（放心，之後的感想是中文）

   1. How Not to Be Seen: A government film which first displays the importance of not being seen, then devolves into various things being blown up, much to John Cleese's amusement.

   2. Man with tape recorder: 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 cinema overestimation of the film's length and announces an interval. In the meantime, two short films are shown: 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 (with a brief "stereo" segment at the end of the second film). (In a decided bit of irreverence, the tape recorder is playing La Marseillaise, the French national anthem).

   3. Dirty Hungarian Phrasebook: After the above mentioned interval ends, a sketch plays in which a Hungarian immigrant (John Cleese) is arrested after a series of linguistic cock-ups in a tobacconist's (Terry Jones), beginning with "I will not buy this record, it is scratched" (believed by the Hungarian to be a request for cigarettes), then turning into various sexual innuendos ("Do you want to come back to my place, bouncy-bouncy?"). The incident reaches a peak as the tobacconist attempts to communicate "6 shillings, please" in Hungarian, and is rewarded with a left hook (presumably the phrasebook also attempts to create havoc for English people trying to speak Hungarian). The Hungarian gentleman is swiftly arrested for assault, but is released and the author (Michael Palin) of the fraudulent phrasebook is arrested instead.

   4. Animation-Hand Plants and Things: An animation by Terry Gilliam depicting cut-out hands as plants and animals.

   5. Animation-A Barber's Suicide: A barber puts shaving cream all over his head and cuts it off.

   6. Marriage Guidance Counsellor: The marriage guidance counsellor (Eric Idle) flirts with and makes love to the attractive Deirdre Pewtey (Carol Cleveland), and her husband Arthur Pewtey (Palin) is somewhat depressed by this turn of events. His attempt to "pull his finger out" and end this nonsense fails miserably.

   7. Animation-The Cannibal Baby: A man carries a baby in a carriage that eats old ladies, but the carriage is turned around by an irate woman and chases the man.

   8. Animation-The Statue: After the above animation ends, an animated arm tries to remove Michelangelo's David's fig leaf, presumably covering his genitals, but an old woman's head is there instead and demands that smut like this not be shown on screen.

   9. 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. It turns out that he simply wants to know, "What's it like?"

  10. Self Defence Against Fresh Fruit: 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.

  11. Hell's Grannies: An uptight colonel (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 antisocial old ladies. Other gangs referenced are the Baby Snatchers (men dressed as babies snatching people off the street at random) and vicious "Keep Left" signs, at which point the colonel stops the sketch.

  12. Military March: A military squad does an extremely effeminate chant, which the colonel again finds silly ("and a bit suspect, I think"), and replaces with a cartoon.

  13. Animation-Rampage of the Cancerous Black Spot: The animation depicts a prince getting a spot on his face, foolishly ignoring it and dying of cancer. The spot then goes out to seek its fortune and gets married to another spot.

  14. Expedition to Mt. Kilimanjaro: Arthur Wilson (Idle) goes to Sir George Head (Cleese) to join an expedition to Mt. Kilimanjaro, but the interview rapidly descends into chaos due to Head's unusual case of double vision and another member of the expedition trashing the office. (The scene ends when Head is startled to see the next scene coming, as it presumably looks to him like a young woman with four breasts.)

  15. Girls in Bikinis: Sexy women are seen posing in bikinis to the sound of lecherous male slavering, which ends abruptly when the camera pans to John Cleese reclining on a desk in a pink bikini and bow tie saying the phrase, "And now for something completely different."

  16. Would You Like To Come To My Place?: A man (Palin) tells a police inspector (Cleese) of a theft, after an awkward silence he decides to invite said policeman to come back to his place.

  17. The Flasher: A man (Jones) in a grubby raincoat appears to be flashing his naked body to women on the streets. It turns out, when he does the same to the camera, that he is fully clothed and simply wearing a sign that says "Boo!"

  18. Animation-American Defense: American Defense, Crelm Toothpaste and Shrill Petrol are advertised.

  19. Animation-Conrad Poohs and His Dancing Teeth: The 20th Century Frog and MGM-spoofing logos introduce Conrad Poohs (an animated photograph of Terry Gilliam)and his Dancing Teeth, set to the music of Josef Wagner's Under the Double Eagle.

  20. Musical Mice: Arthur Ewing (Jones) has "musical" mice, reputedly trained to squeak at specific pitches. He says they will play Three White Mice, but he simply starts hitting them with mallets and providing the tune himself. His audience is enraged by this and chase him out of the studio.

  21. Sir Edward Ross: The audience chases Ewing through a TV studio, interrupting a scene where an interviewer (Cleese) calls Sir Edward Ross (Chapman) by a number of inappropriate names, such as "Eddie Baby ", "pussycat", etc.

  22. Seduced Milkmen: A milkman (Palin) gets seduced at the door of a house by a lovely woman (Cleveland) but then gets locked in her closet with other milkmen, "some of whom are very old."

  23. 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. It is snapped up by the army who send a despatch rider to collect it and translate it into German. It then goes on to become a deadly weapon in the Second World War. An animated man (based on a portrait of Henry VII of England) attempts to apologize for the poor taste of this sketch, but is distracted by a woman's flashing her breasts to him.

  24. Animation-The Old Woman Who Cannot Catch a Bus: As the animated man from the previous sketch chases after the naked woman, an old woman tries to catch a bus, but it drives past. A second bus comes along, but it too drives past. A third bus is flipped over when the woman trips it with her foot.

  25. Animation-The Killer Cars: Cars attempt to stem overpopulation by eating people. Eventually, a giant mutant cat is brought in to scare the cars off. This plan works perfectly, until the cat starts eating buildings. It turns out that the sketch is a story being narrated by an old man.

  26. Animation-Dancing Venus: The mutant cat from the previous animation falls into a sausage grinder. The resulting "product" leads into the hair of Botticelli's Venus, who stands on her shell...until an arm comes out of the water and twists her nipple like a radio knob. Upbeat music plays, and Venus dances wildly until her exertions cause the shell to tip over, leading to...

  27. Dead Parrot: Perhaps Monty Python's most famous sketch, Mr. Praline (Cleese) attempts to get a refund for his deceased parrot, but the shopkeeper (Palin) refuses to acknowledge the parrot's passing on.

  28. The Lumberjack Song: The shop owner sings about his dreams of being a lumberjack. He also sings about his dreams of being female, however, disturbing his best girl (Connie Booth) and the background singers (Canadian Mounties, causing them to leave and throw fruit at him.)

  29. The Restaurant Sketch: The employees of a restaurant (Jones, Palin, Idle, and Cleese) react with ever-increasing melodrama to a dirty fork given to a dining couple (Cleveland and Chapman), resulting in their horrible deaths. A punchline is then shown, in which Chapman turns to the camera and says "Good thing I didn't tell them about the dirty knife!"

  30. Animation-Musical Interlude: A picture of Rodin's The Kiss appears, with the addition of several small holes along the woman's leg. The woman straightens her leg out, and the man plays her like a wind instrument

  31. Animation-How To Build Certain Interesting Things: Garbage is dropped on a stage and banged repeatedly with a hammer. It takes on the shape of a wheeled arm holding a gun, which rolls into the next scene.

  32. Bank Robber: A bank robber (Cleese) mistakes a lingerie shop for a bank, and attempts to rob it. After the shop owner (Idle) stymies his hopes of robbery, the robber is somewhat put out by his error, and makes do with a pair of panties.

  33. People Falling Out of High Buildings: A worker (Idle) sees people going past the window downwards, but his co-worker (Cleese) is uninterested, until they realize that there is a board meeting occurring up stairs and make a little wager that Parkinson will be next. A man played by Chapman then writes a letter of complaint, but just as he writes "I have worked in tall buildings all my life, and have never once--", he is somehow propelled out of a tall building.

  34. Animation-The Bug: A bug with humanlike features goes to sleep and wakes up as a (effeminate male) butterfly.

  35. Animation-The Three People: Three people walk in snow singing the title of the next skit, in choral harmony.

  36. Vocational Guidance Counsellor: Herbert Anchovy (Palin) no longer wants to be a chartered accountant, and harbours dreams of being a lion tamer. The counsellor (Cleese) suggests that Anchovy should instead work his way up to lion taming, via banking, an idea which Herbert initially rejects, until he is informed that the animal he thinks is a lion is in fact an anteater, and that mere stock footage of a lion scares the life out of him. He then desperately cries out that he just wants to see his name in lights, a wish granted by a magic fairy (played by Idle with a moustache).

  37. Blackmail!: Herbert is initially mystified by his sudden role of hosting the TV show "Blackmail!", but gets into the idea very quickly, and does his new, somewhat questionable duty with enthusiasm and panache.

  38. The Battle of Pearl Harbor: The silly-hating colonel appears again, and introduces a group of women (the Pythons in drag) re-enacting the attack on Pearl Harbor (or rather, beating each other with their handbags in mud). They are led by Rita Fairbanks (Idle).

  39. Romantic Interlude: A man (Jones) and girlfriend (Cleveland) begin making love, and several suggestive images are shown (an industrial chimney collapsing in reverse, a torpedo being fired, etc.), but the images are in fact only films being played by the man. The woman asks whether he's actually going to do something or just show films all night, and the man replies with "Just one more, dear"

  40. Upper Class Twit of the Year: Five mentally addled members of the landed gentry go through a challenging obstacle course, with such events as walking along a straight line, jumping over a wall made of two rows of matchboxes and shooting themselves in the head (one twit is so inept that, in an attempt to back up a car, he somehow manages to run himself over)

  41. Animation-End Titles: The end credits, rendered in Terry Gilliam's typically absurd style.

（以上簡介轉自英文微基百科）

=====================================



在正文開始前，我想我有必要介紹一下這部電影，跟裡頭主要演員的由來。



1969年，六個來自劍橋及牛津的英國年輕人在機緣巧遇下共同製作了一部當年紅遍全英，後來逐漸延燒到全世界的電視喜劇節目：蒙地蟒蛇的飛行馬戲團（Monty Python's Flying Circus）。沒聽過的人也許無法理解，但他們可是被喻為喜劇界的披頭四，足見其世界級的影響力。十分巧合的是，在「蒙地蟒蛇的飛行馬戲團」1969年10月5號開播的前一天也就是同年10月4號，風靡全日，也是我老爸最喜歡的長青喜劇節目「八點！全員集合」（8時だョ!全員集合）也在電視上播出了第一集（當年志村健毛都沒長齊呢！所以我老頭每次看到他都眼帶睥睨）。對兩個都是多人團體、都以多則短劇綜合成一集節目、都對後代喜劇節目產生極大影響的「蒙地蟒蛇的飛行馬戲團」及「八點！全員集合」來說，幾乎同時間以相似的手法揭開各自的歷史序幕，只能說是某種宿命性時代齒輪的作用了。



回到電影。

在「蒙地蟒蛇的飛行馬戲團」裡，短劇跟短劇之間的多以Terry Gilliam（時光大盜、巴西、奇幻城市、未來總動員等的導演）所製作的動畫進行銜接....



但偶爾也會用脫光光彈鋼琴的男子...


最早是Terry Gilliam

以及一個男人，出現在任何一種怪異的場合諸如大廈頂樓外緣或草原中間或河流中央或如這部電影裡的穿著紅色比基尼躺在桌上，說



「現在來點完全不同的」（And Now For Something Completely Different）

由於這台詞太紅、太琅琅上口，同時當年花花公子雜誌英國分部的頭頭Victor Lownes看上了蒙地蟒蛇的聚財力，便出資幫他們將「蒙地蟒蛇的飛行馬戲團」頭兩季裡最為人所稱道的短劇及動畫重新拍成一部電影，企圖外銷美國；入侵計劃並不順利，但在英國國內評價倒還不錯。隔了幾年電影再版，終於在美國受到小小的注目，在知名影評網站「爛番茄」也拿下89%（目前）的高評價。



由於我算是他們的粉絲，這部電影裡的短劇跟動畫我都看過，也都還有印象，所以並沒有太高亢的情緒，但仍微笑的看完全片。其中我比較欣賞的有幾則，簡單跟大家分享一下。

Sir Edward Ross：

一個名人上訪談節目，主持人卻對他的名字大做文章，一下問能不能叫他Edward，然後問能不能叫他Ted，接著開始叫他蜜糖或性感小貓什麼的。兩者間不苟言笑的神情可說是英式幽默的最佳表現。

The Funniest Joke in the World：

這可說是我印象最深的短劇。一個江郎才盡的作家寫出一則世界上最好笑的笑話，看著看著就笑死了，進房發現兒子屍體的母親也在看完笑話後笑著死去。該則笑話後來被軍方找了許多翻譯人員以一次一個字的方式進行翻譯（有一個不小心看到兩個字，住院好幾星期才康復）成德文，並在戰時發給不懂德文的士兵在戰場上使用，笑死了許多德軍。極富創意的一則短劇。



The Lumberjack Song：

一個夢想是當樵夫的寵物店老闆帶起毛帽開始唱起他的樵夫之歌。歌詞一開始正常又陽光，唱著唱著開始有上酒吧跟變裝癖的出現。輕鬆小品。

Blackmail!：

一個電視節目專以刺探別人隱私的方式撈錢。他們會在節目上唸出人物部份資料及他們所掌握的不可曝光的情報，並要那些被點名的觀眾寄錢到該節目否則就會將此情報提供給「你不會想讓他／她知道的人」。節目最後播放一則動畫，隨著時間前進右下角的金額會逐漸增加，直到被攝人（正在偷情之類）打電話進來同意付款才中止。



對習慣於英式幽默的觀眾來說（可能也要有點年紀）應該會頗好笑的一部電影，可惜我估計他們這部電影或他們的節目進來台灣的機率微乎其微。但也許有人會說「我英文超好，我想看！」怎麼辦？放心，蒙地蟒蛇的成員非常好心，有鑒於Youtube的使用者大量上傳他們的創作結晶侵犯他們的版權，他們自己弄了個Youtube的頻道，想懷舊的老觀眾或想體驗他們搞笑功力的新朋友都能在上面看到部分的節目....當然是部分！要看全部，請購買他們的ＤＶＤ。

蒙地蟒蛇的Youtube頻道


延伸閱讀：

維京奇航影評
笨賊一籮筐影評