Paramount should take a look at the new DVD release for "Monty Python and the Holy Grail", then go hang their heads in shame for the utterly awful disc they recently released for "Life of Brian".

TECHNICAL FEATURES

Picture You wouldn't think that this was a low budget 70s movie from the restoration work that's gone into cleaning the picture up. Colours are a little pale, but then it was shot in Britain...

Sound A brand new 5.1 mix no less - and quite a playful one at that too. The sombre opening title music plays around with the speakers to very amusing effect, and sets the tone for a mix that's been created with obvious glee.

SPECIAL FEATURES

Audio Commentary One (Disc One) Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones both had input into the direction, so they share this commentary too. There's some amusement over remembering the scene where they made Michael Palin eat mud, only then to cut it! Plenty of anecdotes unravel throughout, and there's no shortage of pointers offered for indicating low budget tricks including a plywood Camelot.

Audio Commentary Two (Disc One) The plywood Camelot pops-up again, in this commentary with Michael Palin, John Cleese, and Eric Idle. Apparently it kept blowing over. Plenty of time is put aside to rib the directing, while Palin reminisces over the mud-eating which was meant to be chocolate, but how he was supposed to distinguish it from the muddy field was apparently never made clear.

Follow Killer Rabbit (Disc One) Well the 'killer rabbit' is in fact a 'white rabbit' feature, where you can opt out of the film at given moments to view little delights, like a receipt for 80 student lunches for a battle scene.

Screenplay Subtitles (Disc One) Yes, you read right. This is a trick that other DVDs should be using - watch the film, and if you want to read the screenplay you can have it up on the screen at the same time. So no DVD-ROM nonsense or squinting away at a TV screen.

Singalong Three favourite songs for you to sing along with karaoke style, with 'Knights of the Round Table' particularly amusing after a few beers... har har.

Quest for the Holy Grail Locations Terry Jones and Michael Palin buckle-up for a leisurely tour of the locations used for the movie, with various anecdotes spilling out along the way as they cast their minds back. At 45 minutes long it's a surprisingly pleasant trip down memory lane.

Sacred Relics In this section you'll find a 'coconuts' sketch, and two scenes from the film dubbed into Japanese. Plus, there's also a 'BBC Film Night' on location report from 1974. The Pythons spend most of their time ribbing the presenter, but Gilliam does make the claim that "Ingmar Bergman will be jealous of this one", in reference to the film they're making.

Old Rubbish This is a tagline that many other DVDs could do with using when referring to the extra features they come with. The 'Old Rubbish' on this disc consists of a chance to look at the 'Investors Preview', check out photo, poster, and trailer galleries. The highlight though is a sombre reading by Terry Jones of film critic Geoff Brown's derisory review of the movie.

Unshot Footage Sketches and storyboards of scenes for you to flick through, but the real fun is watching a re-working of "The Knights of the Round Table" song routine using Lego men. It's very amusing, as is footage reputedly 'shot' during the location hunting expedition.

Region: 2
Chapters: 28
Ratio: 1.85:1 (anamorphic)
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 (stereo)
Technical Features: Scene selection, animated menus, subtitles, and English captions for the hearing impaired.

This DVD was reviewed on a JVC XV-S57 DVD player.