Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail - Superimposed Black Knight
Jump to the scene where King Arthur is fighting the black knight. Pause at the shot when King Arthur cuts of the knight's second arm, hit slow-motion. Arthur's sword hits the knight at the wrong direction. This reveals that the knight is super-imposed.
I spotted it while watching it for the first time. I just checked to see if I saw it correctly.
You didn't see the film correctly at all. There were no optical effects used in that scene at all. If you look carefully (again) you will see that the Black Knight is a dummy hung on wires, and when King Arthur hits it with his sword it swings sideways, because the foot (it only has one at this stage) isn't secured. A series of still photographs showing precisely how this scene was shot has been published.
Also, did you know that in the end the black knight, NOT King Arthur, is the one who says "All right, we'll call it a draw" and then seconds later screams at Arthur for leaving. Odd, isn't it?
This was a pretty low budget film (which is where the idea for the coconut clomping instead of real horses came from) so I doubt there is any optical imagery.
It was a low budget film but that is not why they used coconuts instead of horses. That was simply a comedic element. Without it the whole movie would not work. In the first scene the castle guards would not have gone off into a torent about birds and migration. Without that the crazy bridge keeper would not have been tricked. Besides, the coconut were in the first draft, when it was just an idea without a budget.
It is not a dummy, it is John Cleese (black knight) with his arms underneath his armor so you cant see them. He is pulled up by a pulley system. I have seen the actual footage of how they did this scene.
King arthur didnt say it was a draw, why would he if he thought he one after cutting off the black knights first arm? The Black knight started screaming at him because King Arthur started walking away. Although I mst admit it's a bit weird how he changes his mind.
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