I’m typically a little wary of watching comedies with my kids for the Film After 11 podcast. The humor in older movies doesn’t always play well for the younger generation. My own boys also almost never laugh during comedies, leaving me unable to read their reactions until asking them later. Nevertheless, this week I introduced my son Thomas to the classic Monty Python and the Holy Grail. During our viewing, I heard him laugh exactly twice. I suppose that’s better than usual, but I was worried about what he’d say afterward. Thankfully, he tells me he liked it. I might have had to disown him if he didn’t.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail is the rare sort of comedy that remains just as funny after a hundred viewings as the first. The cleverness of the Python gang’s humor is silly and smart at the same time, and never gets old. Even the opening credits are hilarious.
| Title: | Monty Python and the Holy Grail |
| Year of Release: | 1975 |
| Directors: | Terry Gilliam Terry Jones |
| Watched On: | Blu-ray |
| Also Available On: | 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Amazon Prime Video Britbox Kanopy Peacock Pluto TV Shout! TV Various VOD rental and purchase platforms |
The Blu-ray
Sony Pictures first released Monty Python and the Holy Grail on Blu-ray in 2012, then reissued a 40th Anniversary Edition in 2015. I believe the two discs are largely the same except for the addition of a half-hour Q&A on the latter. I have the original disc and didn’t feel compelled to rebuy the movie just for that.
Nor have I upgraded to the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray released in 2025. To be honest, I’m a little skeptical of the need for 4K on a very low-budget movie like this that has always suffered from dodgy photography and production values. I won’t rule out the possibility that a new transfer could yield some improvement over the old one, but the first Blu-ray was highly regarded in its time and I think it’s held up pretty well.
If anything, the 1080p picture is almost too sharp and clear for a movie that had always looked extremely soft and grainy on every previous home video format. That could largely be a factor of scanning it from the camera negative rather than a later-generation film element. If Sony did any grain reduction or artificial sharpening, they were handled well enough and aren’t objectionable.
The movie still has patches where the camera was clearly out-of-focus and the picture is blurry. It’s also still pretty grainy, just less oppressively so than before. However, that grain is a little noisy and could probably be improved with better compression and encoding. The 1.66:1 pillarboxed image is a little dim at times, and some colors are suspiciously vivid (possibly indicating they’ve been boosted in the color grade).
I haven’t seen the 4K edition. If it’s an entirely new transfer, it might tone down some of these attributes and look more naturally filmic, at the expense of losing some vibrancy. Or perhaps it’s the same transfer, just boosted even more with HDR. In either case, having watched it again, I’m satisfied enough to stick with the Blu-ray.
The primary audio option on the Blu-ray is a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. The original theatrical mono is also included, but only in lossy Dolby Digital. I opted to give the 5.1 a shot, and was pleasantly surprised with how creatively the remix is employed. The opening scene, for example, starts with music on the right side of the room and then playfully bounces over to the left. That may sound gimmicky, but it’s gimmicky in a fun way. Most other directional effects are restrained and well-applied. The echo of the Lord’s bombastic voice fills the room nicely.
Dialogue is a little weak and sometimes muddy, but I suspect that stems back to the original recording. The explosions set off by Tim the Enchanter boom well.
The 2012 Blu-ray may be missing that later Q&A from 2015, but still has a bunch of bonus features, starting with two audio commentaries (one by Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones, the other by John Cleese, Eric Idle and Michael Palin). Other items include deleted animation segments by Terry Gilliam, some outtakes and extended scenes, a lengthy location tour by Michael Palin and Terry Jones, a fun recreation of the Camelot musical number done in Lego animation, an excerpt of the French knight scene with a Japanese dub and terrible subtitles, a gag instructional film about how to use coconuts to imitate horse tromping sounds, a vintage BBC special about the making of the film, three sing-along songs, a photo gallery that’s impossible to exit without the seldom-used color buttons on a Blu-ray player remote, and a 2001 re-release trailer.
A so-called “Second Screen Experience” interactive BD-Live feature that once worked in conjunction with an iPad is no longer usable.
I believe the 4K edition adds some newer items. It also upgrades the audio even further to Dolby Atmos, which seems like overkill to me.
Related
- Terry Gilliam (director)
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