Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #23446 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-05-21
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Full Screen, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 181 minutes

Synopsis
Contains all the episodes from the third series of the classic and highly influential television comedy show Monty Python's Flying Circus. Consisting of British actors Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, and American Terry Gilliam, the hugely influential comedy troupe evolved from Cambridge University's Footlight Society in the late 1960s in order to become one of the most worshipped comedy acts of all time. Groundbreaking both in terms of its offbeat acting style and radical approach to the most controversial, taboo subjects (including sex, race, and politics), the legendary series MONTY PYTHON'S FLYING CIRCUS would forever change the face of sketch comedy. After the series' demise, the unit would go on to create several big screen classics, including MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL and MONTY PYTHON'S LIFE OF BRIAN, as well as spawning major Hollywood careers for its members (most notably, Gilliam, director of THE FISHER KING and TWELVE MONKEYS).

Customer Reviews

PYTHON'S FLYING......
SERIES 3 is when the 'MONTY' phenomenon stopped being a cult, and was embraced by schoolkids and students alike [the studio- audience laughter finally becomes obvious by this point; lacking in SERIES ONE, at least.]----though derided by many 'adults' of the early 70s.

----IDLE'S opener 'multiple-murderer court scene' is an unforgettable macabre classic, and there is much brilliant use of isolated film inserts ['LEMON CURRY', anyone?] to enhance the overall surrealism throughout....

---some nasty ['SAM PECKINPAH'S 'SALAD DAYS' spurts bad taste deliberately] and sexist ['DIRTY VICAR' sketch, relishly depicted by JONES] items are interspersed, to no great harm overall, ---and the icing on the cake is provided by no less than TERRY GILLIAM, who furnishes many sustained, decent-length animations: 'SUPER CHARWOMAN' , for me his finest piece of this series.

SERIES 3 is my own personal favourite amongst the PYTHON TV canon; outstanding in 1972-73, and a timeless artefact of superior BRITISH comedy from those far-off times.

Monty Pythons flying circus series 3
The humour has not stood the test of time, not as good as I remember it when first shown on TV, (I am 67 years of age). Enjoyed the street scenes with all the sixties and seventies traffic best!

Many great moments, but this is when the rot started to creep in...
Series Three is where the rot set in. The first four episodes are as great as their very best work, but from then on it's a very mixed bag, although even the weak episodes have inspired moments (the Cheese Shop sketch, the inept firing squad in The Cycling Tour, the sheer bloody genius of Sam Peckinpah's Salad Days, Tudor pornography - from Shakespeare's Gay Boys in Bondage to "Toledo Tit Farm! What kind of play is that?" - the confused lupin-obssessed highwayman Dennis Moore ("Steals from the poor, gives to the rich/Stupid bitch!") or Mrs Premise and Mrs Conclusions impromptu trip to Mr and Mrs Jean-Paul Satre to settle an argument over whether Rues i Liberte is an allegory of man's search for commitment, man's desire to avoid action or an everyday story of French country folk). It's striking seeing it for the first time in years to see just how many racial caricatures there are - Terry Jones as Japanese Luchino Visconti, Graham Chapman as an African warrior or a Chinese British consul - which they just about get away with because everything in the show is so absurd it's hard to take offense.

Sadly, as with Sony's initial releases of the other three series, this is a lazy disc with no extras and a big minus for not being able to play all the episodes but having to go back to the menu selection each time.