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
Cert:
Cat.no: CDR 22982
Running time: 99 minutes
Year: 1994
Pressing: 2000
Region(s): 2, PAL
Chapters: 20 plus extras
Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 (Stereo)
Languages: English
Subtitles: None
Widescreen: 1.85:1 (cropped from 2.35:1)
16:9-Enhanced: Yes
Macrovision: Yes
Disc Format: DVD 5
Price: £19.99
Extras : Scene index, Trailer, Teaser Trailer, Filmographies/Biographies,
9 TV promotional clips
Director:
Stephan Elliot
(The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Eye of the Beholder, Frauds, Welcome To Woop Woop)
Producer:
Al Clark and Michael Hamlyn
Screenplay:
Stephan Elliot
Music:
Guy Gross
Cast:
Bernadette: Terrance Stamp (The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Alien Nation, Bowfinger, Hud, Legal Eagles, The Limey, Red Planet, Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Superman 1 & 2, Wall Street, Young Guns,
TV: The Hunger)
Mitzi: Hugo Weaving (The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Babe, Babe: Pig in the City, Bedrooms & Hallways , Frauds, The Interview, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Magic Puddings, The Matrix,
Proof, Russian Doll, Strange Planet, TV: Bangkok Hilton, True Stories)
Felicia: Guy Pearce (The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert, L.A. Confidential, Memento, Ravenous, Rules of Engagement, Till Human Voices Wake Us, TV: Home and Away, Neighbours)
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.
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 :)
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
