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Dom Robinson reviews

The Adventures of Priscilla,
Queen of the Desert

Finally, a comedy that will change the way you think,
the way you feel and, more importantly, the way you dress

Distributed by

Columbia TriStar


The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is the one DVD that I've been looking forward to all year (well, I lie there - I've gone a bundle for discs like The Complete Flumps and Men Behaving Badly).

Gay anthems ahoy as Bernadette (Terence Stamp), Mitzi (Hugo Weaving) and Felicia (Guy Pearce) are three Sidney drag queens travelling in a clapped-out and delapidated school bus that they convert into a travelling companion that's more ornate that the Titanic), on a four-week cabaret around the back-end of Australia.

With many good one-liners, costumes to just die for darling and an oriental girl who fires ping-pong balls out of her arse, this is one film that, despite a few slow moments, you shouldn't miss. However...


...it's time to now bow our heads and put on the black armband as this particular DVD is consigned to beermat-heaven. Why? Because the film was shot in a 2.35:1 Panavision ratio but here it's been cropped to an anamorphic 1.85:1 ratio which is an incredible shame as the visuals are nothing but stunning and, to add insult to injury, the opening credits are in the original 2.35:1 ratio and then the picture changes to 1.85:1 afterwards.

To then add insult to insult to injury, see the section about the TV clips later on in this review.

The sound is the one thing this disc gets right. Clear dialogue and songs bursting out all over the place such as "I've Been To Paradise (But I've Never Been To Me)", "Save The Best Till Last", "I Will Survive" and "I Love the Nightlife", get the body grooving, if you can close your eyes so you don't have to witness the cropped ratio.

The sound is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 (Stereo) in English only.


Extras :

Chapters/Trailer :

Just 20 chapters break up the film, coupled with the theatrical trailer and a teaser trailer.

Languages/Subtitles :

Dolby Digital 2.0 (Stereo) in English alone and, surprisingly, no subtitles.

And there's more... :

But not a great deal. The Filmogs/Biogs are for the director and the three main cast members, while the 9 TV Clips are brief snippets from the film exactly how they appeared in the film - no different - so clearly the sort of thing that was sent out to TV shows of the day so they could plug the film quickly and cheaply.

Here's the bit where Columbia have added insult to insult to injury.

All the clips are in the original
2.35:1 ratio but the film isn't!!

Right, I'm off for a lie down now.

Menu :

Silent, but some nice subtle animation of a glitterball on the main menu with options to start the film, select a scene or visit the extras menu.


So, Priscilla, you're a great film with superb sound, but all is lost when you cropped 25% of the picture off the sides. Small is not beautiful. How about a recall please Columbia before it gets released? (May 22nd, 2000).

The Region 1 disc is in its original 2.35:1 ratio but is not anamorphic. However, I'd take that over an anamorphic, but cropped picture any day.

DVD Trivia: I saw Guy Pearce play his saxophone at Foo Foo Lamarr's Henry Afrika's club in Oldham, Manchester in 1989 (I think). All he did was play his instrument, talk about himself in Neighbours and hand up signed photos, before being followed-up by a Michael Jackson impressionist and Foo Foo him/herself.

Dom Trivia: No, I'm not gay (the missus would NOT be impressed!), but a brilliant night out for me is a Friday night at Manchester's Paradise Factory on the 80's music floor with several bottle of K :)

FILM CONTENT
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS



OVERALL

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2000.

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