Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus (1971)
Fliegender Zirkus consisted of two 45-minute Monty Python television comedy specials produced by WDR for West German television. The two episodes were first broadcast in January and December 1972 respectively and were shot entirely on film, mostly on location in Bavaria. The first episode was recorded in German and the second was recorded in English and then dubbed into German.
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Very well executed
To me, this movie is perfection.
This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place
This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.
I am a total GEEK and must admit that have seen just about everything done by the Pythons--including these German episodes (done either in German language or subtitled). And, because I am such a geek, I loved them. BUT, to someone unfamiliar with the team, I don't recommend this until you've seen their other work first. For example, the one episode that consisted mostly of a long fairy tale was very dry and not filled with the outrageous laughs of many of their other episodes--though it was great seeing John Cleese as Red Riding Hood. I also LIKED watching the travelers in Germany being abused (slapping them with fish, etc.) but I realize that this might not be everyone's cup of tea. You won't find as big a laughs as the Parrot Sketch in this batch but a few of their classic bits are reprised (The Lumberjack skit) along with new material.
There are three things you must first bear in mind while watching Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus: 1) Its German 2) The sketches are British as well as the cast 3) Don't waste your time and energy trying to figure out if this show makes any sense because it doesn't and doing so can cause a sudden urge to mine for chickens (no pun intended).Let me first say that I am a HUGE Monty Python fan. I own all the Monty Python Television Shows, Documentaries, Concerts, and Movies on Video and DVD, and let me tell you that watching Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus never gets old. There are some really great sketches that came out of that show that beat the Flying Circus Years, and there's even a version of the lumberjack song done in German that's pretty amusing.The story of Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus goes like this; Monty Python's Flying Circus had been a huge success in England and in 1972, Germany, being comically impaired, asked the Python Troupe (Cleese, Idle, Palin, Chapmin, Jones, and Gilliam) if they could make a comedy television show in German, and they agreed. Simple as that. They only made two episodes, one in complete German and one in English, and if your a big Python fan, it would be worth your while to check them out.
Can you get any funnier this really shows people they we'rent just known in England but Germany as well. Imagine that they not only took time to look through the German landscape but also learned the language. Saturday night Live certinley would not go that far to do something like that. Real classic gems. I wish they would have made more of them.
Monty Python came to Germany to write some sketches for the German and Austrian TV and it became one of the best shows of them ever. Alfred Biolek, a forward looking man, did a great job by inviting them.My absolutely favourite scene is the 100 meter final of the men without any sense of direction. The lumberjack song is also great.I'm sure it was hard for them to speak "German" but they didn't fail. So if you have the chance to watch the show, do it.