Monty Python and the Holy Grail: 50th Anniversary - 4K UHD SteelBook

How do you review an unreviewable film? That’s the catch, you can’t! Fifty years ago, the hilarious, ground-breaking sketch comedy troupe graduated from television screens to the silver screen with Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Along with forty Ecuadorian Llamas, 6 Venezuelan Red Llamas, 142 Mexican Whooping Llamas, 14 North Chilean Guanacos, Reg Llama of Brixton, and 76,000 Battery Llamas, Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones co-directed their brothers in comedy, Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, and Michael Palin to cinematic glory. The world has never been the same.

None of them had made a film before. Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam had never directed a feature film before. They’d never written a feature film before. But they did it. Cobbling funds from the likes of Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Genesis, Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull, Tim Rice, and Elton John (among a few others), who helped scrape together the measly budget (ranging from £175,350-280,000) just so the boys could go make their little period epic on location in Scotland. Every bit is pieced together, nonsense forming a loose story of absurdly hilarious moments. 

Millions at the box office later and decades worth of home video releases, theatrical rereleases, and countless showings on television, Monty Python and the Holy Grail is firmly cemented as cinematic comedy royalty. Like many, I discovered this film on VHS because somehow, from somewhere, a tape showed up on our shelf. It might have been a Columbia House selection we forgot to mail back the slip for - I have no idea. But it became a firm piece of my childhood. Through countless viewings, this film still cracks me up. Even now, as I write this “review,” I tried to keep the film going as background noise; I was pausing too often to laugh…UaaaaghhhhhhH!!!

At HDD, we want to apologize for the rambling, overly ass-kissy nature of this review. It is not up to our high standards as an objective physical media news and review publication. The writer of this review has since been sacked. We rehired the man responsible for this writer's hiring just so we could sack him all over again, too. Those responsible for sacking the reviewer have also been sacked. The rest of the review will be presented as Mr. Krauss’s 2011 Blu-ray review of William Wyler’s classic, Ben-Hur, starring Charlton Heston:  

"...The sprawling chronicle begins with the birth of Christ, then leaps 26 years ahead to focus on the relationship between Messala (Stephen Boyd) and Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston), close boyhood friends whose differing political perspectives turn them into bitter adult enemies. Messala, a Roman soldier, triumphantly returns to Jerusalem to impose order on the conquered Jews, and believes Judah, the city's wealthiest and most respected man, will help him bring any clandestine rebels to justice. The peaceful Judah, however, refuses to betray his people, inciting an irreparable rift with Messala that becomes a full-blown chasm when Judah's sister, Tirzah (Cathy O'Donnell), accidentally injures the new Roman governor during a parade. Judah takes the blame, but Messala refuses to believe the act was not intentional, and imprisons Judah, Tirzah, and their mother, Miriam (Martha Scott), indefinitely.

Judah vows revenge against Messala, who banishes the Jew to the galleys, where he toils for years as an enslaved oarman. His endurance and hateful demeanor impress Commander Quintus Arrius (Jack Hawkins), a naval general who suggests Judah might have a future as a charioteer in Rome. Judah rebuffs the offer, yet when their ship comes under siege from a Macedonian fleet, Judah rescues an injured Arrius from the Mediterranean, and the grateful general takes the slave under his wing, bringing Judah back to Rome and eventually adopting him. With stature and health restored, Judah soon returns to Jerusalem to confront (and hopefully kill) Messala, discover the fate of Tirzah and Miriam, and romance the beautiful Esther (Haya Harareet), daughter of Simonides (Sam Jaffe), a loyal slave who the Romans tortured for defending Judah after his arrest.

All this, and Jesus Christ, too.

'Ben-Hur' easily could have stumbled by adopting a weighty evangelical slant, but Wyler emphasizes history over religion and keeps his film straightforward and non-denominational. As in the 1925 silent version (equally riveting and discussed briefly below), we never see the face of Jesus, but his powerful presence looms over the story, and his subtle, sporadic interactions with Judah and his family provide the movie — and Heston in particular — with many fine moments.

Although the iconic chariot race transpires early in the film's second half (and endures as one of the all-time great action scenes), I prefer the opening act of 'Ben-Hur,' in which Wyler plants the seeds of conflict and immerses us in the politics and atmosphere of the ancient world. The prologue beautifully depicts Christ's birth, and a scene in which the Messiah defies orders and offers a parched Judah a cup of drinking water arguably stands as the film's most moving sequence. The grueling galley episode is also memorable, and the sea battle brims with color, energy, and thrills. Unfortunately, after the eye-filling chariot race, 'Ben-Hur' loses steam (how could it not?), and strains to sustain itself. Even the compelling crucifixion of Christ can't quite resuscitate it.

Yet 'Ben-Hur' still eclipses all other pictures in its class. Whereas most epics are stymied by plodding dramatic scenes, stilted dialogue, and wooden performances, Wyler's film benefits from a literate script by Karl Tunberg (with considerable uncredited help from such luminaries as Maxwell Anderson, Christopher Fry, S.N. Behrman, and Gore Vidal) and the director's own keen dramatic sense. Seemingly inconsequential scenes possess wonderful warmth and sincerity, and the early exchanges between Judah and Messala crackle with spirit, machismo, and an underlying homoerotic intensity that adds vital subtext to the story. Wyler himself called 'Ben-Hur' "Hollywood's first intimate spectacle," and time has proven it may well be Hollywood's only intimate spectacle — and that's too bad.

I've never been much of a Heston fan, but he's terrific here. Bursting with strength, passion, courage, and conviction, he files without question his most heartfelt performance, and justifiably earned a Best Actor Academy Award. In an odd twist, he creates better chemistry with the sinewy Boyd than the exotically beautiful Harareet, but romance is little more than a subplot in 'Ben-Hur'; Judah and Messala fuel this tale of two men, two worlds, and two conflicting ideals, and Heston and Boyd masterfully suck us into their personal war.

Boyd especially impresses. It would have been easy to make Messala a cartoon villain, but he avoids the trap, and crafts a full-bodied, often mesmerizing portrayal. Wyler also coaxes fine work from Hawkins, Jaffe, Scott, and Hugh Griffith, who won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his turn as a gregarious Arab sheik.

'Ben-Hur' is muscular moviemaking at its best. Though the story may have a few hackneyed elements and some of the spectacle and pageantry may seem a tad bombastic, it's still a fascinating and wholly impressive piece of popcorn entertainment that holds up surprisingly well a half-century after its premiere. 'Ben-Hur' may not be an original, but it remains the standard by which most epics are judged, and it hasn't met its match yet."

Vital Disc Stats: The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray 
Thanks to Sony, Monty Python and the Holy Grail tosses one Holy Hand Grenade of a 4K UHD SteelBook release at physical media fans. The disc count of this release is to be two, and two is to be the count of the discs. Thou shalt not count one disc excepting that thou then proceed to two discs. A third disc is right out.

This two-disc 4K UHD + Blu-ray gives the film in 2160p and is pressed on a BD100 disc, and the film in 1080p, and the bulk of the extras are on a Region Free BD50 disc (which is a repressing of the previous Blu-ray release). No digital copy slip was included for this release - I understand the rights issues are quite tangled there. The disc loads to a static image main menu with standard navigation options along the bottom, with the bonus features menu along the right side of the screen. The discs rest in the steelBook with individual trays. The Artwork is a nice reproduction of the original poster art, complete with God himself on the back. The inside of the SteelBook is the common press photo of the guys on set in costume. 

Monty Python and the Holy Grail has overall enjoyed a nice home video release history, but it’s always been a tough nut to crack on any disc format. Between the shooting conditions on location, often with broken equipment managed by amateur hands, the film has always had something of a rough look to it. Generally, the last 1080p disc was pretty good, but I’m wildly impressed with what was accomplished for this edition. Reportedly given a full 4K restoration (when exactly I'm unsure), the added resolution and the benefits of Dolby Vision HDR leave this film looking better than ever on home video. 

The biggest immediate improvement I could see is a greater balance of contrast and overall brightness. In past discs, whites could be too brilliantly white, or gray skies could wash out the landscape. Part of that is due to the purposefully diffused photography, part of that is also the conditions in which the film was shot, but it could be a real sticking point on the older DVD and Blu-ray releases. Right from the first shot of Arthur and his trusty steed “galloping” across the screen, you can see a better balance between the bright gray skyline and Arthur’s white tunic. Later, during the fight with the Black Knight and the mismatched shots, the suddenly brighter takes don’t completely blast the image against the darker, shadowy cutaways. Shadows see a little more refinement; true dark spaces are closer to being true inky (even if they don’t quite get there). Image depth as a whole is more impressive than ever - especially for the big location shots. 

Details are razor sharp (when the object is in focus). Facial features, beards, make-up, wooden rabbits, killer rabbits, holy hand grenades, and the ladies of Castle Anthrax all look terrific. Film grain is just as apparent as ever, but with a little more refinement. It’s still what some would call “noisy,” but it’s true to form for this one. The optical zooms and effects are still a bit dicey, but they’ve always had that rough appearance. The animation cutaways still look strong and clean. Colors in general haven’t been revisionistly boosted or overly saturated, but true primaries see their glory. Skin tones are appropriately healthy and natural without appearing too pinked or peached. 

Fans of Monty Python and the Holy Grail can pick their favorite audio format to enjoy. For the purists, there’s a DTS-HD MA Mono track, the returning DTS-HD MA 5.1 track (which is pretty good) should suit those with average sound systems, and a brand new, robustly impressive Dolby Atmos mix for those enabled. I honestly wasn’t expecting much out of the Atmos track for this one, but I’ll count myself among the delighted. It’s a crisp mix that fills the channel spaces of the soundscape nicely but doesn’t feel out of place. 

The purist in me still favors the mono track since it sounds more natural and authentic to the film, but the Atmos does well. Many of the key elements hold to the front/center channels, but there’s ample activity in the sides and rears and height channels to keep them engaged. There are some slightly enhanced and more revisionist sound effects peppered here and there, but nothing overly distracting or out of place. I was actually impressed that most of these effects sounded natural to the original sound design. The clip-clopping coconuts travel nicely through the track. It’s a welcome improvement over the still-decent DTS-HD MA 5.1 track - but of the three options, I’d rank the Mono first, Atmos a close second, and the 5.1 track third. All three have clean dialogue without issues.

With the 1080p disc in play, the previous bonus features have all returned. But to give this release something of an edge, on the 4K disc, we get the Near-Theatrical Version of the film in 1080p and a new special tribute to the film marking its 50th Anniversary. The Near-Theatrical Version is the slightly shortened version that’s closer to the VHS edit; however, neither version of the film includes the Dentist on the Job gag that was on the DVD. ‘Tis But A Tribute is a nice little piece featuring a variety of comedians discussing the film and how much they love it. Mostly all just Zoom interviews, but we hear from the likes of Suzzie Eddie Izzard, Marc Evan Jackson, Paul Fieg, Craig Ferguson, Flula Borg, among many others. It’s a puff piece, but it’s also fun to hear takeaways from so many funny people about the film. The rest of the extras are on the included Blu-ray, which is just a repressing of the old disc. That also means the archival audio commentaries are restricted to the 1080p disc. They’re worth listening to if you’ve never gone through them before, as are the rest of the archival materials. 

4K UHD Disc

• Near-Theatrical Version of the Film (HD 1:31:31)
• ‘Tis But a Tribute (HD 15:55)

Blu-ray Disc

• Audio Commentary featuring Eric Idle, John Cleese, and Michael Palin
• Audio Commentary featuring the Terrys - Jones and Gilliam
• 2015 Tribeca Film Festival Q&A with Terry, Terry, Mike, John, and Eric
• Outtakes and Extended Scenes
• Lost Animations
• Quest for the Holy Grail Locations
• Lego Knights
• Japanese Version
• Coconuts
• BBC Film Night 
• Sing Alongs
• Subtitles For People Who Do Not Like The Film (From Henry IV Part 11)
• Cast Directory Photo Gallery
• Original Theatrical Trailer
• Holy Grail Disc Credits

"It's still the same old story, a fight for love and glory, a case of do or die," but it looks so much better in 4K UHD with HDR. Just in time for its 80th anniversary, Casablanca…UHGggK!

Once again, we at HDD must apologize. The person responsible for concluding this review was found to be completely incompetent and has been sacked. The person responsible for assigning said writer to this portion of the review has also been sacked… the original writer (who was previously sacked) has been rehired pro tempore...and will be properly sacked at a later date. 

Monty Python and the Holy Grail is among the funniest films ever made. I may have a slightly stronger preference for the deliriously silly Life of Brian, but that's me trying to measure a five-star film against another five-star film. Through countless viewings, Holy Grail remains a favorite. As I said at the outset, before I was sacked and rehired, this film is virtually unreviewable. I can’t imagine anyone with a beating heart and a sense of humor not enjoying it. It’s so immediately quotable that it’s impossible not to laugh your ass off at any given scene. 

Sony gives fans of the film the 2160p presentation they deserve with a genuinely lovely 4K UHD SteelBook release. The new Dolby Vision transfer is fantastic, leaving the film looking better than ever while staying true to its rough-around-the-edges roots. Three audio options ranging from the original mono track to an impressive new Atmos mix further enhance this home video experience. Then we come to a nice selection of new and archival extras to enjoy. Add all of that up together, and you have one hell of a physical media release to enjoy. Highly Recommended