The Munsters - The Complete Series - DVD

Content: Welcome to Mockingbird Heights, USA. Here, at 1313 Mockingbird Lane, lives a perfectly normal American family. Okay, so The Munsters aren't quite normal after all. Father Herman (Fred Gwynne) seems a bit strange with his enormous height, his flat skull, the bolts on his neck and his green skin. Mother Lily (Yvonne De Carlo) is, just like her father, who is affectionately called Grandpa (Al Lewis) by Allen, a real vampire and son Eddie (Butch Patrick) has extreme characteristics of a wolf. Only niece Marilyn (played by Beverly Owens in episodes 1-13, then by Pat Priest) is the black sheep of the family, with her blonde hair and flawless looks. Time and again, the Munsters have to contend with admirers of the young woman, who always take flight when they meet the dear relations of their beloved.

But even otherwise, the family does not always find it easy to blend into their society. Whether it's Herman being mistaken for a nasty mugger, a mummy or a bank robber, the family causing all sorts of turmoil on a trip to an exclusive country club or Lily trying her hand at modeling, Herman trying to learn how to dance or pet Spotty hiding in the sewers, the Munsters' daily life is never boring - for the family or the viewer.

With plenty of classic slapstick humor, simple but very effective practical effects, and lines like Honey, you're spoiling your eyes. We'll have to buy you new ones or Oh, Marilyn, those rings under your eyes! How pretty you look today! The Munsters achieved absolute cult status over the years. It was one of the first series for which a wide range of merchandise was produced. From model kits of the Munster car to masks, thermoses, books, dolls, comics, and a music album called At Home with the Munsters, there was almost nothing that wasn't available for this series. Yet this cult status was not a given. After all, The Munsters only ran for two seasons and was never really one of the really big ratings hits during that time.

And yet, the comedy series has a firm place in pop culture to this day. The rather simple humor and simple effects still have an extreme amount of wit and charm even after forty plus years. And even if the character was more of a curse than a blessing for its actor Fred Gwynne, Herman Munster is undoubtedly one of the most endearing monsters in TV history and one of the best father figures in the history of television comedy. When, for example, he desperately tries to get his driver's license, writes stormy love letters as a ghostwriter for his shy colleague, loses his memory after an accident or tries rather unsuccessfully as a magician to impress Eddie, there is hardly a dry eye in the viewer.

Admittedly, after a while, the concept of the series wears a little thin. Over the course of 70 episodes, there are numerous gags that are constantly repeated and thus lose their impact. But all in all, the series offers the best entertainment throughout, which comes across relatively harmless from today's point of view, despite the monstrous characters. But that's exactly what makes the charm of the series, which should still offer comedy fans the best entertainment in 2011. If you haven't bought the single boxes of the series so far, you should definitely do so with this beautiful complete box set. Absolutely recommendable!

Picture + Sound: The fact that The Munsters is a series that is over forty years old is definitely noticeable in the technical realization. There are always smudges and blurs, but this should really only have a negative impact on those fans who place great value on first-class technology. Because somehow this original look also contributes to the charm of the series. But that is admittedly a matter of opinion. The stereo sound is rather front-heavy, the witty dialogues are well understandable and even the iconic theme tune sounds pleasingly good. For a series of this age, therefore, there is a deserved: good!

Extras: In addition to a picture gallery, the box has four documentaries (each about 45 min.) to offer. While the first of these documentaries deals with the series itself, the actors Fred Gwynne, Yvonne DeCarlo and Al Lewis are the focus of the other three featurettes. Since these were produced for American television and the same material was used over and over again, there are of course overlaps here and there. Overall, though, these documentaries are a very nice bonus worth watching for fans of the series. To learn how hard the filming was especially for Fred Gwynne and why especially he was grateful about the end of the series is quite interesting. Very good!

Conclusion: For only two seasons, The Munsters were on television between 1964 and 1966. But the time was enough to let this quite normal American family become an absolute cult. If you don't own the single boxes of the series yet, you can confidently grab this nice complete box, which contains all episodes of the series and some extras worth seeing. Not only for TV nostalgics absolutely recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp