This page of the website Jigsaw Lounge contains Neil Young's review of the film A Cock and Bull Story, also known as Tristram Shandy : A Cock and Bull story, and first shown to the public at the Cambridge Film Festival on the 17th of July, 2005. It was directed by Michael Winterbottom, from a script by Martin Hardy, and based on the novel The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gent., written by Laurence Sterne and first published in its complete form in 1767. According to The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature (edited by Margaret Drabble and Jenny Stringer, first published in 1987 and itself an abridgement of the fifth edition of The Oxford Companion to English Literature [1985]) the book is a "unique work, although itself the culmination of experiments by lesser authors" and "is generally regarded as the progenitor of the 20th-cent. stream-of-consciousness novel. It owes much to Rabelais, to Robert Burton, and to Locke's Essay concerning Human Understanding. The word 'shandy', of obscure origin, means 'crack-brained, half-crazy', and Tristram in Volume VI of his book declares that he is writing a 'civil, nonsensical, good humoured Shandean book.' In spite of the title, the book gives us very little of the life, and none of the opinions, of the nominal hero, who gets born only in Vol. IV, and breeched in Vol. VI, and then disappears from the story. Instead we have a group of humorous figures: Walter  Shandy of Shandy Hall, Tristram's father; 'my Uncle Toby,' his brother, wounded in the groin at the siege of Namur, whose hobby is the science of attacking fortified towns; Corporal Trim, his servant, wounded in the knee at Landen, devoted to his master. Behind these three major figures, the minor characters, Yorick the parson, Dr Slop, Mrs Shandy, and the widow Wadman, play more elusive parts." I saw the film A Cock and Bull Story in screen eight of the Cineworld cinema, located in the Xscape leisure complex, 602 Marlborough Gate, Milton Keynes MK9 3XS, on the morning of Sunday, the 9th of October 2005, from approximately 10.30am until approximately 12.15pm, the film running approximately 91 to 93 minutes. The print was supplied by Redbus Film Distribution Ltd of Ariel House, 74a Charlotte Street, London W1T 4QT, who are organising the United Kingdom distribution of A Cock and Bull Story and are scheduled to release the film into cinemas for commercial purposes in the final days of December, 2005. A representative of Redbus Film Distribution appeared in the cinema audiotorium before the screening began to give some basic details of the film's duration, release date and the certificate obtained by the film from the British Board of Film Classification from whose website the following information has been (legally) abstracted (by myself): Classified 22 September, 2005 . Run Time 94m 15s . Expected to open on 30/12/2005 . Advice for consumers (Concise) :Contains strong language and moderate sex . The main spoken language in this work is English. The BBFC has placed this work in the COMEDY genre(s). When submitted to the BBFC the work had a running time of 94m 15s. The running time of this film was calculated from the measured length of 8483+3 ( feet + frames ). This work was passed with no cuts made. At the time of classification Redbus Film Distribution Ltd was the distributor of this film. Directed by Michael Winterbottom . Producer(s) Andrew Eaton . The cast for this work includes: Steve Coogan, Rob Brydon, Keeley Hawes, Shirley Henderson, Dylan Moran, David Walliams, Roger Allam, Gillian Anderson, James Fleet, Stephen Fry, Ian Hart, Kelly Macdonald, Jeremy Northam, Kieran O'Brien, Mark Williams, Greg Wise. Thus ends my (legal) abstraction of content from the website of the British Board of Film Classification. at the Milton Keynes screening a representative of Redbus Film Distribution Ltd apologised to those present because, while it had been originally planned to preface the screening with a filmed introduction by the film's stars Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, this would not now take place as these two individuals "were not available." A Cock and Bull Story is not be confused with Andreas Pantzis's Italian/German/Syrian/
Greek/Bulgarian/Cypriot co-production I sfagi tou kokora ("Slaughter of the Cock"), winner of the Greek Competition Award at the 1996 Thessaloniki Film Festival. Nor should it be confused with Cock Fight (1896), Cocky Cock Roach (1932) or Large Diet Cock (1994); nor indeed with Socialisation of a Bull (1998), The Virgin The Bull and the Capricorn (1977) or Fight Between A Lion and A Bull (1900), none of which I have at present myself seen. Unfortunately, due to the space limitations which (in fact, do not) afflict internet-format reviews, I am running out of the room, time and energy which would allow me to express my opinions of A Cock and Bull Story. Suffice to say that the film is pleasing in many of its aspects, though less so in others.