Monty Python And The Holy Grail
By Mal Simons, Blockbuster.co.uk

An insane comedy romp through the middle ages, Monty Python and the Holy Grail is the 1975 classic where the Monty Python posse embark on a quest for the Holy Grail. This DVD version has been polished up, additional lines and scenes added but overall, it is the strength of the sheer ludicrous plot that makes this film still so compelling thirty years on.

From the outset, it is clear that this film is going to blow the King Arthur myth out of the water. After the mad intro credits, our main character of King Arthur of Camelot (Graham Chapman) is introduced, skipping along the road, with a servant in his stead, clopping away with two coconuts to make the sound of a horse. Then we follow Arthur as he assembles the Knights of the Round Table…

Arthur gathers together the finest knights from around the kingdom… there’s Sir Bedevere the Wise (Terry Jones), the rather dumb wise man, Sir Lancelot the Brave (John Cleese), the knight who fears nothing but is also quite happy to kill everything in front of him – women and children at a wedding included; Sir Galahad the Pure (Michael Palin), who is determined to practice chastity until he discovers an order of sex obsessed nuns all wishing to be ‘spanked’ and last but not least, Sir Robin the Not-Quite-So-Brave (Eric Idle) who ‘rides’ through the forest accompanied by his band of minstrels who take great pleasure in singing about their master’s cowardice.

“Run away, run away!”

All the Monty Python team have a chance to show off their comedy talents as they play against each other in multiple roles. Cleese is brilliant as a French castle guard who takes everything literally while Idle is great as a peasant, ranting against the class system and the whole team get together to sing a couple of classic Python numbers including Knights of the Round Table and The Ballad of Sir Robin.

The Verdict:
All in all, Monty Python and the Holy Grail is a comedy classic and Python at its best. Absolute insanity, but if it wasn’t then it wouldn’t be Python. Add this to your list now.

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