From: arpepper@cs.uwaterloo.ca (Grumpy Old Nerd (fka Old Fogey))


Recently we got "Monty Python's The Meaning of Liff^He" on DVD.

I watched it in its entirety last weekend, and watched the "Director's Cut" and
all the deleted scenes separately (except for the DVD-ROM features).

Now, as I browse the web, people allude to Death saying, mysteriously

"IT WAS THE SALMON MOUSSE".

However, on the DVD, and also on a VHS recording I happened to find from 1994, he says no such thing. He knocks at the door, and is invited in to the party, and eventually everyone works out they are dead, and Mrs. Eric Idle asks how they all managed to die at once, and then Death rises up and points at the half-eaten mousse, and says "The Salmon Mousse". ("You didn't use canned salmon, did you, dear?").

That's the first mention of "Salmon Mousse" in the movie.

But I remember another scene. People were sitting at a party, babbling on about niceties, when the camera, and gradually the other guests notice Death sitting quietly in the corner. All he says for a long time is "IT WAS THE SALMON MOUSSE". When people try to get more explanation, he merely repeats it with more resonance. I think the scene ends simply with all the party guests slumping down onto the table, dead.

I recall this as also being in the movie, perhaps early in the "Death" section.
I recall it seeming almost incongruous when the scene was later revisited from
a different point-of-view, but then incongruity is not inappropriate for a Monty Python film, and it did allow the previously mysterious scene to be better explained.

Web searches suggest people know of the "IT WAS THE SALMON MOUSSE" quote. Was it from cinematic (i.e. not DVD/TV) versions of the movie only? Or was it in some other show (episode or movie)?

My wife recalls the same quotation, and it was disappointing to not hear Death growling, "IT WAS THE SALMON MOUSSE".

But web searches don't find an explanation.


Adrian Pepper.

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* Origin: FidoNet MONTE <--> alt.fan.monty-python (1:379/45)

From: "P" <pnj6@hotmail.com>

Recently we got "Monty Python's The Meaning of Liff^He" on DVD.

I watched it in its entirety last weekend, and watched the "Director's
Cut" and all the deleted scenes separately (except for the DVD-ROM
features).

Now, as I browse the web, people allude to Death saying, mysteriously

"IT WAS THE SALMON MOUSSE".

Mr Death never says this in the movie. As you state later on, he points at it with a bony finger and says simply and slowly, "the salmon mousse".

However, on the DVD, and also on a VHS recording I happened to find
from 1994, he says no such thing. He knocks at the door, and is
invited in to the party, and eventually everyone works out they are
dead, and Mrs. Eric Idle asks how they all managed to die at once, and
then Death rises up and points at the half-eaten mousse, and says "The
Salmon Mousse". ("You didn't use canned salmon, did you, dear?").

I recall it as "tinned salmon"... but it's a long time since I've seen the movie and I could well be wrong.

That's the first mention of "Salmon Mousse" in the movie.

But I remember another scene. People were sitting at a party, babbling
on about niceties, when the camera, and gradually the other guests
notice Death sitting quietly in the corner. All he says for a long
time is "IT WAS THE SALMON MOUSSE". When people try to get more
explanation, he merely repeats it with more resonance. I think the
scene ends simply with all the party guests slumping down onto the
table, dead.

Maybe as a young tacker you were a little bit disturbed by the image of the grim reaper and dreamt this alternate scene. I, as a longtime Python nut, have
never seen it, and it certainly was not in the original cinema release of the film, nor any version I possess or have seen since. The only parts of your additional scene which are in the movie are the words "the salmon mousse" and the guests slumping dead on the table.

I recall this as also being in the movie, perhaps early in the "Death" section. I recall it seeming almost incongruous when the scene was
later revisited from a different point-of-view, but then incongruity is
not inappropriate for a Monty Python film, and it did allow the
previously mysterious scene to be better explained.

Incongruity may not be inappropriate in any Python output, but something humourless put in simply to be weird most certainly is. Lemon curry?

Web searches suggest people know of the "IT WAS THE SALMON MOUSSE"
quote.

They misquote it, because simply to say "the salmon mousse" doesn't make sense when you're parrotting the line out of context to a friend.

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* Origin: FidoNet MONTE <--> alt.fan.monty-python (1:379/45)