Silent Movie

SILENT MOVIE (PG)

D: Mel Brooks

20th Century Fox/Crossbow (Michael Hertzberg)

US 1976

87 mins

Comedy

W: Mel Brooks, Ron Clark, Rudy de Luca & Barry Levinson

DP: Paul Lohmann

Ed: Stanford Allen & John C. Howard

Mus: John Morris

Mel Brooks (Mel Funn), Marty Feldman (Marty Eggs), Dom DeLuise (Dom Bell), Bernadette Peters (Vilma Kaplan), Sid Caesar (The Chief)

If you were to think of Mel Brooks films, chances are you'd instantly think of 'Blazing Saddles', 'Young Frankenstein' or 'The Producers'. Silent Movie may not be quite at the same level as the director's best works but should still be held in quite high regard amongst them.

This spoof of silent movies is itself, a silent movie, starring Brooks as a filmmaker who attempts to film, you guessed it, by assembling an all-star cast which will make it a success, and a huge cast of stars appear in the movie as themselves, including Paul Newman, Burt Reynolds, Liza Minnelli and Marcel Marceau (with the film's most iconic joke).

It's self-referential humour will most likely go over the heads of some, but should be appreciated by older audiences and film buffs especially.

6/10