Monty Python's Life Of Brian [DVD]

If you've ever tried to compile a list of pure comedies that are also truly great examples of cinema, you'll know how hard it is. I get stuck at about three. I once flipped patiently through  Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide  to see how many four star comedies I could find (I know - I'm a sad sack, aren't I) and don't recall seeing one more recent than Betty Davis'  All About Eve ] some time in the 1950s (though, it could cogently be argued, that says more about Leonard Maltin than it does about funny cinema).There are outstandingly brilliant funny films, like  Airplane!  and  This Is Spinal Tap , that never transcend the string of loosely-themed set pieces that was their genesis and, whilst compulsory viewing, don't pretend to operate as real motion pictures (in fairness some of Christopher Guest's later output, and in particular  Mighty Wind , does). There are wonderful films that happen to be funny, and maybe even wonderful comedies that aren't all that funny.But Monty Python's Life of Brian, while it pulls you in with its homely premise and, true to Python form, plays out very much like a string of set pieces, effortlessly transcends its genre into timelessness and profundity. That it's still as challenging today as it was on release (for different, but not that different, reasons) is part of it, but that doesn't speak to the pure cinema of it. The closing scene, as classic a sketch as any Monty Python devised, isn't just a magical set piece, but is a bittersweet and timeless commentary on the absurdity of life and, to boot, a genuinely moving swansong for Monty Python itself (leaving aside the somewhat challenging existence, for this theory, of 1983's  The Meaning of Life ). There are some transcendent moments in the history of cinema, and the cheerily whistling, toe-tapping routine of condemned men on crosses, pulling out to a twilight wide shot, is as superb as any of them.The sketches are of course brilliantly funny and all eminently, inevitably and annoyingly quotable by males of a certain age, but the underlying absurdities they point up, dearly held sacred cows all - the absurdity of stoning someone for saying Jehovah, the absurdity of political protesting for the principle of it, the wilful absurdity of "miraculous" explanations for innocent behaviour (says the hermit who has just accidentally broken a vow of silence, Brian having trod on his foot: "I hadn't said a word in eighteen years until he came along". The crowd: "a miracle!"), and the sum total of all of this mayhem: the absurdity of life itself - are decisively executed and keenly observed. This is by no means wacky private schoolboy humour of no consequence: this is cutting social satire, and it is to all of our discredit that, nearly thirty years on, the motivated prurience of religious groups has barely abated.In the accompanying disk there is a terrific documentary charting the reception of this film on general release in 1979, which to us old dogs really doesn't seem that long ago, but on the strength of that documentary may as well have between before the Boer War.Well, in one sense. But when Terry Gilliam wonders out loud whether that film could get made today, and doubts it, you have to suspect he's right: the absurd objections of the Mary Whitehouse brigade might not pass muster these days, but equally pernicious (and absurd) ones from other religions have taken their place. When we tolerate religion but don't tolerate free speech you do have to wonder. In any case, it is interesting to see footage in that documentary of the Pythons' famous BBC2 debate with Malcolm Muggeridge and the Bishop of Southwark, if for no other reason because it's rare chance to see the permanently-genial Michael Palin so worked up as to seem visibly to be restraining himself from lamping Malcolm Muggeridge.This "immaculate" pressing of the film didn't seem to be up to much for me - I was disappointed in the surround sound quality on the feature disk (I once owned a long player of the soundtrack, and remember the musical numbers being far crisper) and the bonus disc has little on it apart from the hour long making-of documentary, interesting though that was.Lastly, kudos to the late George Harrison, who apparently single-handedly financed the film when no-one else would (and, presumably, made a killing!) without whom we may still be living under the dark auspices of the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association.OK, not that likely, but still.Olly Buxton

It is a pity that many have chosen to complain about the extras with the DVD - given that this is a film made back in 1979 that was made on a shoe string budget (largely funded by the late George Harrison's Handmade Films after studio bosses got cold feet).It is true that Holy Grail got a much better package at an earlier stage, but that seems to have more of a cult following (which would explain the phenomenal success of the musical).This is arguably the best comedy film ever committed to celluloid - because it commits itself to one thing: being very very funny.This is also the only real movie the Pythons ever made (given that Holy Grail had a bizarre structure and no real ending, and Meaning of Life is just an extended Flying Circus) but they made it count.The plot should be familiar by now - Brian (born 25/12/00 or not depending on your view) is mistaken for a messiah - hilarity ensues.Highlights include the Roman who behaves like a Latin Master, the ex-leper with a killer punch-line, and the now legendary "what have the Romans ever done for us" speech, but there are other smaller delights to be had: the kindly Roman (Palin) gently telling people where to get the cross, the apparently mad jailer (Gilliam) who only gabbers incoherently until the prisoners move off and then lapses into perfect english, and the mishearing of the sermon on the mount (Blessed are the cheesemakers).If you are among the few who have never seen it - do so immediately.If you are a real Python-nut then there is a big expensive complete box set available, but if like me you just love this film this is the best way to get it.

This edition is, alas, not quite as `immaculate' as its subtitle suggests - mainly because, for some reason, the 1979 BBC on-location documentary, `The Pythons' - an extra on previous DVD issues of `Life of Brian' - is not here to be found - despite clips from it appearing in the new documentary, and snippets from its soundtrack being used on the extras menu. Had this been squeezed onto Disc 2, along with the 9/1/79 edition of TV chat show `Friday Night, Saturday Morning', in which Cleese and Palin faced `Life of Brian' critics Malcolm Muggeridge and Mervyn Stockwood in heated debate, plus perhaps the `Not The Nine O'Clock News' parody of this legendary encounter, it would have made this set a truly immaculate conception.

It's hard to believe that there is anyone who hsn't already seen this film and formed their own opinion but for me it is comedy at its very best. The Monty Python team must have taken a real gamble when they embarked on a film which some people would inevitably find offensive - a skit on the life of Christ, but I'm glad they took the chance, as it remains one of the funniest films I have seen. Just like in many of the sketches in their television series, already the film has sequences with which the audience are "word perfect". This really is a very funny film. If you are deeply religious, don't watch it because you will feel obliged not to like it. Otherwise, if you don't have it already, buy it and , like me, you will find yourself laughing out loud.

This caused a right old hoo har when it was first released back in 1979, these days it seems quite tame. The Pythons, who wrote the screenplay and played various parts, tell the story of how a mistaken identity causes a young Jewish man called Brian Cohen to be hailed as the Messiah. Watching it with modern day eyes, it's as much as a comment on the political situation of the late 1970s - Trade Unions, strikes etc, rather than an attack on religion.Myself and my husband, who went to see the film at the cinema when it was first released, really enjoyed it.