The Black Knight Always Triumphs !

Rating: 8/10 (26 September 2013)

In England in 932AD, King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table are charged with a sacred quest to find the Holy Grail of biblical legend. However, if they should doubt their courage or their strength, death awaits them all with nasty big pointy teeth ...
Made for the vast sum of £229,575, this comic cult classic is one of the funniest and most original movies ever made. The combination of the weird, zany, shocking, argumentative, stream-of-consciousness humour of the Monty Python troupe within the historical context of Arthurian legend is simply brilliant. The Pythons are able to simultaneously create a visually exciting movie of medieval times but then break all the rules about how such movies should play out. Typical example - the coconuts idea is a great visual joke based on budgetary limitations (they couldn't afford any horses) which they also turned into a hilarious opening scene where they bicker over the anachronistic existence of tropical fruit in Anglo-Saxon Britain. The movie is both great fun to watch in of itself, but also even more fun to laugh at as a satire of historical/action/period films in general (such as the "bad editing" joke when Sir Lancelot storms Swamp Castle). The dialogue is priceless throughout, with gags ranging from the cerebral to the gloriously offensive, but perhaps most importantly the film has a truly inspired sense of the visual - the Black Knight sequence, the Trojan Rabbit, the dreaded Cave Of Caerbannog, and many other great moments. This is the only Python movie directed by both the Terrys, and it combines the best qualities of Jones' character comedy with Gilliam's artist's perspective. If it has one limitation, it's that a few scenes feel like individual sketches within the larger film, but the episodic nature of the story covers this quite nicely. Everybody is terrific in it and Palin and Idle possibly win a joint award for most characters played in a feature, with at least seven speaking parts each. I especially like Gilliam as The Old Man From Scene 24. The Pythons only made four movies (five if you count the Hollywood Bowl concert), all of which are terrific but have different strengths and weaknesses. This one is perhaps the most fun and (despite its cult credentials) the most accessible, and is not to be missed. Shot mostly in Scotland, notably at Doune Castle in Perthshire and Castle Stalker in Argyll, this makes a great double-bill with John Boorman's Excalibur, but make sure you watch the Monty Python film second. And always remember, just walk away from any French people taunting you.