TotalTelly.co.uk

Devoted to Popular, Cult and Retro TV

Jabberwocky [1977]


RRP: £12.99
Our Price: £5.95 (subject to change)

Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review

A medieval comedy-adventure starring Michael Palin and directed by Terry Gilliam, Jabberwocky is an episodic adaptation of Lewis Carroll's surreal poem. Having previously directed Monty Python and The Holy Grail (1975) with Terry Jones, Jabberwocky marked Gilliam's solo directorial debut--is it coincidental that Jones is killed by the titular monster in the opening scene? Palin plays the naive Dennis Cooper, a man seeking his fortune just as the Jabberwocky is laying waste to the country. It's much the same world as Holy Grail, with all the trappings of the romantic Hollywood epic being liberally coated with literal and metaphorical muck.

Palin's character causes unwitting mayhem wherever he goes--one stand-out scene involves the destruction of a maintenance shop for damaged knights-in-armour--though as much humour comes from exposing the foibles of the people he meets. And those people constitute a roll call of contemporary British comedy: Harry H Corbett as a sex-mad squire, Warren Mitchell's Mr Fishfinger, plus Annette Badland, Max Wall, John Le Mesurier, Rodney Bewes, John Bird, Neil Innes and John Gorman. Jabberwocky lacks the hilarity of Holy Grail, but is a consistently amusing, exceptionally atmospheric, gleefully gory yarn which points the way to Gilliam's Time Bandits (1981) and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988).

On the DVD Jabberwocky is distinguished by an engaging and enthusiastic commentary from Gilliam and Palin, in which they delight in the amazing cast and ponder how such a handsome film was made. Otherwise the extras are a short sketch-to-screen comparison, three posters and three trailers (only one for Jabberwocky). Transferred anamorphically enhanced at 1.77:1, the picture is variable, with many beautifully lit indoor scenes looking fine, while other exterior, daylight shots appear washed out. There is some minor print damage. The sound is a revelation for a low-budget 1970s film originally released in mono. Given a full Dolby Digital 5.1 remix the tremendously detailed, rich and involving soundscape really brings Gilliam's world alive and puts many much more recent and expensive titles to shame. --Gary S Dalkin


Funny, surreal former Python jokefest
Review date: 2008-09-22 Rating: 8 out of 10

Terry Gilliam (from Monty Python) directed this and it shows. Michael Palin is a young man in dung infested old times determined to make his impact. It's not up to vintage Python standards but this is cut from the same mold & it has some very funny moments. Great stuff.

Similar Products

Reviews


Gilliam's first film
Review date: 2007-10-08 Rating: 4 out of 10

This first solo effort has something of the world of MP about it, and he no doubt re-used a few props from Holy Grail (a better film than this). As a film product it isn't very good, its narrative is rambling and discursive, as usual and it lacks discipline and form, as usual, but at least this one did have a thread of a story running through it. We follow Palin's hapless character through a truly awful looking medieval landscape on an insane quest to kill the Jabberwocky and gain the hand of his beloved Griselda in marriage. It has all the usual faults and excesses we have come to love of this filmmaker, but at least it does show how incredibly good he is at creating a world, and making that world come alive. This is as close as I think we may ever get to 'smellyvision'.

So nearly perfect...
Review date: 2007-08-17 Rating: 8 out of 10

Terry Gilliam's films are always a visual feast, and this one is no exception. From the opening scenes via the Hieronymous Bosch paintings, this film probably gives a pretty accurate idea of what life was like in Medieval England - the muck, the filth, the dust, and the wonderfully shrunk idea of the world. When Warren Mitchell's Mr Fishfinger is telling Michael Palin's Dennis Cooper about his travels he mentions he was in Muckley recently. Palin is hugely impressed expressing that Muckley is quite a way away. Mr Fishfinger agrees stating it is a good two miles away. The response from the Dennis Cooper character is "oh, I'd love to travel one day".
The majority of this film is wonderful, even though it is fairly obviously shot on a shoestring budget. Palin turns in his usual sparkling performance and there is a wonderful double act of comedy excellence from old stagers Max Wall and John Le Mesurier, and good cameos from British stagers like Warren Mitchell, Bernard Bresslaw and Harry H Corbett. There are some wonderfully atmospheric scenes in the dusty tumbledown castle of King Bruno the Questionable. My only complaint is my abiding memory of watching it for the very first time was that it was sometimes a little bit confusing in places, but repeated watching makes it a very worthwhile experience.
NOT a Python film, but a good next step if you only know those films.

coopering? that's no life for a man
Review date: 2006-09-26 Rating: 10 out of 10

Don't write this off as failed Python. In the entertaining commentary on this disk, TG and Michael Palin not only state that they were trying to get away from the Python style with this film, but even that they think there are too many gags in it. I wouldn't go so far as that; Lewis Carroll's eerie source poem doesn't really have a great bearing on this story, but what they share is an ambiguous tone somewhere between epic, comic and surreal. All Gilliam's early films are about the relationship between real and fantasy worlds, and this is really no exception: Palin is the modern-minded mediocrity unwittingly (and unwillingly) caught up in a fairy tale.

Visually there's a certain similarity to `Holy Grail' (this is far more accomplished); in comedy terms, the closest thing is Palin's quirky, understated `Ripping Yarns' - but that doesn't have the same deep, ineluctable strangeness. In all honesty there's no other film like this. Just see the `you might also like' films trailed on the disc - `First Knight' and `Knight's Tale'! Good grief.

I'm also indebted to the commentary for the following fascinating trivia: TG's `diamond mine' character was originally to have been played by Dudley Moore; both the Black Knight and Palin's master are played by David Prowse (of Darth Vader fame), voices by Max Wall (King Bruno); and John Boorman apparently showed the film a dozen times to his crew before making Excalibur. How's that for a recommendation?


A missed opportunity...
Review date: 2006-07-03 Rating: 2 out of 10

If you are a big fan of Monty Python's official Movies i.e Holy Grail et al, then Jabberwocky might be considered the final piece in the collection. Sadly, however, it is best used as a bookend to prop up your stack of official 'Python DVDs. This isn't a Monty Python movie but it does share a lot of the dark, squalid realism that made 'Holy Grail' so unusual and interesting. Sadly, though, Jabberwocky doesn't have the punchy, sketch-focused feel of the other official Monty Python films and it quickly loses momentum after the cracking opening sequence. Michael Palin (doing his usual 'unwitting hero' shtik) tries hard to carry the film but Jabberwocky feels poorly made and rushed; it certainly doesn't hold a candle to the same illustrious standards usually associated with Terry Gilliam, especially the heights that he hit later on with Brazil or even Baron Munchausen. In act Jabberwocky looks unbelievably shoddy; the special effects are mostly terrible, the plot and characters are thinly sketched and the poor script wastes a great cast compiled from some of the finest British comic talent of the day. If you are a 'Python completist then by all means go ahead and buy Jabberwocky but I guarantee that it won't be spending much time in your DVD player.
Awful!

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Michael Palin
Harry H. Corbett
Warren Mitchell
Max Wall
John Le Mesurier

Creators:
Michael Palin (Primary Contributor)
Harry H. Corbett (Primary Contributor)

Director(s):

Recording label: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
EAN: 5035822006331
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: PAL, Widescreen,
Release date: 2003-02-17
Number of discs: 1
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Audience rating: Parental Guidance
Region code: 2
Running time: 100 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1977-04-15
Language: English (Original Language)
Language: Turkish (Subtitled)
Language: Arabic (Subtitled)
Language: Czech (Subtitled)
Language: Greek (Subtitled)
Language: Danish (Subtitled)
Language: Dutch (Subtitled)
Language: German (Subtitled)
Language: French (Subtitled)
Language: Italian (Subtitled)
Language: Norwegian (Subtitled)
Language: Finnish (Subtitled)
Language: English (Subtitled)
Language: Hebrew (Subtitled)
Language: Hindi (Subtitled)
Language: Bulgarian (Subtitled)
Language: Polish (Subtitled)
Language: Swedish (Subtitled)
Language: Hungarian (Subtitled)
Language: Portuguese (Subtitled)
Language: Icelandic (Subtitled)

Add to Cart

© 2006 Darren Hester, DesignsByDarren.com, Some Rights Reserved.
Valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional