Die zwölf Stühle

It is the forgotten Brooks movie. Probably because it has the most controlled script story, and had the least wild, satyric inventiveness of any of his films.

After he wrote and directed the original THE PRODUCERS, Brooks did not do another film for a few years. The second one was this one set in the post-Russian Revolution period in the Soviet Union. Ron Moody (Fagin in the musical OLIVER) is a minor Tsarist nobleman who discovers, when attending his mother-in-law on her death bed, that she hid her fortune in jewelry in one of the dining room chairs. There were a set of twelve chairs, and they were appropriated by the government to be given to deserving members of the proletariat. Moody discovers that his mother-in-law did confess this to one person besides him: the local Russian Orthodox Priest (Dom DeLuise). Moody finds the latter a difficult opponent to beat to the fortune first. By chance he falls in with a young swindler (Frank Langella) and he and Langella pursue the chairs, and also send DeLuise on a wild goose chase following a second set of similar chairs.

What we get is a view of the Soviet Union in 1928, as the Civil Wars died out and the regime consolidated power. Trotsky's name is now dismissed (as a street shows). The stage is dominated by the state oriented drama that is anti-capitalist. Witness the performance of Andreas Voutsinas - the original "Carmen Ghia" in the first PRODUCERS, as the government backed manager of the theater group that Moody and Langella join. There is a life and death threat behind comments he gives to one of the stage crew he controls. We also see how the common people try to cope with the changes - being sent across country on government sponsored jobs - to houses that the government may furnish.

Brooks has his first role in his own films in this one - as Tikhon, the drunken, ex-servant of Moody. He receives a slap from the latter, and considers it exactly like a hug.

Like IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD, THE TWELVE CHAIRS looks at the antics people will go through for hidden wealth. Langella, who is a street criminal anyway, is the only sane member of the three treasure seekers. He is a realist (the first really serious one in Brooks' films), and has adapted to the new conditions fairly easily by living on his considerably keen wits. He realizes that he is hampered as well as helped by his alliance with Moody, but manages to figure out how to live with Moody as best as possible. Moody has become a bureaucrat to survive in the new regime (he's suspect as an aristocrat), but he still has his pretenses. It takes the events he shares with Langella for him to finally give up his pretenses. Together both men find out what is really worthwhile about living. DeLuise is less lucky. He just discovers the perils of being a loner.

"Hope for the best, expect the worst", as the title song goes, is exactly how I felt when I picked up my copy. Having read the original Russian novel and being a fan of Mel Brooks, I was curious how the two would come together. I was rather apprehensive, knowing how Russian literature usually suffers in translation, but hopeful that Brooks would somehow make something of it anyway. The film disappoints on both counts - there's precious little of the original in it, and Brooks isn't at his best here either. Moody is actually OK as Vorobyaninov, but the casting of Langella as Bender is just plain wrong, as he cannot possibly convey the depth and subtlety of the original character. Langella alone is enough to kill this film for anyone familiar with the book. None of the uproarious humor of the novel is anywhere to be found, while the few semi-funny visual gags are merely typical Brooks slapstick and have nothing to do with the source material. And even those aren't among Brooks' best. However, having expected the worst, I wasn't exactly disappointed. An OK little comedy, if you don't expect too much. If you want more, read the book.

Knowing that Mel Brooks usually makes the silliest movies possible, it's a surprise that he directed the lightweight comedy "The Twelve Chairs". It portrays a former Czarist (Ron Moody, happy birthday!) and a young soldier (Frank Langella) looking for some jewels hidden in chairs in the Soviet Union in the 1920s. I will say that not much really happens throughout much of the movie, but it is a famous part of Russian literature. I haven't read the novel, but the movie is worth seeing, if only as a look at Brooks's early career. Also starring Dom DeLuise and Brooks in a small role.

Epilepsy...

A "serious comedy" from Mel Brooks. "The Twelve Chairs" borders on farce but is relatively restrained. This restraint is all the more remarkable in light of Dom DeLuise's manic attempts to take over. Ron Moody (who is best remember as Fagin in 'Oliver' on film and on the West End and Broadway)is superb. Frank Langella is less impressive, but he does bring the necessary character to the role. If you expect and want "Blazing Saddles" this movie is not for you. Nor is it as perfect a picture as "Young Frankenstein". But this Brooksian take on a Russian comedy of errors is well worth your attention. The belly laughs are few and far between, but the tugs on the heartstrings (along with some slapstick) suffice. If I am spare on the details, it is only because I have not seen this motion picture since its theatrical release in 1970; it's definitely one to which I have to renew my acquaintance.

In his lifetime Mel Brooks has created many motion pictures which have established him as an artistic genius. "The Twelve Chairs" is another milestone for him. From the very beginning of this film, to its ending, there is a sense of serious, but humanistic brilliance. The era is the aftermath of the Russian Revolution and a dying woman wants to clear her conscience and reveal her greatest sin. As thousands of the nobility are fleeing for their lives, she decides to hide her family's fortune inside the lining of a set of handcrafted chairs. That secret is her dying revelation and is said unfortunately into more than one set of ears. This initiates a mad dash for the lost treasure. Seeking the cache of jewels are three intrepid, but greedy set of characters. The first is incredibly talented Ron Moody who adroitly and brilliantly plays the legitimate, greedy and opportunistic son, Ippolit Vorobyaninov. Once a Marshall of the nobility, he is now reduced to a minor banking clerk and opportunistic son-in-law. Frank Langella is superior as Ostap Bender, a handsome, street-wise, traveling Gypsy, who also wants in on the treasure hunt. Finally there is Dom DeLuise who plays Father Fyodor, an Orthodox but impoverished monk who believes, God will help him find the elusive chair first. What the trio soon discover is that the chair is one of Twelve which have been scattered across the vast twelve thousand miles of Russia. If Mel Brooks sought to create an amusing memorable movie, he succeeded. By the time one reaches the end of this film, we realize . . . . a Classic has been born. ****