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.