Jabberwocky 1977

My lord it's been a looooong time since I've seen this!  I remember pretty much laughing my ass off through the whole thing!

Based on a Louis Carroll poem, Jabberwocky was released in 1977.  It's stars Gilliam's fellow "pythoner" Michael Palin (world traveler!!).  Although it was mostly billed as a comedy fantasy adventure, it does show up on a lot of list for horror movies as a "Creature Feature."

The original poem is what is known as a "nonsense poem," and was part of Carroll's novel Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There published in 1872.  In the poem Carroll makes up a lot of words that were later adopted into the English language, such as "Chortled" and "Bandersnatch."  The term "Jabberwocky" itself has come to mean, and is defined as such in dictionaries, as "a nonsense language."

Gilliam takes the creature from the poem and pairs up with a story that in no way appears in Carroll's writing.  It is the story of a young cooper (barrel maker) named Dennis (Palin) who looses his father and then travels to town to find work.  What he finds instead is the Jabberwocky, which the town dupes him into facing.

Runtime:  105 min.

Rated PG

Filming Locations:  almost entirely in Wales, except for some scenes shot at Shepperton Studios in Surrey, England.

Release Date:  15 April 1977

Color (Technicolor)

Sound Mix:  mono

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Tagline:  Jabberwocky:  the monster so horrible that people caught the plague to avoid it.

Trivia:

In order to make the monster more bird like, the actor wearing it (Peter Salmon) had to wear it backwards.

The marks the final theatrical release that actor Harold Goodwin was in.  After this he retired from the film industry and spent the rest of his career in television. 

Producer Sanford Lieberson wanted actor Michael Crawford in the role of Dennis, but Gilliam did not, so the role went to Palin.  

The budget for the film was so flimsy, that most of the scenes (especially the outdoor ones), were shot in one take.

Iain Cuthbertson and John Cleese both turned down roles in the film.