Jabberwocky

1977
PG
1h 45m

IMDb RATING

6.1/10

16K

YOUR RATING

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Watch Jabberwocky: You've Discovered My Diamond Mine

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Dark Comedy Parody Adventure Comedy Fantasy

A young peasant with no interest in adventure or fortune is mistaken for the kingdom's only hope when a horrible monster threatens the countryside.A young peasant with no interest in adventure or fortune is mistaken for the kingdom's only hope when a horrible monster threatens the countryside.A young peasant with no interest in adventure or fortune is mistaken for the kingdom's only hope when a horrible monster threatens the countryside.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.1/10

16K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Trivia
The fight between the Jabberwocky and the Black Knight was choreographed differently than what is shown in this movie. When Peter Salmon slipped and fell, writer and director Terry Gilliam decided it looked so natural that he edited the fight sequence to include the fall.

Goofs
Potatoes originated in the Andes, in South America. They were introduced to Europe in the middle of the 16th century, and were a staple food about 100 years later, well after the feudal era.

Quotes
Narrator: It is the middle of the Dark Ages. Ages darker than anyone had ever expected.

Crazy credits
"All characters portrayed in this film are entirely fictitious and bare no resemblance to anyone living or dead, except for one."

Alternate versions
A single instance of the use of the word "buggers" had to be removed in order for the film to receive an 'A' (PG) certificate in the UK. Later releases were uncut.

Connections
Featured in The Pythons (1979)

Soundtracks
Night on a Bald Mountain
by Modest Mussorgsky (as M.Moussorgskij) & Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

User reviews85

Review

Featured review

Gilliam's first solo venture

A hit-and-miss post-Python affair, directed by Terry Gilliam and featuring former teammates Terry Jones (briefly) and Michael Palin (throughout), alongside a Who's Who of British comedy including Max Wall, Bernard Bresslaw, Harry H Corbett, John Bird, Neil Innes, John Le Mesurier, Warren Mitchell, Graham Crowden, and others.

Jabberwocky starts off in a promising way, using the Lewis Carroll poem plus gory visuals as the monster claims its first victim. After that it meanders along with the story of Dennis the cooper (a caricature very like Python's Arthur Pewtey) as he goes to the big city in search of fame and fortune. Max Wall is delightfully funny as King Bruno the Questionable, but several of the gags fall flat and are just too silly to be funny.

All this aside, it was a fine idea, done on a shoe-string budget, and has a lot of good amongst the dross. Remembered with affection.