The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins1971

This British comedy anthology based on the seven deadly sins seems like it should be at least good for a laugh given the talent behind it, but it's actually pretty dire with one extraordinary exception. It's biggest problem is that all the bad sketches are in the first 2/3 of the film, making it a real chore to sit through to the point where it starts getting decent. The "Pride" segment, with Ian Carmichael and Alfie Bass as two drivers refusing to get out of each other's way, is pretty okay. The last segment, "Wrath", with Stephen Lewis pretty much playing his "On the Buses" character, is passable. Sandwiched between these is Spike Milligan's "Sloth" segment, which is a magnificently absurdist minor masterpiece (with Marty Feldman and Ronnie Barker in minor roles). Honestly, this segment is the only reason to watch the film, and though I hesitate to recommend a nearly 2 hour film for 15 minutes of screen time, it's really worth seeing just to admire this segment.

Sorry, just not very many laughs in this one. a deadly sin indeed.

Was wandering in to this thinking it was going to be a low-grade 70's British sex comedy, and to be fair it did skew that ways at times. But boy, I didn't know it had writing contributions from Graham Chapman, Marty Feldman and Spike Milligan. So it is as always with anthology movies like this, a case of episodes of varying worth, here all done with a mass audience in mind. That is until you get to Milligan's "Sloth" which veers so far left in to absurdism it comes as a shock. It's brilliant and bizarre...worth the entire movie. And hey, groovy Roy Budd soundtrack!