Customer Reviews

Monty Python & the Holy Grail

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Its production budget was dwarfed by its successors, 'Brian' and 'Meaning of Life', but in many ways the quality of writing is higher and seems closer to the Python ideal, whatever that was.

There are the gratuitous appeals to schoolboy humour -- the gore of the knight with no limbs suggesting they call it a draw, and the crude sounds of the wrist-wobblers in the rear stalls. But this is the album that also contains the Witch Trial sketch, the Professor of Logic, the "How do you become King, then?" sketch, and the Knights who say Ni.

The high standard of humour isn't always maintained, but the soundtrack added several linking sketches that weren't in the film, and most of them work.

There was an actual need for the "soundtrack" album to "Monty Python & The Holy Grail," which allowed us to help memorize key bits of dialogue while waiting for the movie to finally be released on DVD (which was worth the wait just to have the LEGO version of the "Camelot" song). Now, of course, this album can serve as a companion to the original Broadway cast album for "Spamalot," the current hit musical inflicted upon the masses by Eric Idle on behalf of the Pythons.

To be clear, this soundtrack includes much more than what you heard in the original film. After all, this is the Executive CD Edition, a fact that you are reminded of at both the beginning and the end of each "side." Then, before the movie actually "starts" you have a tour of the classic Silbury Hill Theater and a live broadcast from the premier of the film, including a narration of the film's opening and the "You're Using Coconuts" routine. Then they finally shut up and get to the bits from the film. My favorite remains "King Arthur and the 'Old Woman': Lesson in Anarcho-Syndicated Commune," which I tried without success to work into several papers in graduate school. The episode involving "A Witch" is followed by a "Lesson in Logic," which proves, unless you are using intuition, that just because a woman weighs as much as a duck does not prove she is a witch. Not everything is here, with the encounter with the Black Knight being the most obvious omission. But you do have the songs for "Camelot" and "The Tale of Sir Robin," and the almost song from the sequence regarding Sir Lancelot at Swamp Castle.

There are intrusions from the Python gang throughout the album, including a "Bomb Scare" and "A Shakespearean Critique" provoked by the appearance of Tim, the Enchanter. None of these are as good as the sarcastic French soldiers at the "Castle of Louis de Lombard," the instructions for the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch from Armaments, Chapter 2, Verses 9 to 21, for dealing with "A Foul-Tempered Rabbit," and the exchange at the "Bridge of Death" that inspired the message on my brother's answering machine. Fortunately, now I have my DVD of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" and can watch what I want, when I want, without resorting to this audio version. However, I must commend this album for sounding like the movie and not for sounding like a movie on a record, which is what we were saddled with in the old days.

This cd takes all the best parts of the movie and then add's more bonus clips that wheren't actually in the movie... Overall a very funny way to relive the movie... Especially since not many people have TV's in thier cars it's almost like being able to watch the movie while you drive... I would recommend this for all...

As laugh-out-loud funny as it's always been, this soundtrack is a must have for any Monty Python fans. With sound clips from some of the most hilarious points of the film, this album is guaranteed to make even the saddest man roll over in a fit of laughter. With tracks like "Castle Aaargh", it's a wonder more psychiatrists dont recommend this as a mild anti-depressant. Side effects may include split sides.

The Cd is extremelly funny! Although the majority of it is extracted from the movie itself, there are some tracks which bring new material...the opening act is hilarious! Buy it!

Thus proclaims a mock warning on the rear cover of this brilliantly funny and essential for the Python fan album. But let me assure you that you'll want to play it more than once.

The content of this disc has classic sketches from the brilliant movie such as Constitutional Peasant, French Taunter and the like, and while a number of the gags in the flick were visual there is still some use made out of this due to the extra material added in especially for this release which links up the different parts of the film and provides some pacing from just listening to a selection of skits from the film. These vary from functional and quite novel to outright hilarious in themselves.

A word of warning however, if you are actually after the soundtrack this is not the place to go - it's not a soundtrack album in the musical sense but rather tied together passages from the film.

All up the 20 bit digital remastering doesn't seem to have hurt the material or changed nuances in the performances and it's great that such releases are easily available and reasonably priced as they really allow new generations of fans to come on board and find out for themselves what the fuss is all about.

The full five stars for this album.

As I am a Monty Python lover, I had to have this album for my collection. It is fantastic, and for those of us who can recite the movie, it is a bit different, yet still wonderful. It is everything one would expect from the troup.

There is a near duplicate of this product listed. Aside from being a the imported version, it was very difficult for me to tell which one was which. This title is the correct one to buy, the official Monty Python recording label. The other one, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, is from BMG Music. I've dealt with BMG in the past, and would rather support the Monty Python production crew, than a knock-off label. This is the title to buy.

This has all the best scenes from the movie and then some.... I highly recommend it for any MP fan or anyone who likes brit. humor! (ie: Austin Powers, Mel Brooks, etc.)

Over the continual course of my total Python devotion, I have collected all the soundtracks to their movies, and I must say that this one is definately the best. It contains some hysterically funny links, as well as bits from the movie. By far their best soundtrack. I like it. Did I mention that? It's a very nice record. That's why I like it. Because it's very nice.