Silent Movie
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Movie Reviews of Silent Movie
Movie Review: Silent Movie
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a great movie. I ordered it for my husband and myself. We have checked it out many times from the library and wanted a copy for our own library. Thanks for making this possible.Movie Review: THIS MOVIE IS AWESOME!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
I think this movie has a great sense of humor, and I also like this movie because it was directed by my favorite director Mel Brooks. PS if you are Mel Brooks, U Review: Non!Summary: 4 Stars They stopped making silent movies eons ago -- or as my brother puts it, "Movies with no talkin'."
But Mel Brooks revived the genre somewhat with the hilarious "Silent Movie," which spoofs two things: those over-the-top old silents, and the nastiness of the movie industry. Full of slapstick and star cameos, this is Brooks stretching his comedic talents... and nobody can hear it.
Former alcoholic Mel Funn (Brooks) is seeking a comeback, and he pitches a silent movie idea to the president of Big Picture Studios, who unsurprisingly rejects it. But Funn swears he can get some stars to star in the movie. So he and his friends Marty Eggs (Marty Feldman) and Dom Bell (Dom DeLuise) go on a slapstick recruiting drive, relentlessly pursuing Liza Minelli, Burt Reynolds, James Caan, and Anne Bancroft.
But they still have a problem -- the evil Engulf & Devour is planning a takeover of Big Picture Studios, and so they don't want Funn's movie to succeed. So they send sultry nightclub singer Vilma Kaplan (Bernadette Peters) to seduce and distract Funn. Will he fall off the wagon? Will the movie get made?
Since obviously there's no dialogue (except a "non" from Marcel Marceau), Mel Brooks has to drop most of his verbal gags in here, in favor of lots of visual ones. Instead, a lot of the comedy comes from that wild, overdramatic acting style that people used before movies had sound. And giant chocolate bars.
So, it's slapstick galore -- pratfalls, wild exaggeration, and crazy reactions to everything. And there's some mockery of the cold-blooded way Hollywood moguls act. Nobody wants Funn's new movie because it's wildly different and risky, much the way "Silent Movie" probably was -- and it leaves you wondering just how Brooks recruited all these actors.
And Brooks spoofs other stuff related to movies, such as theatres (note the "Trash Can Size" popcorn, with butter poured on by a GAS PUMP). In fact, it doesn't take long for Brooks to cross the line into total craziness, as evidenced by the climactic battle between the good guys and bad guys -- it involves throwing soda pop grenades. Who'd have thunk it?
Brooks, Feldman and DeLuise are all obviously having a great time, playing these relentlessly over-the-top characters, especially when they're doing things like lurching around in suits of armor. And the cameos by various actors are fun, especially Reynolds and Brooks' real-life wife Bancroft.
If comedy had a sound, "Silent Movie" would shatter all the windows. While Brooks can't exert his verbal comic skills, he almost makes up for it with all the delicious spoofery of old movies and Hollywood. Non!
Movie Review: Not great, but it's still fun
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a second-tier Mel Brooks effort, which means it's very funny but not as consistently uproarious as YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, THE PRODUCERS or BLAZING SADDLES. However, there are still some inspired moments, especially the encounters with Burt Reynolds, Anne Bancroft, and Paul Newman. (By comparison, the bits with Liza Minnelli and James Caan promise more than they deliver.)
I'm sure this was not a high-priority DVD title for 20th Century-Fox, but nevertheless it would have been nice to have some Extras, aside from a couple of theatrical trailers. A few years after the film's initial release, I saw the "original" cut at a Mel Brooks retrospective. This version had scenes that were eventually deleted for the general-release print. While they weren't necessarily great comic sequences, it would have been nice if Fox had included them here as Extras. These scenes included:
*In the screening room sequence, Sid Caesar shows Mel, Marty and Dom the rushes for another production, LOBSTERS IN NEW YORK, which depicts giant lobsters at a fancy restaurant, making their dinner selection from a tank filled with humans.
*A hungry Dom goes into a bakery where he gets a numbered ticket, then has to patiently wait until his number is called, even though there's no one else in the place besides the woman behind the counter (played by Lu Leonard). As the number before his is called, a woman rushes in and purchases the entire stock, leaving Dom to munch on his ticket.
*Mel, Marty and Dom drive by a miniature golf course, where midgets (Billy Barty among them) are playing. Mel observes, "It takes so little to make them happy."
*During the climactic car chase, the boys zoom past a Volkswagen with a seemingly dead bear (a hunter's trophy) strapped to the roof. The Volkswagen topples over, and the bear revives and runs down the street with the car now strapped to its back.
These aren't pivotal scenes, but since the footage still exists, they should have been Special Features on this disc.
Movie Review: A Silent Movie for the Talking Age
Summary: 4 Stars
I am a Mel Brooks movie freak. It was a treat to see this movie again. Even without words he gets his point across. I hadn't seen it since it was out in the theaters, but it had always resonated in my mind as one of those slapstick movies that could have been made back in the days when silent movies were the norm. Bravo to Mel for making another one of his wonderful parodies.