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Monty Python and the Holy Grail
(1975)
Country of Origin: UK
Year of Production: 1975
Running Times: 91 mins
Length: 2524 metres
Format: Technicolor 35mm
Ratio: 1.85:1
Sound: Dolby Digital (2001 re-release) / Mono (original
release)
CREDITS
PRODUCTION
Production Companies: Michael White Productions / National Film Trustee
Company / Python (Monty) Pictures Limited
Executive Producer: John Goldstone
Producers: Mark Forstater, Michael White
Production Manager: Julian Doyle
SCRIPT
Script: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, Terry
Jones, Michael Palin
DIRECTION
Directors: Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones
Assistant Director: Gerry Harrison
PHOTOGRAPHY
Lighting Cameraman: Terry Bedford
Camera Operator: Howard Atherton
Assistant Camera: Roger Pratt
Camera Focus: John Wellard
Chargehand Electrician: Terry Hunt
Rigger: Ed Sullivan
Camera Grip: Ray Hall
Lighting: Andrew Ritchie & Son Ltd, Telefilm Lighting Services Ltd
EDITING AND POST-PRODUCTION
Editor: John Hackney
Assistant Editors: Alexander Campbell Askew, Brian Peachey, Danielle
Kochavi, John Mister, Nick Gaster
MUSIC
Stock Music: De Wolfe; Stanley Black (The Promised Land); Kenneth Essex
(Desperate Moment; Starlet in the Starlight); Paul Ferris (In the Shadows
No.3); Peter Knight (Love Theme); T. Trombey (real name: Jack Trombey)
(Homeward Bound); Roger Webb (Magenta)
Songs: Neil Innes
SOUND
Sound Recordist: Garth Marshall
Sound Mixer: Hugh Strain
Boom Swinger: Godfrey Kirby
Dubbing Editor: John Foster
Sound Effects: Ian Crafford
Sound Maintenance: Philip Chubb
Sound Assistant: Robert Doyle
DVD Sound Designer: Jean-Raphaël Dedieu
DVD Supervising Sound Editor: André Jacquemin
MAKE UP AND COSTUMES
Make Up: Pam Luke, Pearl Rashbass
Costume Designer: Hazel Pethig
SPECIAL EFFECTS
Special Effects: John Horton
Special Effects Model Maker: Valerie Charlton
VISUAL EFFECTS
Special Effects Photography: Julian Doyle
Assistant Animators: Kate Hepburn, Lucinda Cowell
Rostrum Camera Operator: Kent Houston
DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Production Designer: Roy Smith
Assistant Art Director: Philip Cowlam
Property Buyer: Brian Winterborn
Property Masters: Charlie Torbett, Tom Raeburn
Props: Mike Kennedy, Roy Cannon
Construction Manager: Bill Harman
Carpenters: Bob Devine, Nobby Clark
Painter: Graham Bullock
MISCELLANEOUS
Continuity: Penny Eyles
Accountant: Brian Brockwell
Choreographer: Leo Kharibian
Production Secretary: Christine Watt
Period Consultant: John Waller
Stagehand: Jim N. Savery
Technical Completion: Twickenham Film Studios
Catering: Ron Hellard Ltd
Vehicles: Budget Rent-a-Car Ltd
LOCATIONS
Locations: Arnhall Castle, Arnhall, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, UK; Bracklinn
Falls, Stirling, Scotland, UK; Castle Stalker, Appin, Argyll, Scotland,
UK; Doune Castle, Doune, Stirling, Scotland, UK; Glencoe, Highlands,
Scotland, UK; Killin, Stirling, Scotland, UK; Loch Tay, Stirling, Scotland,
UK; London, England, UK; Occombe Woods, Paignton, Devon, England, UK;
Sherriff Muir, Stirling, Scotland, UK; Skye, Highlands, Scotland, UK
Studio: Twickenham Film Studios, Twickenham, London, England, UK
STUNTS
Fight Director: John Waller
CAST
Graham Chapman (King Arthur / voice of God / middle head / hiccoughing
guard)
John Cleese (2nd swallow-savvy guard / The Black Knight / peasant 3
/ Sir Lancelot the Brave / taunting French guard / Tim the Enchanter)
Eric Idle (dead collector / peasant 1 / Sir Robin the Not-Quite-So-Brave-as-Sir
Launcelot / 1st Swamp Castle guard / Concorde / Roger the Shrubber /
Brother Maynard)
Terry Gilliam (Patsy / Green Knight / old man / Sir Bors / animator)
Terry Jones (Dennis's mother / Sir Bedevere / left head / voice of cartoon
scribe / Prince Herbert)
Michael Palin (1st swallow-savvy guard / Dennis / peasant 2 / right
head / Sir Galahad the Pure / narrator / King of Swamp Castle / Brother
Maynard's brother)
Connie Booth (the witch)
Carol Cleveland (Zoot / Dingo)
Neil Innes (1st monk / singing minstrel / page crushed by the rabbit
/ peasant 4)
Bee Duffell (old crone)
John Young (dead body / historian)
Rita Davies (historian's wife)
Avril Stewart (Dr Piglet)
Sally Kinghorn (Dr Winston)
Mark Zycon (prisoner)
Elspeth Cameron, Mitsuko Forstater, Sandy Rose, Joni Flynn, Alison Walker,
Loraine Ward, Anna Lanski, Sally Coombe, Vivienne MacDonald, Yvonne
Dick, Daphne Darling, Fiona Gordon, Gloria Graham, Judy Lams, Tracy
Sneddon, Sylvia Taylor, Joyce Pollner, Mary Allen (girls in Castle Anthrax)
Sandy Johnson (Knight of Ni / villager at witch burning / musician at
wedding / monk / knight in battle)
Romilly Squire (musician at wedding / villager at witch burning)
PLOT SUMMARY
Arthur, King of the Britons, and his trusty knights set out to find
the Holy Grail on a quest decreed by God. Along the way they are helped
or hindered by a bizarre group of characters including the Knights Who
Say Ni, Robber the Shrubber, Tim the Enchanter and a terrifying killer
rabbit...
CAPSULE REVIEW
Brilliant but frustrating, the first proper Monty Python film is three
quarters hysterical before it starts losing its way towards the end.
It's not much more than a series of sketches held together by a common
thread, but what sketches they are - Sir Lancelot's catastrophic intervention
at a wedding; the abusive Frenchmen; the killer rabbit. It's such a
shame that the team seemed to run out of ideas before the end credits
roll, but the first part of the film is packed so full of good stuff
that it's hard not to love it.
AVAILABILITY
Brazil
Video Distributors: VTI Home Vídeo
DVD Distributors: Columbia TriStar
Canada
Theatrical Distributors: Creative Exposure
Czech Republic
Theatrical Distributors: Asociace Ceských Filmových Klubu
(ACFK)
Spain
Video Distributors: Lauren Films Video Hogar S.A.
DVD Distributors: Manga Films S.L.
UK
Theatrical Distributors: EMI Films Ltd
Video Distributors: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment
USA
Theatrical Distributors: Cinema 5 Distributing; Columbia Pictures; Rainbow
Releasing
Laserdisc Distributors: The Criterion Collection
DVD Distributors: Columbia / Tristar (03065); Columbia / Tristar (01293
- Collector's Edition)
Video Distributors: Columbia TriStar Home Video
CENSORSHIP HISTORY
Australia
Rating: PG
Canada
Rating: G (Quebec); PG
Finland
Rating: K-16
Iceland
Rating: L
Ireland
Rating: 15
Singapore
Rating: PG
Spain
Rating: T
Sweden
Rating: 15
UK
Rating: A; 15 (video rating)
USA
Rating: PG
West Germany
Rating: 12
AWARDS
1976
Hugo Awards, USA
Best Dramatic Presentation - nominated
2001
DVD Exclusive Awards, USA
Video Premiere Award: Best Audio Commentary (John Cleese, Eric Idle,
Michael Palin) - nominated
TIMELINE
1975
April
3: UK - theatrical release in London
May
10: USA - theatrical release
1976
May
Day Unknown: Italy - theatrical release
August
13: West Germany - theatrical release
1980
October
27: Sweden - theatrical release
1982
August
27: Finland - theatrical release
1999
September
7: USA - DVD release (Columbia / Tristar (03065))
2000
April
1: Czech Republic - theatrical release
2001
June
15: USA - theatrical re-release
2002
March
27: France - theatrical re-release
2003
September
16: USA - DVD release (Columbia / Tristar (01293 - Collector's Edition))
POSTER TAGS
Makes Ben Hur look like an Epic
Sets The Cinema Back 900 Years!
And now! At Last! Another film completely different from some of the
other films which aren't quite the same as this one is.
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
Los caballeros de la mesa cuadrada y sus locos seguidores
- Spanish title
Los caballeros de la mesa cuadrada - Spanish title
Gyaloggalopp - Hungarian title
Monty Python - Italian title
Monty Python a svatý grál - Czech title
Monty Python e o Cálice Sagrado - Portugese
title
Monty Python em Busca do Cálice Sagrado - Brazilian
title
Monty Python i swiety graal - Polish title
Monty Python og de skøre riddere - Danish title
Monty Python, sacré graal - French title
Monty Pythonin hullu maailma - Finnish title
Monty Pythons galna värld - Swedish title
Die Ritter der Kokosnuß - West German title
LINKS
FOOTAGE INCLUDED IN
Cinemagique (2002)
I Love the '70s (2003)
It's the Monty Python Story (1993)
Life of Python (1990)
Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail (1996)
Monty Python's Flying Circus: Live at Aspen (1998)
The Pythons (1979)
The Quest for the Holy Grail Locations (2001) (V)
SEE ALSO
Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969 - 1974)
REFERENCES
MAGAZINES
Entertainment Weekly no.622 (26 October 2001) p.98,
(USA)
DVD review (by Ty Burr)
Le Monde no.17781 (27 March 2002) p.33 (France)
review (Sacré Graal, noix de coco et vierges folles by Thomas
Sotinel)
BOOKS
Cult Movies 2: 50 More of the Classics, the Sleepers, the Weird
and the Wonderful by Danny Peary (New York: Dell (1983))
review
NEWSPAPERS
Diário de Notícias 16 February 1999
p.45 (Portugal)
review (by Eurico De Barros)
The Washington Diplomat vol.7 no.9 (September 2001)
p.B16 (USA)
review ('Holy Grail' Redux by Ky N. Nguyen)
KEYWORDS
anachronisms, animals, animation sequences, archery, arthurian, camelot,
cannibalism, castles, catapults, caves, coconuts, communism, dark ages,
decapitations, dismemberment, ducks, dungeons, flatulence, forests,
god, gore, gorillas, hand grenades, heart attacks, hermits, holy grail,
impalement, king arthur, knights, legends, medieval, minstrels, monks,
monsters, monty python, plague, police, politics, quests, rabbits, riddles,
rope bridges, satire, sieges, skeletons, spiral staircases, spoof, surrealism,
sword and sorcery, sword fights, swords, throat slitting, twist endings,
weddings, wizards
Last Updated:
15 October, 2008
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