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Jabberwocky [DVD] [1977] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]
 
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Jabberwocky [DVD] [1977] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

DVD ~ Michael Palin
3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)

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Region 1 encoding (requires a North American or multi-region DVD player and NTSC compatible TV. More about DVD formats.)

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Jabberwocky [DVD] [1977] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]
81% buy the item featured on this page:
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Product details

  • Actors: Michael Palin, Harry H. Corbett, John Le Mesurier, Warren Mitchell, Max Wall
  • Directors: Terry Gilliam
  • Writers: Terry Gilliam, Charles Alverson, Lewis Carroll
  • Producers: John Goldstone, Julian Doyle, Sanford Lieberson
  • Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Colour, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
  • Language English
  • Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
  • Region: Region 1 (US and Canada DVD formats.)
  • Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Classification: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) (US MPAA rating. See details.)
  • Studio: Columbia TriStar
  • DVD Release Date: 23 Oct 2001
  • Run Time: 105 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B00005OKQK
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 115,889 in DVD (See Bestsellers in DVD)

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Reviews

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

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Customer Reviews

9 Reviews
5 star:
 (3)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:
 (2)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.6 out of 5 stars (9 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
32 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars My absolute favourite movie!, 6 Jan 2003
By A. J. Watson "Bones" (Newcastle-on-Tyne, UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)      
This review is from: Jabberwocky [DVD] [1977] (DVD)
Based on Lewis Carrol's 'The Jabberwock', Terry Gilliam unleashes the full force of his creative talents in this brilliant film.
We follow the adventures of Dennis Cooper, besotted with love for the gruesome Griselda Fishfinger, as he is disowned by his dying father and goes off to seek his fortune in the city. The city is however besieged by the eponymous monster, so the king (played to wonderful effect by Max Wall) arranges a tourney to select the best knight to kill the beast. Of course, Dennis is carried along and wins the day.
Doresn't sound much of a story, does it? - but the intricately detailed sets, the wonderful staged humour and brilliant direction make this a cut and a half above anything else in the genre. It knocks the Monty Python films into a cocked hat - and they are GOOD! Not for nothing did this film win the best comedy at Montreux. Particularly good performances from Max Wall, John leMesurier, Harry H Corbett and of course, Michael Palin, who just IS Dennis.
I don't understand how a great film like this has been allowed to fall out of circulation. I'd give it 10 stars if I could.
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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars coopering? that's no life for a man, 26 Sep 2006
By Gille Liath (Lancashire) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Jabberwocky [DVD] [1977] (DVD)
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?
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9 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Schoolboys Humour in the High Middle Ages, 25 Feb 2005
This review is from: Jabberwocky [DVD] [1977] (DVD)
Jabberwocky has much of the Python about it, but takes its story much more seriously - perhaps more seriously than it should. I like medieval costume films that juxtapose modern life with the rubbish of a mythic Middle Ages and, being a sucker for Zeffirelli's vision, admire it being satirised here as it was later in A Knight's Tale. This is no 'Brother Sun Sister Moon' or 'Romeo and Juliet'; this is a schmaltz-free zone, a grim-but-true Middle Ages played for laughs. Here we meet the all-but senile Bruno the Questionable and the achingly ugly Griselda, with Michael Palin as the luckless commoner-hero Dennis who defeats the creaking monster Jabberwocky. There are parodies of Jaws that manage to be tense and funny in the way the monster's pov scans through the trees, some moments of real disgust with steaming corpses - the blood-spattering tournament is very good - and a lot of questions raised about toilet arrangements in the High Middle Ages. Schoolboy humour with a touch of the bizarre. But it is over-long, and lacks the wacky sketch-show pace of Life of Brian - and comparisons with Monty Python and the Holy Grail are inevitable, with this film usually coming off the worst. Funny? Certainly; but not Holy Grail funny.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Darker than Python & that does it no harm.
Plenty have written more detailed reviews, suffice to say Jabberwocky is much darker than the usual Monthy Python productions and the story works really well in this style than,... Read more
Published 3 months ago by M. Stribley

4.0 out of 5 stars Funny, surreal former Python jokefest
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. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Chris Wood

2.0 out of 5 stars Gilliam's first film
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). Read more
Published 21 months ago by Lou Knee

4.0 out of 5 stars So nearly perfect...
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... Read more
Published 22 months ago by Wowbagger the Infinite

1.0 out of 5 stars A missed opportunity...
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. Read more
Published on 3 Jul 2006 by Mr. T. R. Slater

3.0 out of 5 stars Sub-Python, and also not Python
When I went to see this in the late 1970s, I assumed it was another Python spin-off. After all, any film containing Terry Jones, Terry Gilliam and Michale Palin has to be at... Read more
Published on 13 Aug 2003 by Gavin Wilson

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