Monty Python: Almost the Truth (The Lawyer's Cut)

Hard to believe that 40 years have passed since the Pythons first stirred up the small screen with their unique brand of wacky post-Goons humour. This documentary is a companion to a forthcoming six-hour DVD set documenting the comedy troupe’s various ups and downs and will be shown at a series of one-off screenings on Tuesday September 29. The film – 20 minutes too long but entertaining enough – opens in Pythonesque fashion with a pseudo-Shirley Bassey voice belting out a James Bond-style theme, before it settles into a string of interviews with surviving members, some chat-show excerpts of the late Graham Chapman and quips from more recent comics. The DVD set will surely go into greater detail, but from an editing point of view they’ve managed to cover most bases, from the sextet’s early ‘Beyond the Fringe’ performances through highlights from their TV series to their four movies. As dated as many Python sketches have become, there’s bite in the old snake yet.