Gorgeous New Transfer From Original Negative — On Netflix!

This is one of the best-looking films of the 70’s, or maybe ever.
Always thought so, but the new transfer is simply spectacular.
Decades ago the “new” Laserdisc release came out with the one deleted scene, which looked horrible and stuck out like a rotting thumb. Here, you can’t tell at all. It’s seamless.

Terry Bedford’s cinematography occasionally approaches Oscar caliber. The film is so well-lit, often with natural light, it reminds me of John Alcott’s Oscar-winning work later that same year for Kubrick’s “Barry Lyndon.” The “Bring Out Your Dead” scene, besides being both revolting and visually stunning (and funny), is one of the most historically accurate depictions of the middle ages ever on film (check the commentary track for more on this). Artful use of wide-angle lenses give the forest a creepy foreboding while turning the virginal young things of Castle Anthrax into soft-focus temptresses.

This is why I love low-budget filmmaking: making the the most of what you have and using creativity instead of money. Yet money was spent: 35mm quality throughout, a real castle (only one, as I understand), a crane (to drop the wooden horse on a character’s head), flying cows, and even a true finale with over a hundred extras all dressed in period battle gear. Nothing is cheesy except by intention (e.g., the nasty flying rabbit). Beautiful Scottish countryside and lush forestry with authentic thick gray fog. Even a thundering orchestral score — half library, half original — including a choir! There’s real production value here, honestly exceeding that of the average million-dollar production of the time.

And about those horses. I think they were originally supposed to be real ones, not just coconut halves and sound effects. Would this film be as funny with real horses? I say no, unequivocally. A big part of the joke here is that the whole quest is pretentious. The knights, and especially Arthur, are dead serious. Charged by God they are, by God — and let no mere mortal block their path. IN THE NAME OF THE LORD, WE DEMAND ENTRANCE TO THIS SACRED CASTLE, thunders Graham Chapman, so sincerely that we believe he really is King Arthur. Still, we see his pretentiousness even if he does not. The coconut ruse seems like just another of the knights’ collective quasi-religious delusions, no more so than the quest itself. Like so much of the film, it’s perfect as is.

Check it out on Netflix before it’s gone.
Use your largest scales ... I mean screens.

(Sorry!)