Camelot

General		Extras
Category	Musical	Theatrical Trailer(s)	None
Rating		Other Trailer(s)	None
Year Released	1967	Commentary Tracks	None
Running Time	172:45 minutes	Other Extras	None
RSDL/Flipper	RSDL (96:45)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Movie
Region	2,4	Director	Joshua Logan
Studio Distributor	Warner Home Video	Starring	Richard Harris Vanessa Redgrave Franco Nero David Hemmings Lionel Jeffries Laurence Naismith
RRP	$29.95	Music	Frederick Loewe

    Plot ... musicals: almost an oxymoron surely? This is the film adaptation of the musical stage hit formulated by the renowned Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, possibly the best stage musical partnership, outside of Rogers and Hammerstein, of this century. The broad story is that of King Arthur (Richard Harris) and Queen Guenevere (Vanessa Redgrave) and the legendary Knights of the Round Table. Unfortunately, this is a legend of great ideas gone sadly astray as the mythical paradise of Camelot was destroyed by the forbidden love of Lancelot (Franco Nero) for Guenevere, most especially because Guenevere becomes the first victim of the famed court of justice of Arthur. Add in a bastard son Mordred (David Hemmings) bent on gaining his rightful place as the next King of England, a King without a kingdom in King Pellinore (Lionel Jeffries) and the mystical Merlin (Laurence Naismith) and all the elements of the legend of King Arthur and Camelot are here.

    It is a story done to death in most forms of film, with varying degrees of success, so it was only natural that not only would a stage musical be done, but that it would be adapted for the big screen. It has to be said that really this is a long winded film that could have benefited from some judicious pruning - or else include a few more snappy Lerner and Loewe tunes. It copped three Oscars in 1967, but in three areas outside of the "biggies": Best Adaptation Scoring, Best Art Direction/Set Decoration and Best Costume. Richard Harris as Arthur was adequate, Vanessa Redgrave as Guenevere seems an odd choice and Franco Nero as Lancelot left me very cold. The only thing that makes this worthwhile is Lionel Jeffries, a trooper of the era, and the music and lyrics of Frederick Loewe and Alan Jay Lerner.

Video

    The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, and it is 16x9 enhanced.

    Overall, the transfer is quite sharp and very well defined. There were only some very short sections of the film where focus was a little soft, and one small section between 93:20 and 94:30 which seemed quite grainy in comparison to the rest of the film. The transfer is clear throughout and shadow detail was quite acceptable.

    The colours are very nicely rendered, and consistently so, although this is not an overly vibrant colourscape. There was no hint of oversaturation or colour bleed at all - not even in the red credits, which I know flare and bleed like crazy on the VHS tape.

    There did not appear to be any significant MPEG artefacts. Video artefacts seemed to be quite rare during the film, the most noticeable being a slight loss of focus in a panned shot at 7:40 - and even that was not that distracting. There did seem to be a strange ghost image at around the 38:10 mark, but this seemed to be more like an inherent problem in the original print than a transfer problem. Film artefacts were not that prevalent (I was certainly expecting more) and generally did not detract from the film in any significant way - rare for a thirty year old film.

    This is a RSDL format disc, with the layer change coming at the intermission at 96:45. This is an extremely logical place to incorporate the layer change, and did not detract from nor interrupt the film in any way. Nice one Warners!

Audio

    There is only the one soundtrack on the DVD, being the English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack.

    The dialogue was clear and easy to understand throughout, as was the singing.

    Audio sync does not appear to be a problem with the transfer.

    The score comprises original compositions from Alan Jay Lerner (lyrics) and Frederick Loewe (music) which is of course what the film is all about. Whilst it has to be said that the lyrics are not the best you are ever going to hear, Lerner and Loewe did this sort of stuff better than most.

    This is a gloriously remastered soundtrack that has made full use of the surround channels, with some gorgeous detail - such as background singing - in the rear channels. This is an excellent example of how to remaster music for films.

    There was no overtly apparent use made of the bass channel however, which is a pity as a little bass resonance could have been very beneficial during the joust scenes especially. That however would be the only complaint I could have about the soundtrack.

Menu

• an isolated Dolby Digital 5.1 music score soundtrack!
• Featurette - "The Story of Camelot"
• Documentary - "The World Premiere of Camelot"
• five theatrical trailers

    The overall video quality is very good.

    The overall audio quality is glorious.

    The extras are an absolute disgrace.

Video
Audio
Extras	disgustingly nil
Plot
Overall

© Ian Morris
3rd October 1999