Silent Movie (1976)

Director:

Mel Brooks

Writers:

Mel Brooks (screenplay) &
Ron Clark (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

16 June 1976 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

A film director and his strange friends struggle to produce the first major silent feature film in forty years.

Plot Keywords:

Dog | Drunk Scene | Soda Machine | Projectionist | Foaming At The Mouth

Awards:

Nominated for 4 Golden Globes. Another 1 nomination

Cast

Mel Brooks	...	Mel Funn
Marty Feldman	...	Marty Eggs
Dom DeLuise	...	Dom Bell
Sid Caesar	...	Studio Chief
Harold Gould	...	Engulf
Ron Carey	...	Devour
Bernadette Peters	...	Vilma Kaplan
Carol Arthur	...	Pregnant Lady
Liam Dunn	...	Newsvendor
Fritz Feld	...	Maitre d'
Chuck McCann	...	Studio Gate Guard
Valerie Curtin	...	Intensive Care Nurse
Yvonne Wilder	...	Studio Chief's Secretary
Harry Ritz	...	Man in Tailor Shop
Charlie Callas	...	Blindman

Runtime:

87 min

Country:

USA

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Finland:K-3 (cinema release) (1976) | Canada:G (video rating) | Portugal:M/6 | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Netherlands:AL | Finland:S | Iceland:L | Norway:7 | UK:PG | USA:PG | West Germany:6 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

University of California, Irvine, California, USA

Company:

Crossbow Productions

Trivia:

The villainous company Engulf & Devour is a spoof of Gulf & Western, which between 1965 and 1970 swallowed up 80 different companies, including Paramount Pictures in 1966.

Goofs:

Continuity: As the car carrying Funn, Eggs and Bell approaches the gatehouse at Big Picture Studios, the windscreen of their car is flat on the hood of the car. But in the following shot from the rear of the car, the windscreen is obviously up when they crash into the lowered barrier, and the windscreen is again down as the car rolls under the barrier.

Quotes:

[first lines]
[last lines]
Marcel Marceau: [the only line heard] Non!

Movie Connections:

Spoofs Pong (1972) (VG)

Soundtrack:

I Left My Heart In San Fransisco

Fun filled Mel Brooks movie about "silent movies"...

If you're a Mel Brooks fan, you've probably heard of SILENT MOVIE--and my advice is to see it if you haven't yet.

It's one of his more brilliant and inventive ideas and it gets the wacky screen treatment you expect from Brooks. Naturally, it's not really silent. There is a very well-timed background score (no, not a tinkling piano) and all of the thuds are vigorously heard on the soundtrack. But there's no dialog--you read the silly captions that replace the sound of voices, just as folks did way back when.

Sid Ceasar is a film producer that Mel has to convince to let him do a "silent movie". He agrees provided Mel hires well-known movie stars to give it box-office insurance. That's the gist of the plot which then has MEL BROOKS and DOM DeLUISE scouting around Hollywood for stars like Paul Newman, Liza Minnelli, James Caan and Anne Bancroft to star in the film.

It's full of the usual sight gags, the falls on banana peels, through trap doors, everything that happened in a Keystone Kops comedy. Maybe not the funniest Brooks caper but still loads of fun to watch with a brisk running time of 87 minutes.