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Dom Robinson reviews 
Columbia TriStar
- Cat.no: CDR 99872
- Cert: PG
- Running time: 128 minutes
- Year: 1995
- Pressing: 1998
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Chapters: 20 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Surround
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: English, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Russian, Hindi, Hebrew.
- Widescreen: 1.85:1
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Price: £19.99
- Extras : Scene index, Columbia TriStar trailer (clips of many films coming to DVD).
Director:
- Jerry Zucker
(Ghost, Top Secret, TV: “Police Squad”)
Producers:
- Jerry Zucker & Hunt Lowry
Screenplay:
- William Nicholson
Music:
- Jerry Goldsmith
Cast:
- Arthur: Sean Connery (The Avengers, Dr. No (and many other Bond films), Highlander 1 & 2, The Hunt For Red October, Outland, The Rock, Time Bandits, The Untouchables)
Lancelot: Richard Gere (American Gigolo, Internal Affairs, The Jackal, Pretty Woman, Red Corner)
Guinevere: Julia Ormond (The Baby Of Macon, Captives, Legends Of The Fall, Sabrina, Smilla’s Feeling For Snow)
Oswald: John Gielgud (Arthur 1 & 2, The Charge Of The Light Brigade, The Elephant Man, Ghandi, Prospero’s Books, Shine)
First Knight, a sweeping epic about love, honour, betrayal and passion, is set in and around the city of Camelot. Lancelot (Richard Gere), a nomadic rogue, has no ties, no enemies and no fear…until he meets Lady Guinevere of Leonesse (Julia Ormond). However, she has promised to marry King Arthur (Sean Connery), not only because his armies can protect her country, but because she truly loves him. But her chance encounter with Lancelot, as she prepares to enter Camelot, stirs conflicting and powerful emotions within her.
Arthur has further problems though. The most powerful of his knights, Prince Malagant, has long been jealous of Arthur’s glory and so the land was divided again between those who rallied to Malagant, seeking the spoils of war, and those who stayed loyal to the King.
The picture quality is very good with motion artifacts usually only in the dark areas, and then only if you’re really looking for them so to most people the film will be pleasing to the eye. The film is presented in its original widescreen ratio of 1.85:1, is enhanced for 16:9 widescreen televisions – thus allowing for higher resolution – and the average bitrate is a so-so 4.30 Mb/s.
The sound comes in two formats: Dolby Digital 5.1 which will benefit all of those with the suitable hardware and Dolby Surround for everyone else with a surround setup.
Jerry Goldsmith’s score is reproduced very well here, as are all the action scenes plus chapter 6’s “The Gauntlet” which is jam-packed full of directional sound effects as Richard Gere dodges between the blades in such a cavalier fashion.
Extras :
It’s confusing that the main menu has a “Play DVD trailer” option as you’d expect it to be the trailer for this particular film, but it’s not. It’s a collection of clips from various Columbia TriStar films coming soon to DVD.
There’s just the one language on this disc – English – plus subtitles in English, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Russian, Hindi and Hebrew. The English subtitles summarise the dialogue quite well and never brings up more than two lines of dialogue at once.
The interactive menu works well. Just dragging the mouse pointer over an option highlights it, although the menu is static. On playing the disc you get the Columbia TriStar logo and copyright info before the main menu appears.
Overall, like Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves, this film is a two-hour piece of romantic nonsense – entertaining, very watchable and very loud during the action scenes. Plus it serves very well as a family-orientated film, so if you’re a fan of the film this disc is definitely worth a purchase.
FILM : ***½ PICTURE QUALITY: **** SOUND QUALITY: ***** EXTRAS: *½ ——————————- OVERALL: ***½
Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 1998.
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.