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The Missionary
Script and colour photos from the movie.
- GenresHumor
Paperback
First published January 1, 1983
36 people want to read
About the author
Michael Palin
137 books1,196 followersSir Michael Edward Palin, KCMG, CBE, FRGS is an English comedian, actor, writer and television presenter best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python and for his travel documentaries.
Palin wrote most of his material with Terry Jones. Before Monty Python, they had worked on other shows such as The Ken Dodd Show, The Frost Report and Do Not Adjust Your Set. Palin appeared in some of the most famous Python sketches, including "The Dead Parrot", "The Lumberjack Song", "The Spanish Inquisition" and "Spam". Palin continued to work with Jones, co-writing Ripping Yarns. He has also appeared in several films directed by fellow Python Terry Gilliam and made notable appearances in other films such as A Fish Called Wanda, for which he won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. In a 2005 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian, he was voted the 30th favourite by fellow comedians and comedy insiders.
After Python, he began a new career as a travel writer. His journeys have taken him across the world, the North and South Poles, the Sahara desert, the Himalayas and most recently, Eastern Europe. In 2000 Palin became a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his services to television.
Palin wrote most of his material with Terry Jones. Before Monty Python, they had worked on other shows such as The Ken Dodd Show, The Frost Report and Do Not Adjust Your Set. Palin appeared in some of the most famous Python sketches, including "The Dead Parrot", "The Lumberjack Song", "The Spanish Inquisition" and "Spam". Palin continued to work with Jones, co-writing Ripping Yarns. He has also appeared in several films directed by fellow Python Terry Gilliam and made notable appearances in other films such as A Fish Called Wanda, for which he won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. In a 2005 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian, he was voted the 30th favourite by fellow comedians and comedy insiders.
After Python, he began a new career as a travel writer. His journeys have taken him across the world, the North and South Poles, the Sahara desert, the Himalayas and most recently, Eastern Europe. In 2000 Palin became a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his services to television.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 5, 2016
This is an amusing story, less fantastical than the Ripping Yarns series but still tending towards the absurd. It tells the story of an Anglican missionary returned from Africa who is asked by the Bishop of London (a fictitious character rather than the real one of the era) to establish a Mission for Fallen Women in the London Dockland on behalf the Church Mission Society (one wonders what the real CMS thought of this). The missionary succeeds - but only because he meets the sexual needs of a benefactress and of the girls he is sent to help. This is not, though, a vulgar "sex comedy" of the Confessions of a Window Cleaner type, and although the theme is distasteful when considered in the abstract (I expect it would be more controversial today), Palin's congeniality prevents the reader (or viewer of the film) from dwelling on that very much.
The book has a few "value-added" points that are not in the film, such as a short introduction. The film has been criticised as being somewhat "murky", and the low resolution colour photos throughout the book (captured from video, it looks like) don't do much to enhance the volume.
A scene in which the hero's financée understands "Fallen Women" to mean women who have broken their leg was famously criticised by two student interviewers as unfunny, leading to the only recorded instance of Palin expressing real anger - Palin apparently ended the interview and stormed out of his own house close to sobs.
The book has a few "value-added" points that are not in the film, such as a short introduction. The film has been criticised as being somewhat "murky", and the low resolution colour photos throughout the book (captured from video, it looks like) don't do much to enhance the volume.
A scene in which the hero's financée understands "Fallen Women" to mean women who have broken their leg was famously criticised by two student interviewers as unfunny, leading to the only recorded instance of Palin expressing real anger - Palin apparently ended the interview and stormed out of his own house close to sobs.
October 27, 2018
Not amazing.... funny on occasions
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews