Nearly all of the sketches are the long, one-joke bits. This does have the strange power to make the truly funny stuff (Dead Parrot, Lumberjack Song, Upperclass Twit) stand out as gut-busters.

When released in Germany the film's title was changed to Monty Pythons Wunderbare Welt der Schwerkraft (trans. Monty Python's Wonderful World of Gravity), which I thought a much better title.

In the 'Dirty Fork sketch', keep your eye on Graham Chapman the whole time. By the time Michael Palin has collapsed on him, he's dead!

Anyone know what the following pieces of music are: the Blackmail theme & the "Love Theme" played over the clips of the chimney etc? The seconds sounds like a track from Willy Wonka's chocolate factory.

I expect this 'film' is called And Now For Something Completely Different because it is, in fact, exactly the same as what they did before.

I suspect this 'film' is called And Now For Something Completely Different because it's often the opening line of the series...

"And now for something completely different, it's... Monty Python's Flying Cirrrr-cus!"

cue music and opening credits

Maybe it's both?

Why does the guy at the nightclub refer to "Conrad Poohs and His Dancing Teeth" as Conrad Poohs and His EXPLODING Teeth"?

This is a film that is best enjoyed in repeat viewings, I've discovered.

Apparently in previews it was found that most people last around the 50 minute mark but started laughing later on, regardless of what they were watching. This led to some re-editing to put the duller material at this point.

Observations from comparing show sketches to movie sketches

*In the original Marriage Counselor sketch, Pewtey is confronted outside not by God, but by an American rustic.

*The self defense sketch goes on MUCH longer on television, with Cleese killing off the entire class. It's funny, but the film preserves the best joke and it's great to end on "Next. I eat the banana."

*Ken Ewing plays "The Bells of St. Mary's" on the mice in television, not "Three Blind Mice."

*The funniest joke in the world sketch is much longer, including research to produce a German version. The cuts were good, but the German joke (the salted peanut one) was pretty funny.

*I must say the insane cartoon montage that goes from funny joke to dead parrot is excellent. The dead parrot sketch, of course, ends differently. Not a major loss and a nice transition, but it does eliminate "Yeah, it's hard to pad these out to thirty minutes."

*The vocational guidance counselor sketch gets a boost--Cleese doesn't just show Anchovy a picture of a lion, there's a full-fledged video clip! Anchovy doesn't faint, though, so we don't have time for a piece of wood.

*The music played during the "Stop the Film" segment of Blackmail is different (I prefer television's). Gilliam plays the nude organist on television, although Jones would soon take the role over anyway. The revelation of who is on the phone is an excellent one in the movie.

*The Upperclass Twit of the Year segment is MUCH, much longer on television with some added events (the names are changed around too). While I like that they went for the hilarious effect of a huge crowd in attendance, it does eliminate the rather enthused extras. The sketch benefits on film from a snappy music score.

Whether on purpose or not, the film does not really capture the full insanity of a typical Flying Circus episode even if all the sketches are from the show. Yes, it's pretty zany. But each skech more or less could stand by itself--as opposed to some episodes, where entire sketches would intentionally divert themselves.

When I first saw this one of the things I spotted were the places on Sir George Head's route to Kilimanjaro were different, I guess to make it easy for an American audience; though I don't think the Blackmail places were different.

IMO, Colonel Stopping It was Graham Chapman's second-best character, after King Arthur, of course!

I am referring to the portrayal of the Colonel he did for this film, I thought it was better than the version from Flying Circus, and definetly better than the one he did for the live audience at the Hollywood Bowl. This character did not seem to have as much effect in front of a live audience, I thought.

And the same goes for the "Climbing Both Peaks of Mt. Kilamanjaro" sketch that was done to perfection in this movie. I laughed out loud when Cleese said "They were going to build a bridge between the two peaks."

I saw the Flying Circus version of this sketch and I just thought that the audience's laughter took something away from it, somehow.

I saw this film for the first time in either '95 or '96, and at that time I also rented the other movies as well. Before that I had rented a few of the Flying Circus tapes from my local store, and that led me to rent the movies, too.

I've been wondering for a long time now - who was the narrator for the "Interrnational Chinese Communist Conspiracy/American Defense" and "The Killer Cars" sketches done in this movie? They were two of my favorites.

And finally - one more example of a good funny sketch that, IMO, was done better in this film than in front of a live audience: the Restaurant sketch!

"Lucky I didn't tell him about the dirty knife!"