And Now for Something Completely Different (1971)

Director:

Ian MacNaughton

Writers:

Graham Chapman (screen foreplay & conception) &
John Cleese (screen foreplay & conception) ...
(more)

Release Date:

22 August 1972 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

An anthology of Monty Python's best sketches from their 1st & 2nd seasons of their original TV show.

Plot Keywords:

Monty Python | Dead Parrot | Lumberjack | Blackmail | Song

Cast

Graham Chapman	...	Brother / British pedestrian / Mr. Harrison (Apricot) / Sergeant-Major / 'Hell's Grannies' policeman / Jimmy Blankensop / Sir Edward Ross / Restaurant patron #1 / Letter Writer / Oliver St. John Mollusk / Mountie / Town Guild Lady
John Cleese	...	Announcer / Hungarian Man / Self-Defence Teacher / Sir George Head / Policeman / Interviewer / Mr. Praline / Second General / Christopher Columbus / Mungo the Cook / Bank Robber / Accountant #2 (falling past the window) / Vocational Guidance Counselor / Vivian Smith Smythe Smith / Mountie / Town Guild Lady
Terry Gilliam	...	Self-defence nun / Flasher / Uncle Sam / Caterpillar man / Sign holder
Eric Idle	...	Prosecutor / Marriage Counselor / Arthur Nudge / Self-defence student #4 (interested in pointed sticks) / 'Hell's Grannies' analyst / Arthur Wilson / Arthur Wilson Two / Nightclub Emcee / Linkman / First General / Restaurant Manager / Lingerie Shop Owner / Accountant #1 (falling past the window) / Fairy Godmother / Rita Fairbanks / Simon Zinc Trumpet Harris / Mountie / Lady With Cookbook
Terry Jones	...	Stage Manager / Tobacconist / 2nd Hungarian Man / Squire / Self-defence student #3 / Tenant #1 / Flasher / Mouse Organist Ken Ewing / Fat Soldier / Waiter / Nude Organist / Brian / Nigel Incubator Jones
Michael Palin	...	Man with tape recorder / Phrasebook Author / Arthur Pewtey / Self-defence student #2 / Tenant #2 / Lost His Wallet / Shrill Petrol Announcer / Milkman / Ernest Scribbler / Bevis (pet shop employee / lumberjack) / Headwaiter Gilberto / Herbert Anchovy / Gervais Brookhamster / Town Guild Lady
Carol Cleveland	...	Dierdre Pewtey / Storyteller / Milkman Collector / Restaurant Patron #2 / Elsbeth
Connie Booth	...	Best Girl
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Neville Chamberlain	...	Himself - with Munich Accord (archive footage) (uncredited)
Winston Churchill	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Adolf Hitler	...	Himself - Speech to RAD, from T.d.W. (archive footage) (uncredited)
Lesley Judd	...	Distraught Mother (uncredited)
King George VI	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Richard Nixon	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother	...	Herself (archive footage) (uncredited)

Directed by
Ian MacNaughton

Writing credits
Graham Chapman		(screen foreplay & conception) &
John Cleese		(screen foreplay & conception) &
Terry Gilliam		(screen foreplay & conception) &
Eric Idle		(screen foreplay & conception) &
Terry Jones		(screen foreplay & conception) &
Michael Palin		(screen foreplay & conception)

Produced by
Patricia Casey	....	producer
Victor Lownes	....	executive producer
David Gil	....	executive producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Douglas Gamley		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
David Muir		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Thom Noble

Art Direction by
Colin Grimes

Makeup Department
Ivy Emmerton	....	hairdresser
Jimmy Evans	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Kevin Francis	....	production manager
Tim Hampton	....	post-production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Douglas Hermes	....	assistant director (as Doug Hermes)

Art Department
Bob Hedges	....	property master
Leo Mason	....	construction manager
Tony Noble	....	assistant art director

Sound Department
John Brommage	....	sound mixer
Terry Poulton	....	dubbing editor
Dennis Berry	....	sound supervisor (uncredited)

Special Effects by
John Horton	....	special effects consultant

Camera and Electrical Department
Brian Grainger	....	camera operator
Douglas Webb	....	still photographs
Nobby Cross	....	gaffer (uncredited)
Roy Rodhouse	....	best boy (uncredited)

Animation Department
Terry Gilliam	....	animator

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Ken Lewington	....	costumes

Editorial Department
Pepita Fairfax	....	assistant film editor

Other crew
Zelda Barron	....	continuity
Graham Chapman	....	presenter (as Monty Python)
John Cleese	....	presenter (as Monty Python)
Terry Gilliam	....	presenter (as Monty Python)
Jack Hawtree	....	production accountant
Eric Idle	....	presenter (as Monty Python)
Terry Jones	....	presenter (as Monty Python)
Michael Palin	....	presenter (as Monty Python)
Sally Pardo	....	production secretary (as Sally Hyman)

Production Companies

• Columbia Pictures Corporation
• Playboy Productions (presents)
• Kettledrum Films (as A Kettledrum Production)
• Python (Monty) Pictures (as A Python Productions Film)
• Kettledrum / Lownes Productions

Distributors

• Columbia Pictures (1972) (USA) (theatrical)
• Coline (1974) (France) (theatrical)
• Rosenbergs Filmbyrå (1978) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• José Frade Producciones Cinematográficas S.A. (1990) (Spain) (theatrical)
• Cine-Studio (1984) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Sherlock Media S.L. (1999) (Spain) (theatrical) (re-issue)
• RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video (1991) (USA) (VHS)
• Outsider Diffusion (1994) (France) (theatrical) (re-issue)
• Carlotta Films (2003) (France) (theatrical)
• Future Film (1996) (Finland) (video)
• Carlotta Films (????) (France) (DVD)
• Columbia TriStar (video)
• DNC Home Entertainment (????) (Italy) (video)
• Transvídeo (19??) (Brazil) (VHS)

Other Companies

• Bob Godfrey Films  animations photographed by
• Dark Star  publicity: France (re-issue: 2003) (uncredited)
• Lee Lighting  grip and lighting equipment (uncredited)

Also Known As:

"Monty Python's And Now for Something Completely Different" - UK (complete title)
"A sada nesto potpuno drugacije" - Serbia (imdb display title)
"A teraz cos z zupelnie innej beczki" - Poland (imdb display title)
"A teraz pora na cos zupelnie innego" - Poland (informal title)
"Die wunderbare Welt der Schwerkraft" - West Germany
"E ora qualcosa di completamente diverso" - Italy
"Elämä on Pythonia" - Finland (video title)
"Kai tora kati teleios diaforetiko" - Greece (DVD title)
"La première folie des Monty Python" - France (reissue title)
"Livet é Python" - Sweden (imdb display title)
"Monty Python overgiver sig altid" - Denmark
"Monty Python: A legjobb jelenetek" - Hungary (imdb display title)
"Monty Pythonin paremmat pilat" - Finland (imdb display title)
"Monty Pythons bättre bitar" - Finland (Swedish title)
"Monty Pythons wunderbare Welt der Schwerkraft" - West Germany
"Os Gloriosos Malucos à Solta" - Portugal (imdb display title)
"Pataquesse" - France (original subtitled version)
"Se armó la gorda" - Spain
"To adelfato me tis... trelles" - Greece (transliterated ISO-LATIN-1 title)
"To adelfato ton trellon poiiton" - Greece (reissue title)

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Netherlands:16 | Finland:K-3 (new rating) (1996) | France:U | Australia:PG | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG | Finland:K-10 (original rating) (1984) | Iceland:L | Sweden:11 | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (video rating) (1986) | USA:PG | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Black Park, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Dual currency is shown during the film (as seen on the supermarket adverts - 9np or 1/9). This was common for UK films of the early seventies as the country was changing its currency from pounds, shillings and pence to decimalization (Sterling).

Goofs:

Continuity: During the Dead Parrot sketch, John Cleese's arms alternate between crossed and on his hips between shots.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Announcer:In this picture, there are forty-seven people. None of them can be seen. In this film, we hope to show you how not to be seen. This is Mr E.R. Bradshaw of Napier Court, Black Lion Road, London, SE14. He cannot be seen. Now I'm going to ask him to stand up. Mr Bradshaw, will you stand up, please?
[Mr Bradshaw stands up and is shot]
Announcer:This demonstrates the value of not being seen.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Brüno (2009)

Soundtrack:

La Marseilleise

Strictly for Python neophytes

To most hardcore Python fans, this film will be irrellevant, as they probably have every single sketch on DVD already, and this is essentially a "greatest hits album."

So I am going to direct this review at those who have never heard of Python before.

The film opens with a sketch called "How not to be seen," during which the narrator shoots several people in cold blood, blows people up, and then finally breaks down into hysterical laughter when he bombs a children's hospital.

This sketch is hillariously, gut bustingly funny. Why? That is the great mystery of Python. Is it the impeccable timing, the wonderful acting, or the peerless gags? Could be. But I think it is more the brilliant sense of anarchy and loony logic that makes them so brilliant. It was, after all, those people's own bloody fault they were shot; they could be seen!

Beyond this, there are the sketches that are so well known they have become cliches: the Dead Parrot sketch ("Listen mate, this parrot is dead! It's a stiff! Bereft of life it rests in peace; if you hadn't nailed it to the perch it would be pushing up the daisies! This is an ex-parrot!") the Lumberjack Song ("I chop down trees, I wear high heels suspenders and a bra!/I wish I'd been a girlie, just like my dear Mama!"), the Dirty Fork sketch ("A dirty, ugly smelly piece of cultlery!!") and so on.

There is still no substitute for watching the show. Indeed many of their best sketches aren't on here; the Cheese sketch, the Adventure Holiday sketch, and my personal favourite, the Eric the Fish sketch ("Why should I be TARRED with the epithet "loony" simply because I have a pet 'alibut?"). Still this is a fairly safe introduction to their unique (That's putting it mildly) brand of humour.