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The Producers

The Producers on DVD

As is common with many so-called “classics,” Mel Brooks’ The Producers is overrated. It has a great idea, and does deliver quite a few worthwhile laughs, but probably isn’t one of the funniest movies ever made, despite the hype.

Zero Mostel plays Max Bialystock, a once big-time Broadway producer who now lives in a low-rent apartment seducing little old ladies. Enter Leo Bloom (Gene Wilder), an accountant sent to balance Max’s books. Max asks Leo to just “make it balance,” so Leo has to come up with a way to justify the numbers. He concocts the idea “what if a producer made more money on a flop than he did on a hit?”

This gives Max a brilliant plan. Together, he and Leo will raise a million dollars and put on the worst play imaginable. It will fold after one night; they’ll give their investors their share, and keep the rest for themselves.

It’s an idea that goes exactly as planned, until “Springtime for Hitler” becomes the hit of the year.

Mel Brooks’ debut is a valiant one. It’s filled with great characters, an impressive script, and one of the funniest (and most absurd) musical numbers in Hollywood history. The great cast only adds to the fun, particularly Mostel and Dick Shawn as L.S.D.

Brooks’ humor has never been subtle, but when he hits it, he hits it out of the park. Just the concept itself is enough to make you laugh, but the way Mel handles it makes it that much better. It’s outrageous when it needs to be, but a tiny bit more subdued as necessary.

It may not be one of the funniest movies ever made, but it’s still pretty darn funny. It may not be a classic, but it’s one of Mel Brooks’ best.

The Producers has been given a great DVD treatment, too. It sports a very nice video transfer, an okay audio track, and some very nice supplements.

The video is presented in both 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen (16x9 TV compatible) and full screen versions, and the picture quality is quite impressive for a 34 year old film. It’s a bit soft, but fairly free of foreign objects or other problems that commonly plague video transfers. The audio is, apparently, a “digitally enhanced Dolby Digital 5.1” track, but let’s not kid ourselves. No matter how “digitally enhanced” it is, it’s still mono. To be honest, this movie could have done very well with 5.1, particularly during the musical number, so it’s a little disappointing to be teased like that. However, the rest of the film is just fine in mono, so you don’t really think twice about it.

There aren’t many extras, but in this case, quality clearly triumphs over quantity. The main attraction is an hour-long making-of documentary. Arranged like a play, it’s divided into “Introduction, Act 1, Intermission, and Act 2.” It features brand-new interviews with all of the key players (except Zero Mostel, who they probably had a hard time contacting), and focuses on everything from Mel Brooks writing the script to how they cast the various roles. It’s a very good documentary, and is worth checking out if you enjoyed the movie. Other extras include a sketch gallery, a “playhouse outtake,” a photo gallery, and trailers.

The Producers, from MGM Home Entertainment
90 minutes, anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) 16X9 enhanced, 5.1 Dolby Digital, mono
Starring Zero Mostel, Gene Wilder and Dick Shawn
Produced by Sidney Glazier
Written and directed by Mel Brooks

 

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Updated May 13, 2006