There’s much to love about A Fish Called Wanda, a film whose laughs really haven’t been diluted over time. Written by and starring John Cleese, A Fish Called Wanda brought late Ealing veteran Charles Crichton out of retirement, to put together an ensemble comedy based around a London diamond heist.

There’s much to love here. Kevin Kline’s Oscar-winning, scene-stealing performance, Cleese’s striptease and handy use of a goldfish, and the most incompetent attempt to take out a target remain joyous highlights. It’s all competently presented for the Blu-ray release, too. It’s hardly reference quality transfer work, but it’s a decent, if unspectacular upgrade.

It’s the package of extra features that justify the outlay. The looking back feature, for instance, brings the cast back together for a good retrospective on the project, and they’re both good company, and have interesting things to say. There’s a lot of less interesting deleted material, too, although it’s generally the kind of stuff that you’ll only watch once. But you might be more tempted to go back to the commentary track by John Cleese, which is a real delight, and one of the highlights of the disc.

There’s a good selection of further material to work through as well. The film hasn’t looked better, and there’s a real sense that you’re getting a surprisingly thorough collection of bonus material. --Jon Foster