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Monty Python <-> Mt Buffalo bizarre link

Superstu

14-Mar-2006
5:13:05 PM

Home in bed sick with fever, not much to do but watch old DVDs to pass the time... I was working through Monty Python and during the "The Holy Grail" I was stunned to see a picture of the Mt Buffallo gorge !! At first I thought I was hallucinating.. but now I'm certain it's there. Just before the bit with Brave Sir Robin. The gum trees in the foreground confirm it's not in merrie old england.

Any die-hard Monty Python fans may wish to check for themselves...

gfdonc

14-Mar-2006
6:05:10 PM

Yes I also have Holy Grail on DVD and have pointed out the Buffalo scene to all and sundry for many years now. The view is unmistakeable. Love to know the story behind it.

BA

15-Mar-2006
12:30:14 PM

Yes indeed; Brave Sir Robin, who bravely fled. Think of the climbers back in the '50s who looked up at that view and thought "Why not?". There was an article about their ascent in the VCC Fiftieth Anniversary publication. And yes, I was stunned too when I saw it at the movies all those years ago.

BigMike

16-Mar-2006
11:07:23 PM

So you'll have to send them an update:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071853/locations

BA

17-Mar-2006
12:37:42 PM

It was a still photo and therefore wouldn't qualify as a "shooting location".

gfdonc

17-Mar-2006
10:33:51 PM

Gee BA I think you're right - in my mind the zoom in the scene was confused with actual motion & now I have the DVD out to check. For everyone's benefit here's a screen capture:

steph

19-Mar-2006
4:41:22 PM

On 14/03/2006 gfdonc wrote:
>Love to know the story behind it.
>
I'd be ready to bet the story behind it is pure randomness. They throw stuff like that in to make it a little more bizarre and inconsistant. It's not an obvious thing but it's there for the interest of those few who'd find it a talking point. They were clearly correct... That's what makes them such good movie writers!

dangermouse

2-May-2015
11:08:59 AM

Hi,

I don't know if any of the authors of the above posts still look at this forum thread but I have been wondering for years been what the location of that rock face was in the film and thanks to a search, finally found the answer on this thread!

As you asked about the story behind it, I recently got around to asking the production manager on the Monty Python and the Holy Grail film to explain how the shot came about and this is what he told me:

'I put a travel book with a rocky picture open on a piano music stand and then put a couple of candles on the keyboard to create a heat haze.'

Terry Gilliam has also stated in interviews that they filmed that shot this way as a quick low-cost way of achieving a location effect without actually having to pay lots of money to take camera and crew out to capture it. By zooming in on the image slowly, it gives the impression of a camera zoom in a real location.

The reason why I wasn't able to get the name of the location from the production manager is because he couldn't remember which travel book it was from. But given that they made the film back in 1974, it is fair enough if he forgot details like that :)

Nerm

2-May-2015
8:56:42 PM

It's on right now on SBS...

Duang Daunk

3-May-2015
6:59:42 AM

>screen capture:
Nni.
Shrubbery!

bentobox

3-May-2015
7:24:37 AM

God life was hard before google images.

ajfclark

3-May-2015
7:31:28 AM

Here's the relevant section of Monty Python, the only other hit on a GIS for gfdonc's image: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2mbjst

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