Escape from Film is a sketch that appears in "Live from the Grill-O-Mat," the eighteenth episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus.
Synopsis[]
The President of the Society for Putting Things on Top of Other Things (Graham Chapman) opens the door to leave but spots a camera recording and says "Good lord, I'm on film!" and sneaks back into the building. He goes to another door and is confused as to why he's being filmed. He looks out the window and spots himself being filmed again, before announcing to the other members that the room is surrounded by film. The others, shocked, look out of the window and the doors to see themselves being filmed. They decide to tunnel their way out and make a schedule of two hours vaulting over a horse, and two hours sleeping. Two members lift a vaulting horse over and the other members start vaulting over it.
Two German officers (Ian Davidson and Terry Gilliam) walk on screen ridiculing the English for doing sport. Mr Cutler (John Cleese) tells the president he has found a way out and they leave.
It cuts to them running out of a door into an animated land and falling down a supposed hole. An animation shows them falling down a long winding tunnel which turns out to lead to a man's stomach.
Trivia[]
- This sketch pokes fun at the British television filming method of "Film Outside, Video Inside", in which indoor scenes were shot in a studio using 2-inch quadruplex video tapes, while outdoor scenes were shot on location using 16mm film, the difference being readily visible.