[Brian E]

As the subject says... I've got the '99 and '01 releases of The Holy Grail. Any reason to keep the older one? I seem to remember thinking there was at the time the '01 release came out, but can't think of it now.

Thanks

[Mikal Haydn]

I think the newer releases have the following problems:
- Swedish subtitle for the "monty python and the holy grail" title missing in the beginning
- english subtitles appearing randomly even when subtitles are disabled
- another error i can't recall...

[Andrew Bunk]

The english subtitle problem was fixed early on, and I haven't heard of anyone getting a bad one at retail for a while. Columbia did offer an exchange for it at the time.

[Matt_H]

aren't they two diffrent cuts of the film? I thoght the new release had a couple of seconds more footage.

[RichardCrowther]

OK, I'm really, really sorry to be dragging up old threads (and for flogging a probably already dead horse to a bloody mass of minced entrails), but, I promise I have done a search and read up a bit, but I still would like confirmation on a couple of things:

1) Am I right in thinking that the first, "MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL" subtitle is STILL missing on all R1 copies of this film?

2) Am I right in thinking that the subtitles for the hard of hearing do not automatically pop up at random intervals now (reading above, this does now seem to be the case - I suppose I'm just making sure there are no "older" copies still floating round)?

3) Am I right in thinking that the R1 DOES include the original, un-tampered with, mono mix (and not just a mono mixdown of the horrible 5.1 re-hash)?

Like I say, sorry for raking over old ground!

[Patrick McCart]

The mono track on the SE is the real original mono. The most obvious indicator of this is the original narration audio... since Michael Palin re-recorded it for the SE.

[John CW]

Quote:

The mono track on the SE is the real original mono. The most obvious indicator of this is the original narration audio... since Michael Palin re-recorded it for the SE.

Really?? I have the Region 2 Special Edition. I wonder which tracks that has! Is there a way you can tell without listening to both?

Thanks!

[Patrick McCart]

Quote:

Is there a way you can tell without listening to both?

Well, in the R1 insert, it lists the original mono track.

[RichardCrowther]

Quote:

Really?? I have the Region 2 Special Edition. I wonder which tracks that has!

It has the re-recorded version. Some of the music and sound effects have also been dropped/replaced, and the whole thing just doesn't have the same feeling at all. A lot of the humour is lost during those Palin passages, too, since, in the original version, he narrated with a faux serious tone, in the new version, he sounds as if he's in on the jokes, which just doesn't work, IMO.

Oh, and, sorry to disappoint, but ALL the tracks on the R2 have this problem, since the mono/stereo track (I can't remember which it has), is merely a mixdown of the 5.1 track. It's a cheat, and a very upsetting one. If the original mono is on the R1, why couldn't it have been transferred over to the R2 (which came out a lot later)?

Oh, and thanks, Patrick, for the confirmation that the R1 does, indeed, have the proper soundtrack.

I just hope the R1 now has the subtitle put back, otherwise there isn't a single correct DVD version of this film anywhere in the world! And that's sad.