, then proves a contribution about the band Otto & Die Friesenjungs, which is not only worth seeing, but also worth hearing. After this excursion into the 2000s, the anniversary DVD makes a stop in the 2010s with a longer excerpt from the anniversary program Geboren um zu blödeln. No question, Otto still knows how to entertain his fans and create a good atmosphere. But especially in direct comparison to his earlier programs, this show only seems like a tame rehash that lacks any really new ideas. On the other hand it is quite understandable that Waalkes wants to give his fans exactly what they demand - and that is always the things from the past in a slightly modified form.

The conclusion of the almost three and a half hour journey through time is a TV special about the big Otto exhibition in Mainz. Here you can see not only countless props, but also works of art by the master himself. In itself a very worthwhile contribution, were it not for the fact that the girl who accompanies Otto through the exhibition is so precocious, which is simply not compatible with Otto's sense of humour. Accordingly, Waalkes also seems a bit distant here.

50 years of Otto is certainly a celebration for loyal fans, no question. Nevertheless, in the end a somewhat unbalanced picture remains, since too much time is spent on contributions that do not exactly reflect the heyday of Otto's career, while the real classics are ticked off in just under half an hour. But as a nice companion to the classic comedy albums, the books, the movies and the live shows, this DVD is definitely recommendable!

Picture + Sound: The age of some of the contributions is definitely noticeable in the picture and sound quality of the DVD. Presented in the original 4:3 full screen format, the older clips are included in 16:9 for the newer videos. Colors are quite vibrant and overall image sharpness is at a decent TV level. However, there is always visible image noise in the older videos, from which the sharpness of detail also suffers. In addition, minor smudges can be seen from time to time. For source material that is up to over 40 years old, however, the overall result is quite decent. The same can be said for the stereo mix, which lets the voices sound well intelligible from the home theater speakers. It's surprising that the sound on the latest live recording, of all things, is surprisingly poorly mixed, while the old Otto shows come across as pleasantly powerful!

Extras: There is no additional material on the double DVD.

Conclusion: 50 Years of Otto is a best-of collection from Otto Waalkes' career. The selection is worth watching for fans, but could have focused a bit more on the early days in the 70s and 80s. While the real classics are ticked off in just under 35 minutes, the Ottifanten or Ronny´s pop show are given a comparatively long time. The mixture is thereby altogether somewhat unbalanced, offers fans however enough amusing and worth seeing moments, which makes an acquisition of the double DVD then nevertheless worthwhile

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp