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By PAUL BRENNER
Columbia/Tristar Home Video has released a two-disc special edition of "Monty Python and the Holy
Grail," with the goony, loony British comic troupe -- John Cleese, Eric Idle, Graham Chapman, Michael Palin, Terry Jones
and Terry Gilliam -- in a snarky version of the Medieval English legend of King Arthur. King Arthur (Graham Chapman)
spends the first half of the film recruiting knights to serve at The Round Table at Camelot, but after a corny
Hollywood-inspired musical number featuring tap dancing knights, the bold and brave band reject going to Camelot ("On
second thought, let's not go to Camelot -- it's a silly place") and, instead, go off in pursuit of the Holy Grail. The
England of medieval times in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" is depicted as a dirty, muddy slop house and the Python
gang take great glee in the filth and, also, in gratuitous violence.
The British "Empire" circa 1974 is given a sound thrashing by rendering legendary English tales of valor and heroism as
acts of pretension and impotence. The wackiness abounds -- an angry crowd with a man with shaving crème on his face, a
duck who weights more than a witch, The Knights Who Say Ni, The Trojan Rabbit, and the terrifying Cave of Caerbannog.
The Monty Pythons are at the top of their form and John Cleese as Tim the Enchanter gives new meaning to the phrase
"spit take."
The extras on Disc 1 consist of two running audio commentaries -- one with the directors Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam,
the other with John Cleese, Eric Idle, and Michael Palin. Activating The Killer Rabbit icon will permit you to not only
view storyboards from the film but also vouchers and receipts. The Hard of Hearing submenu contains a screaming idiot
voice exhorting you to use the subtitles. Disc 2 is all over the map. It begins with a sing-a-long of two songs from the
film, written by ex-Bonzo Dog Band member (and the 7th Python) Neil Innes.
A long, and ultimately dull, revisit to the film locations with Michael Palin and Terry Jones is next, followed by a
crazy section called "Sacred Relics" (featuring instructions on how to turn a coconut into a percusssion instrument for
horseriding sound effects and sequences of the film dubbed into Japanese), a gallery of photographs, and a plug for a
website. The film is presented in 5.1 Dolby Digital, the original Mono track, and dubbed into French. With typical
Python madness, the film is subtitled in English, French, Spanish, and "For People Who Do Not Like the Film" captions
are provided from Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 2. |
