Cinema of the United Kingdom as Goldcrest, HandMade Films and Merchant Ivory Productions. Handmade Films, which was partly owned by George Harrison, was originally formed to take over the production of "Monty Python's Life of Brian", after EMI's Bernard Delfont (Lew Grade's brother) had pulled out. Handmade also bought and released the gangster drama "The Long Good Friday" (1980), produced by a Lew Grade subsidiary, after its original backers became cautious. Members of the Python team were involved in other comedies during the decade, including Terry Gilliam's fantasy films "Time Bandits" (1981) and "Brazil" (1985), and John Cleese's hit "A Fish Called Wanda" (1988), while
Monty Python and the Holy Grail dangerously contagious." Penelope Gilliatt of "The New Yorker" called the film "often recklessly funny and sometimes a matter of comic genius." Other reviews were less enthusiastic. "Variety" wrote that the storyline was "basically an excuse for set pieces, some amusing, others overdone." Gene Siskel of the "Chicago Tribune" gave the film two-and-a-half stars, writing that he felt "it contained about 10 very funny moments and 70 minutes of silence. Too many of the jokes took too long to set up, a trait shared by both 'Blazing Saddles' and 'Young Frankenstein.' I guess I prefer Monty Python in chunks, in its