Home cinema test: "Python and the Holy Grail" on UHD, Blu-ray and streaming

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England, 932 AD: King Arthur crosses with his faithful servant Patsy and his horses ...

I apologize, the reviewer who just wrote this line has been fired!
So King Arthur roams with his servant Patsy and South African coconuts ...

My apologies again, the reviewer who has just been substituted for the reviewer who was fired has also been fired!

The following text was written with the assistance of 40 specially trained Ecuadorian Berglamas:

England, 932 AD: King Arthur is touring Britain with his faithful servant Patsy. As the film production budget didn't allow for horses, coconuts have to be used. But that's not what we're talking about here. While Arthur struggles with unruly castle guards, he gradually gathers the Knights of the Round Table and follows nothing less than God's command to find the Holy Grail ...

So begins the story of the "Python and the Holy Grail" (Monty Python and the Holy Grail). To mark its 50th anniversary, Sony is releasing the classic film by English comedy troupe Monty Python on Ultra HD Blu-ray (UHD) for the first time on August 28. The picture has been restored in 4K and the sound of the original English track has been remixed in Dolby Atmos.

This may not lure any killer rabbits out of their burrows, as the British anarchic humor also works in mono. However, previous releases in streaming and on Blu-ray had to contend with major technical problems that spoiled the fun for many a fan. In our test, after some production notes, we go into detail about the individual editions in streaming and on disc so that you can decide whether the new UHD is indeed the holy grail of the holy grail.

Adventurous production

"If is the Nunstück git and Slotermeyer? Yes! Beiherhund das Oder die Flipperwaldt gersput!" – Already in the TV show Monty Python's Flying Circus, the British comedy troupe showed (as in the deadly joke quoted above) how they combine anarchic irreverence and deep black humor. "The Python and the Holy Grail" brought this style to the cinema for the first time in 1975 and quickly became a cult hit. And this despite adverse production conditions, which were, however, exploited: the low budget is not concealed, but rather used as a stylistic device: instead of horses, there are coconuts, instead of epic backdrops, there is a forest and a castle, which represents several locations at once.

Gilliam contributes his typical quirky animations to avoid the most expensive special effects (such as a dragon), while historical facts, myths and political discourse are blended into a wild satire that will have fans in tears of laughter even after the umpteenth rewatch. Hardly any humor is more timeless than that of the Pythons. Hardly any other movie provides more quotes that have been passed down through the generations over the past 50 years.

Incidentally, the film was financed by music greats such as Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Elton John and Jethro Tull lead singer Ian Anderson, among others, who used their involvement primarily as creative tax evasion and thus allowed the Pythons great artistic freedom. Something that seems almost impossible today. But anyone who thought that the producers and comedy troupe had always been on the same page was mistaken: post-production was anything but smooth – A total of 13 test screenings were necessary before the finished film was ready. Only 10 percent of the original script, in which the search for the Holy Grail found its finale in London's Harrods, is said to be left.

A word about the German dubbing: unfortunately, many puns were lost in it, which is why the original version is clearly preferable. Only there do you avoid translation pearls like: "I taught the Saxons how to fish – since then they've been called Anglo-Saxons." And only there are these wonderful rants by the French knight that simply cannot be translated.