And Now For Something Completely Different

DVD Details: Anamorphic Widescreen/Full Frame Audio Tracks: English Subtitles: English/Spanish/French Talent Bios/Filmographies PG, approx. 90 minutes

Monty Python's Flying Circus debuted in England in 1969, and soon became very popular. In 1971, the cast decided to make a movie consisting of some of the most famous/popular sketches. Using a catch phrase from the show, it was titled "And Now For Something Completely Different." The movie is more a random sampling of funny sketches than a real movie. This means that you probably won't like everything in the movie, but this also guarantees there will be at least one sketch that hits you as rather silly.

When I first got this disc, I honestly was expecting more. I guess I've just experienced much nicer DVDs, so this one seemed very plain. As this is the only anamorphic Monty Python disc I know of, this is the only one I have. It kind of surprises me that even though it is much better than any VHS I could get, I still find it a "bare bones" disc. There's only one audio track, and a few subtitled tracks, but nothing more. The chapters come at the logical sketch breaks. Any other way of dividing up this disc would seem very odd/bad to me.

The video quality is excellent, and it's hard to tell the video is from 1971 in most of the sketches. The "Man with a tape recorder up his nose" sketch probably has the worst video quality. The only other clue to the age of the video is the obvious age of the Python cast and the wardrobe of the different characters. The audio quality is about what you expect, nothing special, but it works just fine for this movie.

As for extras, there really aren't any to speak of. There are some cast bios of the Pythons, which is nice, but nothing too special. The menus are static, but nicely done. Two versions are on this double-sided disc. One side contains the anamorphic widescreen version, the other is Full Frame. The sketches aren't something you MUST see in widescreen, so including them in a Full Frame version isn't a waste in my eyes. Reassembling the entire cast for a commentary track would be impossible, but hearing a couple of my favorite Pythons comment on how each sketch was thought of or created would have been very enjoyable. As it is, this disc is a good buy if you like the sketches on the disc, but not the best Python movie out there. Below is a list of the sketches on the disc, for those who are interested. My personal favorites would have to be "World's Funniest Joke" and "Twit of the Year."

HOW NOT TO BE SEEN
Man with tape recorder
The Tobacconist
Marriage Counselor
The Baby Carriage
"Nudge, nudge"
Self-defense class
Hell's Grannies
Silly Army drills
Expedition interview
Women in bikinis
A stolen wallet
The Flasher
American defense
Musical mice
IT'S THE ARTS
The milkman collector
World's funniest joke
THE KILLER CARS
The pet shop
"The Lumberjack Song"
A dirty fork
The bank robber
Falling past the window
Guidance counselor
BLACKMAIL
Romantic interlude
Twit of the Year