And Now for Something Completely Different
Ian MacNaughton (1971)
A collection of sketches from the first two TV series of Monty Python reassembled for cinema release and worth seeing again. Highlights include: the suburban violence problem posed by grannies; a spoof BBC Film Night interview; an expedition to Mount Kilimanjaro by the blind and astigmatic; a cabaret performer with musical mice (he uses them as grotesque xylophone keys); a restaurant sketch involving the dread consequences of a slightly dirty fork; and the climactic Upper Class Twit of the Year Show. I suppose this isn’t a ‘proper’ film but it’s funnier than the conventional movie comedies currently around.
I really like one – just the one – of the commercials now showing in cinemas. I hadn’t heard of Warburton’s bread. The marketing of it is so old-fashioned that perhaps the product is on the way out[1]. But the advert gets maximum punning mileage out of a cartoon courtroom scene:
Prosecuting Counsel: Caught red-handed, m’lud, and I submit as evidence Exhibit 1, this loaf of bread.
Judge: A-ha, Warburton’s, I see. If I’m any judge, a first-class bread. Court adjourned for tea! [Pause – then eating bread] Mmm … I’d do time for this myself.
[1970s]
[1] Afternote: Far from it. Forty-something years on, we always get Warburton’s Toastie.