Jabberwocky (1977) is a comic medieval film directed by Terry Gilliam. It stars Michael Palin as a young cooper who is forced through a series of clumsy, often slapstick misfortunes to hunt down a terrible dragon after the death of his father. The name is taken from the nonsense poem Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll.
The film, Gilliam's first as a solo director, was not well received by critics or audiences, although it has since become something of a cult film. Despite its lack of initial success, Jabberwocky strongly established Gilliam's distinctive visual style and dark sense of humour.
The film was shot on location in Wales. There are two castles used in the film: Pembroke Castle and Chepstow Castle. The Jabberwocky battle scenes were filmed in an old Pembroke stone quarry.
The film is close in setting and comic style to Monty Python and the Holy Grail, on which Gilliam had worked. As well as Palin, fellow Python Terry Jones and notable Python contributor Neil Innes also appeared in Jabberwocky, giving it a distinctly Python-esque feel, with many scenes (such as the "hide and seek" jousting tournament) heavily reminiscent of Holy Grail. For its American premiere the film was initially advertised as Monty Python's Jabberwocky, despite protests from Gilliam.[1]
Themes
Commerce
One of the most noticeable themes in the film is the importance and influence of commerce in making decisions. Dennis Cooper, after being gleefully disowned by his dying father, is unable to continue his work as a cooper. Despite having good ideas about raising productivity, the merchants and businessmen he meets are quite unwilling to listen to him. Cooper moves from his village to the town, enclosed by castle walls, in search of business opportunity. There he discovers that the guilds and merchants have complete control over what is sold, and that outsiders are struggling to survive, let alone make a living. While in the city he discovers Wat Dabney, a legendary cooper and inventor of the "inverted firkin". Despite his obvious skill, Wat is unable to break into a market controlled by the guilds, and has cut his foot off in a deliberate attempt to become a beggar — an act so successful that he ends up cutting off his other foot by the film's end.
The top merchants in the town, though, are profiting handsomely from the fear the Jabberwock monster has caused the populace, and are noticeably reluctant to help the King find a solution to the problem. Moreover, the Bishop is very happy that such fear has led to increased giving to the church and increased attendances at mass and confession ("piety ain't never been higher!"). The Bishop is so unimpressed by the King's choice of a champion to slay the monster that he blesses the champion by simply flicking holy water at him with his index finger. The merchants eventually conspire to send the "black knight" to kill the king's champion, and are aghast when Dennis Cooper arrives back at the town with the monster's head.
"Creaking bureaucracy"
King Bruno the Questionable and his aide, Passelewe, are aged rulers in a castle that is falling apart around them: darkness, dust, cobwebs and fallen plaster lie everywhere. It is so dark and decrepit that the town outside the castle is refreshing in comparison. So entrenched are these two in their misrule that the only solution the king can come up with to fix the problem of the Jabberwock is to emulate the deeds of his great great great great great grandfather (Max the Vainglorious) and set up a bloody tournament to select a champion — a decision that only works because Dennis Cooper manages to accompany this champion (Dennis, by chance, slays the Jabberwock after the champion is killed by the Black Knight).
The "creaking bureaucracy" — a theme fleshed out far more in Gilliam's 1985 film, Brazil — also includes the inept behaviour of his herald, who is far more concerned with his own process of heralding than in the message he is trying to communicate—a process which eventually prevents the King from actually speaking, and results in the herald, quite literally, losing his head.
Accidental and unconventional happiness
A major theme that Gilliam himself cited on the film's audio commentary is the theme of happiness from one's perspective. By the end of the film, Dennis gets everything a fairy tale hero would want (the recognition for killing the beast, the princess's hand in marriage, and half of the kingdom) all by accident. Also, all Dennis wanted was to live a humdrum life with an overweight peasant girl, who didn't even like him. In the most part, he is forced into the stereotypical form of happiness, which would later be a theme in Brazil.
Cast
The Monster
The movie monster Jabberwocky is a man in costume similar to the classic Japanese Godzilla film effects. In order to recreate the illustrated monster of the 19th century storybook, the costume is designed to be worn by a man walking backwards, hip and knee joints are seen reversed, giving it a unique bird-like stance. The man-in-costume's head is hidden within the monster's torso, a large marionette head on a sepentine neck is controlled by an offscreen pole and line. Long bird-like claws extend out of his shoe heels, and his arms become the Jabberwocky's wings. Film speed is altered in some scenes to slow down the monster's movements, and camera angles manipulate perspective in scenes with live actors to depict the monster's immense size. In design the monster generally resembles a cockatrice.
References
External links
