Warner Home Video's Blu-ray offers an accurate presentation of a fundamentally ugly-looking movie, produced as it was during the cinematographical nadir of American cinema. Like a lot of spherical widescreen movies from this period, it's grainy with blotchy color, and not helped by utilitarian lighting and dirty opticals. The only supplement is an awkward, spotty audio commentary by star Chevy Chase that originally accompanied the April 2002 DVD.

European Vacation starts poorly, gets funny and lively during the middle section, then gets bogged down with contrived situations and overly familiar slapstick for the climax. In the opening scenes, suburban Chicagoite Clark "Sparky" Griswald (Chevy Chase) and his wife and kids - supportive, sexy Ellen (Beverly D'Angelo) and their bickering teenage children Audrey (Dana Hill) and Rusty (Jason Lively) - win the trip of the title as contestants on "Pig in a Poke." Hosted by Kent Winkdale (John Astin), the show is an amalgam of Family Feud, Let's Make a Deal and other game shows; the writers seem to think making these knowing references is by itself funny, which it's not.

However, once the Griswald's trip begins so does the fun. (For this entry only the family name is spelled with am "a." In all the other films it's "Griswold.") In London aboard their rental car the family becomes trapped in the Lambeth Bridge roundabout and an entire day is wasted as they helplessly circle it. As they leave Stonehenge Clark backs into one of the monoliths, causing a domino effect that effectively destroys the prehistoric monument.

But where European Vacation really gets inspired are scenes that make fun of uncultured middle-American cluelessness when traveling abroad, and which draws on national stereotypes not all that far from the truth. Some of this is dated - Europe is far more Americanized now than it was then - but still funny: in England, the kids are aghast to discover London has just four television channels - each airing the same documentary about cheese. Desperate, they stare at the ceiling, singing American television commercial jingles to one another to keep themselves entertained.

Driving on the wrong side of the road (of course), Clark hits several motorists and a cyclist (Eric Idle), all of whom are unfailingly polite, even effusive toward the visiting Yanks. Conversely, in Paris the French are openly contemptuous, aware the Griswalds cannot speak the language. "Typical American assholes!" one sneers. At a sidewalk café, super-sincere Clark, doing his best to inject French into his conversation with a waiter, has this exchange:

Clark: "Coca-colas for the les enfants."

Cynical Waiter: "Oui, deux champagne américains."

Still later, they visit elderly relatives in Germany (Willy Millowitsch and Erika Wackernagel), unaware they've gone to the wrong address. Nonetheless, the bemused German couple obligingly serves them Weiner schnitzel and sauerkraut.

This sort of material is wonderful, and it's too bad so much of the rest of the film is conventional and uninspired. The film even climaxes with a big car chase when, in Rome, Ellen is kidnapped of all things. A bit better is a subplot concerning a sexy home video Clark shoots of Ellen back in Chicago of her strip teasing to "Hey, Big Spender." Clark's video equipment is stolen and the footage later turns up in an Italian porno movie, which the Griswalds see advertised on a big billboard (translation of the title: "Lady in the Shower").

The cast seems to be enjoying themselves and this enthusiasm is conveyed to the audience, though some talent (Mel Smith as a hotel owner, Robbie Coltrane as a lascivious guest, etc.) are wasted in roles beneath their abilities. Some of the humor is dated and may be lost on younger viewers: Audrey misses her boyfriend, and in those pre-Internet days racks up a $250 phone bill calling him from their hotel room. Amusingly, Clark videotapes Ellen with a JVC SF-P3, a video camera bulkier than most professional news cameras today!

Video & Audio

Filmed for 1.85:1 cropping, National Lampoon's European Vacation is a fairly grainy, ugly-looking movie but its 1080p transfer puts it in about the best possible light. What surely must have been one of the last monophonic releases from a major studio, the Blu-ray offers an accurate rendering of the original audio in a DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 track, with Dolby Digital tracks in French and Spanish, and subtitles in all those languages as well.

Extra Features

The lone supplement is a spotty audio commentary by Chevy Chase that tries too hard to be amusing and most of the time isn't. He shares a few good anecdotes but this is one of those frequently silent tracks encouraging multi-tasking. Me, I folded the laundry.

Parting Thoughts

Though no great shakes, National Lampoon's European Vacation is adequately amusing, with some really inspired satire amid the hit-and-miss slapstick and crudity. Modestly Recommended.

Stuart Galbraith IV's latest audio commentary, for AnimEigo's Musashi Miyamoto DVD boxed set, is on sale now.