The Crimson Permanent Assurance
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The GmbH (limited hope company) |
| Original title | The Crimson Permanent Assurance |
| Country of production | UK |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1983 |
| length | 16 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Terry Gilliam |
| script | Terry Gilliam |
| production | Terry Gilliam |
| music | John Du Prez |
| camera | Roger Pratt |
| occupation | |
| |
The Crimson Permanent Assurance is a short film directed by Terry Gilliam . It was released in May 1983 and is integrated in Monty Python's film The Meaning of Life as a supporting film . In the dubbed theatrical version of the film, it ran under the title Die GmbH (Society with Limited Hope) , while it was released on later German video and DVD releases under its English original title. The film is a satirical examination of capitalism , the exploitation of workers and how older employees are dealt with in companies.
content
The Permanent Assurance is a small, old-fashioned finance companies , which is based in an older building in the City of London has. The offices are old-fashioned and the staff are all older men. The new management of the company, young, dynamic business people, exerts great pressure on the employees to perform and they feel like galley convicts. When one of their colleagues is about to be dismissed without notice for poor performance, the workforce mutinies against their management. The aging employees of Permanent Assurance are turning into pirates on the sea of high finance. They make their office building clear to sea and sail out of the city into the open sea to scare the international financial world. Filing cabinets become cannons, office equipment becomes sabers, daggers and other hand weapons. The pirates raid The Very Big Corporation of America first, and then one financial center at a time, and lay it in ruins. But one day it comes to a surprising end: Certain newfangled theories about the spherical shape of the earth turn out to be wrong, and the house of Permanent Assurance sails over the edge of the world and falls.
In the main film The Meaning of Life , reference is made briefly to the supporting film again later. A group of managers is sitting in the conference room over their agenda when the Permanent Assurance house appears in front of the window and the pirates want to enter the conference room through the window. The background spokesman explains that the supporting film accidentally sneaked in here, but that precautions have been taken against it. As a result, an overturning high-rise crushes the house of the financial pirates.
Background information
The film's title refers to Robert Siodmak's film The Crimson Pirate ( The Crimson Pirate ). The Permanent Insurance building shown at the beginning of the film is the Lloyd's Register of Shipping office building on Fenchurch Street, London.
Terry Gilliam shot the film with a different cast than she appeared in the main film The Purpose of Life . Gilliam himself as well as Graham Chapman , Michael Palin and Terry Jones only appear in minor supporting roles, without this being mentioned in the credits.