The Great McGonagall (film)

The Great McGonagall is a 1974 British comedy film directed by Joseph McGrath and starring Spike Milligan in the title role, Peter Sellers as Queen Victoria and Julia Foster as Mrs McGonagall.[1] It is a humorous biopic of the Scottish poet William McGonagall that includes several of McGonagall's actual poems, his appearing in the title role of Macbeth and his "improvement" of the Bard's plot, his pilgrimage to Balmoral Castle, the attempted assassination of Queen Victoria by Roderick McLean and a tribute to McGonagall from Lt Frederick Rollo of the Royal Scots in Zululand.[2][3]

The Great McGonagall
UK Quad
Directed byJoseph McGrath
Written byJoseph McGrath
Spike Milligan
StarringSpike Milligan
Peter Sellers
Julia Foster
John Bluthal
Victor Spinetti
Music byJohn Shakespeare
CinematographyJohn Mackey
Edited byRusty Coppleman
Distributed byTigon British Film Productions (UK)
Release date
  • 22 January 1975 (1975-01-22) (London, UK)
Running time
85 Mins
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Principal cast

Production

On the DVD commentary Joseph McGrath recounted the film was made in three weeks at Wilton's Music Hall in London, including one week of rehearsal. Peter Sellers was on the film for only one week. McGrath said Sellers "insisted on coming and guesting in it" and played the role of Queen Victoria on his knees, wearing roller-skates.[4]

The film was produced by British pornography producer David Grant, who forced McGrath to put in some nude scenes and used the film as a tax write-off. McGrath also dubbed midget Charlie Atom's lines when he was unavailable for the dubbing of the film.

The Great McGonagall was the seventh in a string of flops for Sellers, whose career improved with his next film The Return of the Pink Panther (1975).[4]

Critical reception

In The New York Times, Richard Eder wrote "The Great McGonagall, which opened yesterday at the Cinema Village, is endearing, and parts of it are lively and hilarious. But it lacks enough of an organizing principle in its chaos to succeed as a movie...The pace is frenetic, the level of reality shifts every two minutes, it is stuffed with visual absurdities, old jokes and take-offs. Some work, some exasperate...McGonagall dies, and you are sorry. Despite his madness, his delusions, his bad poems, you miss him. He is a radiant failure. So, in a way, is his movie, with all bad jokes, carelessness and confusion."[5]

Books

A related book, The Great McGonagall Scrapbook by Spike Milligan and Jack Hobbs, was published by M & J Hobbs in 1975. A paperback edition was published by Star Books in 1976. Milligan and Hobbs co-wrote three more McGonagall books: William McGonagall: The Truth at Last (1976, with illustrations by Peter Sellers), William McGonagall Meets George Gershwin: A Scottish Fantasy (1988) and William McGonagall: Freefall (1992).[6]

References
  1. "The Great McGonagall (1974)". Ftvdb.bfi.org.uk. Archived from the original on 14 January 2009. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  2. "McGonagall Online – The Great McGonagall". Mcgonagall-online.org.uk. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  3. GREAT McGONAGALL, The Monthly Film Bulletin; London Vol. 42, Iss. 492, (Jan 1, 1975): 57.
  4. Sikov, Ed (2002). Mr. Strangelove: A Biography of Peter Sellers. Chapter 20: Hyperion. pp. 433. ISBN 9781447207146.CS1 maint: location (link)
  5. "Film: 'McGonagall,' Son of 'Goon Show'". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  6. "Spike Milligan". Fantastic Fiction. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
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