A book about the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Subtitle: all the references from African swallows to Zoot
By: Darl Larsen
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Published: 2015
Language: eng
Number of pages: 599
ISBN-13: 9781442245532
Subjects: Monty Python (Comedy troupe); Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Motion picture)
Description: Monty Python's Flying Circus aired from 1969 until 1974, but the conclusion of the series did not mark the end of the troupe's creative output. Even before the final original episodes were recorded and broadcast, the six members began work on their first feature-length enterprise of new material. Rather than string together a series of silly skits, they conceived a full-length story line with references to the real and imagined worlds of the mythical King Arthur, the lives of medieval peasants, and the gloomy climate of 1970s Britain. Released in 1975, Monty Python and the Holy Grail was a modest success but has since been hailed as a modern classic.  In A Book about the Film Monty Python and the Holy Grail: All the References from African Swallows to Zoot, Darl Larsen identifies and examines the cultural, historical, and topical allusions in the movie. In this entertaining resource, virtually every reference that appears in a scene--whether stated by a character, depicted in the mise-en-scène, or mentioned in the print companion--is identified and explained. Beyond the Arthurian legend, entries cover literary metaphors, symbols, names, peoples, and places--as well as the myriad social, cultural, and historical elements that populate the film.   This book employs the film as a window to both reveal and examine "Arthurian" life and literature, the historical Middle Ages, and a Great Britain of labor unrest, power shortages, and the common man. Introducing the reader to dozens of medievalist histories and authors and connecting the film concretely to the "modern" British Empire, A Book about the Film Monty Python and the Holy Grail will appeal to fans of the troupe as well as medieval scholars and academics who can laugh at themselves and their work. --Provided by publisher.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 535-551) and index.
Table of contents: title: Title and Credit Sequence; title: Coconuts and Swallows; title: Animation/Live Action Sequence; title: "Bring Out Your Dead"; title: Dennis the Peasant; title: The Black Knight; title: Flagellant Monks and "She's a Witch!"; title: Various Montage - Animation; title: The Book of the Film; title: Camelot ("It Is a Silly Place"); title: God Announces the Grail Quest; title: Title Sequence Animation; title: Taunting by Frenchmen; title: The Wooden Rabbit; title: A Very Famous Historian; title: The Tale of Sir Robin; title: The Tale of Sir Galahad and the Springboard Novitiates; title: Castle Anthrax; title: Animation/Live Action Scene 24; title: The Blind Soothsayer or "Scene 24"; title: The Knights Who Say "Ni"; title: Dead Historian and Police; title: The Tale of Sir Launcelot - "Bloody Weather"; title: The Tale of Sir Launcelot Scene; title: Launcelot and Concorde; title: Launcelot Storms Swamp Castle; title: Toothless Old Crone and Roger the Shrubber; title: Knights of Ni Get Their Shurbbery; title: The Dead Historian Covered; title: King Brian the Wild; title: "Passing Seasons" Animation; title: Tim the Enchanter; title: Killer Rabbit, and Holy Hand Grenade; title: The Cave of Caerbannog; title: The Bridge of Death; title: The Wonderful Barge and the Grail Castle; title: Stop the Film; title: Appendix A: Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Book) Facing Pages; title: Appendix B: Personal Correspondence.