Dad's Army is the feature film version of the hugely popular BBC television sitcom of the same name. Directed by Norman Cohen, it stars the familiar faces of Arthur Lowe, John Le Mesurier, Clive Dunn, John Laurie, James Beck, Arnold Ridley & Ian Lavender.

Written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft, Dad's Army the series ran from 1968 to 1977, much loved due to its simplicity and warm humour involving the British Home Guard during world War II, a feature film version was inevitable. Sadly the makers were unoriginal with their approach and cheekily cashed in on the standing that the public had rightly put upon the show. For make no bones about it, this is a poor film not doing justice to the sharpness of the TV shows, in fact this is merely a collage of ideas used from earlier episodes in the show. The plot is very basic and the usually excellent cast are asked to trundle out a series of gags that had long since run their course.

Die hard fans of the show will still warm to the characters (how could they not since they are wonderful creations?),and those unaware of the actual TV show will quite possibly enjoy the film as an afternoon time filler with a cup of tea. But it's a lazy cash in and it's telling that no sequel was made to tarnish further what remains a classic bit of British television. Filmed between series three & four, the show (thankfully) would survive this blot and continue on an upward curve of quality and good time British humour. 3/10

If you have never seen the TV series, or you want to know how it all started, then watch this comedy film. Basically Captain George Mainwaring (Arthur Lowe) sets up the World War II home guard from many volunteer Walmington-on-Sea town residents, including Sgt. Arthur Wilson (John Le Mesurier),LCpl. Jack Jones (Clive Dunn),Pte. James Frazer (John Laurie),Pte. Joe Walker (James Beck),Pte. Charles Godfrey (Arnold Ridley) and Pte. Frank Pike (Ian Lavender). The story basically sees the clumsy, near-witless and always enjoyable troops tackling the Nazi invasion of their town, and they go through many amusing slapstick moments to try and stop them. Also starring Liz Fraser as Mavis Pike, Bernard Archard as Maj. Gen. Fullard, Derek Newark as Regimental Sergeant-Major, Bill Pertwee (Jon's brother) as A.R.P. Warden Hodges, Frank Williams as Vicar, Edward Sinclair as Mr. Yeatman the Verger, Anthony Sagar as Police sergeant and Pat Coombs as Mrs. Hall. The programme was number 4 on Britain's Best Sitcom, Captain Mainwaring was number 29 on The World's Greatest Comedy Characters, and he was number 21 on The 100 Greatest TV Characters, the Christmas Special (My Brother & I) was number 46 on The 100 Greatest Christmas Moments, and the programme was number 13 on The 100 Greatest TV Programmes. Worth watching!

This is just like the classic TV comedy , in fact it`s exactly like the classic TV comedy and your opinion of this film version all comes down to what you thought of the show . My own opinion is that it`s a little bit too gentle for my taste , but unlike many film spin offs from TV shows at least it`s recognisable with the characters played by the same actors who played them on television , compare this with the big screen versions of THE FUGITIVE , LOST IN SPACE etc

The film is basically split into three parts . The first part sets up the formation of the home guard platoon , the continuity here differs slightly from the first episode broadcast in 1968 but it is rather similar to the original episode , the second part features the platoon going on a training excersise while the third part features a hostage situation with some downed Luftwaffe crew . I don`t know if it`s coincidence but the best remembered episode of the series was the one featuring a U-Boat crew in a hostage situation , the two plots are very very similar .

So to sum up if you loved the BBC`s DADS ARMY you`ll certainly like this film version