And Now For Something Completely Different
And Now For Something Completely Different is a film
spinoff from the television comedy series
Monty Python's Flying Circus featuring favourite sketches from the first two seasons. The title was used as a
catchphrase in the TV show.
The film, released in
1971, consists of 90 minutes of the best sketches seen in the first two series of the TV show. The sketches were remade on film without an audience, and was intended for an
American audience which had not yet seen the series. The announcer uses the phrase "and now for something completely different" several times during the film, in situations such as being roasted on a spit and lying on top of the desk in a small, pink bikini (much to an onlooking pervert's disgust).
This movie is somewhat similar to the 1974 film
"The Best of Benny Hill" which was a film spinoff from the television comedy series
"The Benny Hill Show" featuring favourite sketches from the first five years. The difference in both films are that the Pythons recreated all the sketches while Benny used clips from the Thames years and edited them together to make the film.
The film is rated PG both in the
UK and the
US.
The film was the idea of entrepreneur
Victor Lownes, head of
Playboy UK, who convinced the group that a feature film would be the ideal way to introduce them to the US market and make them lots of money. Lownes acted as executive producer. Production of the film did not go entirely smoothly. Lownes tried to exert a lot more control over the group than they had been used to at the BBC. In particular, he objected so strongly to one character - 'Ken Shabby' - that the sketch was removed.
Another argument with Lownes occurred when Terry Gilliam designed the opening credits for the film. Presenting the names of the Pythons in blocks of stone, Lownes tried to insist that his name be displayed in a similar manner. Initially, Gilliam refused but eventually he was forced to give in. Gilliam then created a different style of credit for the Pythons so that in the final version of the film, Lownes' credit is the only one that appears in that way.
The budget of the film was horribly low for the time at only
£80,000. It is referenced in the Killer Cars animation in the film when the cat first appears and eats the building, then, an old man (voiced by Eric Idle) mentions "a scene of such spectacular proportions that it could never in your life be seen in a low budget film like this." He then references that the audience should notice that his mouth isn't moving as well. The film was shot both on location in England and inside an abandoned dairy instead of a more costly soundstage.
The phrase is derived from the kind of phrase used to link items in a TV "magazine show" such as the
BBC's
Tonight, which alternated
current affairs and interviews with lighter
human interest material. It was often used on the BBC system, especially during its years of near-monopoly over British broadcast media, as a transition or bridge (or segue) between programs or program segments. Presumably, it struck the Monty Python humorists as funny that a boring talk show about growing
nasturtiums would be described as "completely different" from a boring talk show about hunting for mushrooms. Thus, besides contributing to the general sense of absurdity, the use of this phrase also struck a note of parody.
Many of the early episodes of the show feature a sensible-looking announcer (played by
John Cleese) dressed in a sensible black suit and sitting behind a sensible wooden desk, which in turn is in some
out-of-context location such as behind the bars of a zoo cage or in mid-air being held aloft by small attached propellers. The announcer would turn to the audience and announce "and now for something completely different", launching the show's opening credits starting with second series of the show.
The phrase was also used as a transition within the show. Often it would be added to in order to better explain the transition, for instance, "And now for something completely different: a man with a tape recorder up his nose." In later episodes the credits-launching was reduced to a split-second stock footage of the announcer saying "And now..." in a similar fashion as was done with its predecessor (the
"It's" man). It was replaced by a nude organist.
#
How Not To Be Seen: A government film showing why not being seen is important.#
A Man With a Tape Recorder Up His Nose: After the main title sequence animated by
Terry Gilliam, which comes after the above sketch, a "The End" screen appears, but a stage emcee (
Terry Jones) apologises for the film's length and says that there will be an interval. In the meantime, the cinema shows two films: One starring a man with a tape recorder up his nose and another starring a man with a tape recorder up his
brother's nose. (In a decided bit of irreverence, the tape recorder is playing
La Marseillaise, the French national anthem).#
Hungarian Phrasebook Sketch: After the above mentioned interval ends, a sketch plays in which a Hungarian immigrant (
John Cleese) is arrested, but is released and the author (
Michael Palin) of a fraudelent immigrant's phrasebook is arrested instead.#
Animation-Hand Plants and Things: An animation by
Terry Gilliam depicting cut-out hands as plants and animals.#
Animation-A Barber's Suicide: A barber puts shaving cream over his head and cuts it off.#
Marriage Guidance Counsellor: The marriage guidance counsellor (
Eric Idle) flirts with the attractive Dierdre Pewtey (
Carol Cleveland) and her husband Arthur Pewtey (Palin) feels depressed.#
Animation-The Cannibal Baby: A man carries a baby in a carriage that eats old ladies, but the man ends up being chased by the baby.#
Animation-The Statue: After the above animation ends, an animated arm tries to take off
Michelangelo's David's leaf, presumably covering his genitals, but an old woman's head tells that smut like this will not be shown on screen.#
Nudge, Nudge: The above animation ends and leads into a bar, where a man (Idle) asks another man (Jones) about his wife, with a relentless stream of sexual innuendos.#
Self-Defense Class: A teacher (Cleese) educates his students (
Graham Chapman, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, and Eric Idle) how to defend themselves from anyone armed with fresh fruit.#
Hell's Grannies: A military officer (Chapman) warns the film not to get silly again after the above sketch. He then tells the director to cut to a new scene, which is discovered to be about grannies and old ladies beating up young men and women. Other gangs referenced are the Baby Snatchers and vicious "Keep Left" signs, at which point the officer stops the sketch.#
Military March: A military squad does an
effeminate chant.#
Animation-Rampage of the Cancerous Black Spot: The officer sees the above sketch, thinks it is also silly ("and rather suspect") and says it is time for a cartoon. The animation depicts a prince getting a
spot on his face and dying of
cancer. The spot then goes out to seek its fortune and gets married to another spot.#
Expedition to Mt. Kilamarjaro: Arthur Wilson (Idle) goes to Sir George Head (Cleese) to join an expedition to Mt. Kilimanjaro, but problems occur when things go wrong because of Head's unusual case of double vision. (The scene ends when he is startled to see the next scene coming, as it presumably looks to him like a young woman with
four breasts.)#
Girls in Bikinis: Sexy women are seen in bikinis, ending with
John Cleese in a pink bikini and bow tie saying the phrase, "And now for something completely different!"#
Would You Like To Come To My Place?: A man (Palin) uses a false excuse to get a policeman (Cleese) to come back to his place.#
The Flasher: A man (Jones) appears to be revealing himself to women on the streets. It turns out he is wearing a sign that says "Boo!"#
Animation-American Defense: American Defense (also known as Crelm Toothpaste, also known as Shrill Petrol) is advertised.#
Animation-Conrad Poohs and His Dancing Teeth: The 20th Century Frog and MGM-spoofing logos introduce Conrad Poohs and his Dancing Teeth, a man with a
Jeremy Ironsesque appearance and dancing teeth!#
Musical Mice: Arthur Ewing (Jones) has musical mice (squeaking at specific pitches when struck with hammers), causing his audience to attack him.#
Sir Edward Ross: The audience chases Ewing through a TV studio, briefly interrupting a scene where an interviewer (Cleese) calls Sir Edward Ross (Chapman) by a number of inappropriate names, such as "Eddie Baby ", "pussycat", etc.#
Seduced Milkmen: A milkman (Palin) gets seduced by a lovely woman (Cleveland) but then gets locked in her closet with other milkmen, "some of whom are very old."#
The Funniest Joke in the World: Ernest Scribbler (Palin), who is shown having just written the joke in the previous sketch and then discarding it, has a sudden inspiration and writes a
lethal joke, which goes on to become a weapon of war.#
Animation-The Old Woman Who Cannot Catch a Bus: An old woman tries to catch a triple decker bus.#
Animation-The Killer Cars: Cars take the law into their own hands and a mutated cat scares them off, but at what cost?#
Dead Parrot: Mr. Praline (Cleese) attempts to tell the shop owner (Palin) that he gave him a dead parrot.#
The Lumberjack Song: The shop owner (Palin) tells of how he always wanted to be a lumberjack instead of a shopkeeper, and begins singing this song. He discloses his secret life in his song, however, disturbing his best girl (
Connie Booth) and the background singers, causing them to leave and throw fruit at him.#
The Restaurant Sketch: The employees of a restaurant (Jones, Palin, Idle, and Cleese) react with ever-increasing melodrama to a dirty fork belonging to a dining couple (Cleveland and Chapman).#
Animation-Musical Interlude: A statue depicting a man and woman making love plays a wind instrument.#
Animation-How To Build Certain Interesting Things: Garbage is placed and a hammer bangs on it loudly. It takes on the shape of an arm holding a gun, which flows into the next scene.#
Bank Robber: A bank robber (Cleese) tries to rob a lingerie shop, thinking it is a bank. Cleese then appears as the "Completely Different" man and says his phrase.#
People Falling Out of High Buildings: A worker (Idle) sees people going past the window downwards, but his co-worker (Cleese) is uninterested.#
Animation-The Bug: A bug with
humanlike features goes to sleep and wakes up as a (effeminate male) butterfly.#
Animation-The Three People: Three people walk in snow singing the title of the next skit, in choral harmony.#
Vocational Guidance Counsellor: Herbert Anchovy (Palin) does't want to be a chartered accountant, but a lion tamer. The counsellor (Cleese) thinks that Anchovy should work his way up, via banking.#
Blackmail!: A fairy (Idle in a drag) grants Anchovy's wish of wanting to be famous. He is the host of the TV show Blackmail! (with a self-explanatory title).#
The Battle of Pearl Harbor: A group of Python men in a drag led by Idle hit each other with their purses, "re-enacting"
Pearl Harbor.#
Romantic Interlude: A husband (Jones) and wife (Cleveland) are making love and suggestive images are seen (such as a collapsing chimney, shown in reverse), but the husband is showing films.#
Upper Class Twit of the Year: Twits go through obstacles to get the title, Upper Class Twit of the Year.#
Animation-End Titles: The medium amount of end titles are done in Gilliam animations, including a man bouncing on a fat woman and a pig landing on a man.
The film did not offer anything extra for British fans, except the opportunity to see the sketches in colour at a time when many viewers still had black and white sets, and indeed many were disappointed that the film seemed to belie its title.
Reviews for American audiences were mixed (mainly because that British humor was unfamiliar to the American viewers at the time) but mostly positive. When it was released on
August 22,
1972, the film did little success at the
box office and didn't do well until an
Autumn 1974 re-release, which was around the time
PBS started showing the edited 30-minute versions of the episodes. It currently has a
92% on Rotten Tomatoes.
The film originally was on DVD in Region 1 from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment; however, in 2005, it has been repacked in a new collector's pack called
And Now For Something Completely Hilarious! which features the films
Monty Python and the Holy Grail and
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen in Region 1 format from
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
