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The Great McGonagall

The Great McGonagall

  • Overview
  • Cast
  • Crew
  • Recommendations

Status

Released

Release Date

Jan 23, 1975

Runtime

1h 25m

Genres

Comedy

User Score

52%

Original Title

The Great McGonagall

Director

Joseph McGrath

Description

In this high-camp farce, Goons legend Spike Milligan stars as William Topaz McGonagall, an unemployed Scottish weaver and aspiring poet laureate who falls in love with Queen Victoria - a brilliant cameo by Peter Sellers - and thereafter devotes his banal poetry to her. Though McGonagall's solicitations are rejected by the Queen, it doesn't stop the turgid prose, and pathos, from overflowing as McGonagall hilariously attempts to become the greatest poet in the land. The image of the bad poet, trapped by his romanticism and inspired by a muse with a tin ear, appealed mightily to Spike Milligan, and this cult British spoof features the Goons show maestro at his ridiculous, genre-defying best.