Whenever I feel down, whenever the world is getting on top of me, whenever I just need some light-hearted fun, I turn to 'A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum'.
The cast is superb: Zero Mostel ("Was 1 a good year?"); Jack Gilford ("I live to grovel"); Phil Silvers ("I know that sound - and I love it!"); even classical actor Michael Hordern enters into the spirit of things ("All that flesh... just next door.") Above all, my man of the movie award goes to Buster Keaton. Nearly seventy and making his last film he steals every scene he appears in and the line "My daughter a eunuch?" kills me every time. He even manages an old-style 'hundred-and-eight' slapstick fall. The animated end titles provide a lovely tribute as a little Erronius goes running to-and-fro among the credits.
The plot is a wonderfully complex farce but "there's a happy ending, of course", plenty of laughs along the way, and a chariot chase that's not quite like the one in 'Fall of the Roman Empire'.
The production design is worth noting, too. Not much Roman grandeur here, but narrow streets full of people and animals, a city that really looks lived in.
A terrific film that restores your zest for life!
The cast is superb: Zero Mostel ("Was 1 a good year?"); Jack Gilford ("I live to grovel"); Phil Silvers ("I know that sound - and I love it!"); even classical actor Michael Hordern enters into the spirit of things ("All that flesh... just next door.") Above all, my man of the movie award goes to Buster Keaton. Nearly seventy and making his last film he steals every scene he appears in and the line "My daughter a eunuch?" kills me every time. He even manages an old-style 'hundred-and-eight' slapstick fall. The animated end titles provide a lovely tribute as a little Erronius goes running to-and-fro among the credits.
The plot is a wonderfully complex farce but "there's a happy ending, of course", plenty of laughs along the way, and a chariot chase that's not quite like the one in 'Fall of the Roman Empire'.
The production design is worth noting, too. Not much Roman grandeur here, but narrow streets full of people and animals, a city that really looks lived in.
A terrific film that restores your zest for life!