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| Terry Jones & Terry Gilliam |
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| Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle,
Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, Michael Palin |
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Anamorphic
widescreen |
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Dolby Digital
5.1 |
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DTS |
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Trailer(s) |
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Featurette(s) |
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Documentary |
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Audio commentary
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Deleted scenes
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Concept art
/ storyboards |
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Multi-angle
feature |
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Woman
(Terry Jones): Well how'd you become king then?
Arthur (Graham Chapman): The Lady of the Lake, her arm clad in
the purest shimmering silmite held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of
the water, signifying by divine providence that I, Arthur, was to carry
Excalibur. THAT is why I am your king!
Dennis (Michael Palin): Listen, strange women lyin' in ponds
distributin' swords is no basis for a system of government! Supreme
executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some
farcical aquatic ceremony!
King
Arthur and his knights of the round table set out on a perilous quest
for the Holy Grail.
 Monty
Python And The Holy Grail stands tall as one of the funniest movies
ever made, mostly because it was the first movie that married comedic
anarchy to an intellectual and cinematic richness that kept each other
in perfect balance. This combination is also the reason the movie
still feels fresh, improving with multiple viewings thanks to fantastic
performances from all six Pythons. The dialogue fuels the scenes like
a house on fire, with some irrepressible Python logic and deadpan
delivery. Their perfectionism at the writing stage served them well
(every word and syntax the Pythons put up on screen was thoroughly
rehearsed: improvisation never played a major part in their work),
with both Palin and Jones having studied Medieval history at University
and making sure they stayed close to some kind of true depiction of
the Middle Ages. And with Gilliam's eye for images the end result
is visually very impressive for such a low budget film (it cost less
than $350,000). It's actually quite scary how good all scenes are,
with not a bum note in sight. Some may favor Life
Of Brian but I always felt that the second half of that movie
was decidely less brilliant than the first, whereas Monty Python
And The Holy Grail feels more balanced between utterly ridiculous
and impressively majestic all the way through. And it has their best
song with 'Knights Of The Round Table'.
EDITOR'S NOTE: It has been brought to our attention that several people
have been having problems with subtitle tracks showing up randomly
during the film, whether they have been selected or not. Our Philips
and Sony DVD players have not reproduced this problem, but we have
encountered it ourselves during playback using the Apple DVD player
on an Apple G4 Powerbook, and readers have written in about bad experiences
on Pioneer players (though other reports indicate some Pioneer users
have not had this problem). Columbia Tristar has said to be looking
into this, as well as into the matter of the missing initial Swedish
subtitle during the opening credits.
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A
new special edition, only available in Region 1, replaces the former
bare bones non-anamorphic Columbia Tristar release. It comes in a keep
case within a fancy plastic slip case. The Region 2 Special Edition
two-disc release is identical apart from missing the original mono soundtrack
(only the DD5.1 mix has been included). The Region 1 Special Edition
served as a basis for this review.
The
anamorphic widescreen image is framed at an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and
has been taken from a new HiDef master. The results are impressive:
the murky medieval cinematography has found a new leash of life here.
The darker nighttime scenes exhibit shadow detail I never knew existed
and the vast Scottish skies have finally become things of beauty that
were previously buried beneath layers of artifacts and grain. The original
negative is of course not pristine and grain still plays a visible part
in the picture, but this is a dramatic improvement upon any previous
version you may have seen (it's also better than the Criterion anamorphic
transfer of Life Of Brian).
A new Dolby
Digital 5.1 mix has been put together from the original mono elements.
Notwithstanding the limited fidelity of those elements, it's an impressive
job that gives the score the sense of misplaced grandeur the creators
obviously intended. Some of the action scenes have light LFE added for
the overall impact and the surrounds are put to use in a decent way.
For the purists the original mono track is also included and by the
sound of it has been cleaned up too, though it sounds much less crisp
than the new 5.1 mix.
The
first disc contains 2 audio commentaries, both originally recorded
for the Criterion laserdisc a few years back. The first one features
directors Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam, both full of anecdotes about
the shooting of the picture. Terry Jones was mostly responsible for
the editing and he makes it clear that it took a couple of re-edits
to get the picture to where it is today. Gilliam is frank about the
problems he had with both Jones and the rest of the Pythons, who clearly
were less interested in the 'cinematic' aspect of the movie and obsessed
with the performances themselves (John Cleese being notoriously inflexible
with regards to his own material). The second audio commentary couples
remarks from Michael Palin, Eric Idle and John Cleese and it's not as
informative and regurlarly consists of snickering at the jokes and pointing
out the obvious. Cleese is the one with the most gripes, Palin was the
one with the most roles and Idle never fails to point out some of the
more typical and unique Python moments.
Also on the first disc is the On-Screen Screenplay, which mostly
obscures part of the picture but it will allow you to catch every last
syllable of the dialogue. "Follow the Killer Rabbit"
is a Matrix-like feature that brings forth a series of pop-up
rabbits that feature some still materials relating to the picture with
the money sign signifying bills and cost declarations.
Subtitles for People Who Do Not Like the Film are excerpts from
Shakespeare's Henry IV Pt. II tailored to the action onscreen: very
funny to read along once, as is the new 'introduction' for the
movie.
On disc 2 we find the best extra: "On
Location With the Pythons" is a vintage 1974 featurette
from the BBC that offers a nice 18-minute look at the location and shooting
of the movie with appropriately silly interviews. It's a priceless feature,
if only to see how totally ingrained the Pythons already were in the
UK with irreverent interviewers keeping things as silly as possible.
Then there
is the classic original theatrical trailer and for once essential
in enhancing the final movie experience. It's also the funniest extra
together with Monty Python and the Holy Grail in Lego (which
I won't spoil for you).
A new 50 minute documentary "The
Quest for the Holy Grail Locations" does exactly what it says:
Terry Jones and Michael Palin go on a search for the original Scottish
locations pointing out (with some difficulty) where and how they ended
up with some shots and discover that Python fans have already found
out most of this for themselves. Nothing too amazing save for the fact
that both are as down to earth as they come while talking about the
movie. No hyperbole here.
"Location Recce" provides two minutes of footage that shows
travel guide pictures of exotic locations with overlaying newly recorded
commentary by directors Gilliam and Jones: they obviously took the scouting
for locations very seriously.
On a lesser note we get 3 Sing-Alongs for the main musical moments
in the movie with the subtitles; the Monks' tune has some Terry Jones
instructions on how to perform it in character. "How to Use Your
Coconuts" is a very silly and not very funny new Michael Palin
piece. Monty Python and the Holy Grail in Japanese consists of
some 10 minutes of movie scenes dubbed in Japanese and subtitled back
into English with failry accurate results, but not quite.
 Old
rubbish consists of press materials and stills (all presented
rather small), with a special mention for a negative review of the movie
read out loud by Terry Jones. The Interactive Cast Directory
lists all characters and actors with matching mugshots while some of
Terry Gilliam’s sketches and unused ideas are presented without any
background notes so it's quite hard to make out what they actually were
meant to represent.
One dissapointment in the extras on this DVD is the absence of any mention
of the original soundtrack album, which featured lots of original material
that either tied in with the movie or is just plain funny in its own
right. If you've never heard it, go check
it out right away.  The
menus are highly inventive with a full blown Terry Gilliam style evident
(though he certainly didn't design them himself). Navigation is easy on
both discs and are meant to run for a minute or so to get a sense of all
the different animations hidden in the menus.
Gerard
Castelein
Reviewed: July
23, 2002
Click
here for IMDB info on Monty
Python and the Holy Grail.
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