Columnist Geoff Carter — Scene Selection: ‘Meaning of Life’ DVD set a triumph of repackaging

Friday, Sept. 5, 2003 | 8:32 a.m.

Ifirst saw "Monty Python's The Meaning of Life" in theaters in 1983, at the age of 17. I was still a Jehovah's Witness back then, so getting out of the house to see an R-rated movie took some maneuvering. I honestly don't remember how I pulled it off, but that night I saw my first Monty Python film.

The film's effect on me was immediate and profound. To this day, I can't look at after-dinner mints without thinking "wafer-thin," I believe that fish can think and I can't ponder the Catholic Church without humming a certain song about reproduction. The film was as good as punk rock to my mind. I wasn't quite the same after I saw it.

Twenty years later, watching the special edition two-disc DVD of "The Meaning of Life" (Universal DVD, $26.98), I can still see how the movie was able to twist my perceptions, though as it is with many films I saw as a teen, it's not quite as good as I remembered it.

Much of the film looks like it was shot hastily and on the cheap, and some of the gags don't quite work, now that I know what the Pythons are talking about.

But I can't say a word against the movie -- because it remains a classic, and because the surviving Pythons (Graham Chapman passed several years ago, and is still sorely missed) know what's wrong with the film, and aren't shy about telling you. Eric Idle thinks two more weeks of writing could have remedied its episodic nature; Terry Gilliam laments its "television scale;" John Cleese thinks it's funny, but minor.

Fortunately, these equivocations don't keep Python from delivering a first-class DVD set, ripe with new material. Cleese cheerfully says, in an informative "making-of" documentary, that the troupe intends to keep "releasing the same material, over and over, in different packaging."

They'll be hard-pressed to top this version of "Meaning of Life," but as a consumer, I'll be willing to give Python the benefit of a doubt.

In this (according to Cleese) penultimate set, you'll find a beautifully remastered cut of the film, including a version of Gilliam's proto-"Brazil" short, "The Crimson Permanent Asssurance," that looks and sounds better than it did in 1983. Gilliam and Terry Jones provide a commentary track that's more informative than irreverent, and show their love for the film by restoring it themselves -- first with soap and scrub brushes, then with a turn in a coin-operated washing machine.

And that's just the beginning. The Pythons went all-out for this DVD, creating some brilliant new sketches (the "Virtual Reunion" is a must-see) some that fall short ("Educational Tips") and some that, in true Python fashion, make no apparent sense ("What Fish Think").

The expected cut scenes are provided (it's criminal that "The Adventures of Martin Luther" didn't make the final version) as is a "Version for the Lonely" -- a cut of the film with the dubbed-in sound of Michael Palin sitting next to you on the couch, blabbering through the entire picture.

It's a must-have for Python aficionados, and a must-rent for anyone who's ever wondered what it's all about, Alfie.

Monty Python don't come nearer to explaining the mysteries of existence than the classic philosophers did, but they do get in a few contraception jokes that are actually funny, even today. Even Nietzsche's material isn't holding up half as well.