One of my all time favorites.

Best movie ever!

As Good As It Gets

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

It's 1927 Soviet Union. Ippolit Vorobyaninov (Ron Moody) is a poor Russian aristocrat who is told by his dying mother-in-law that she hid her jewels in one of her twelve chairs which are now gone. Ostap Bender (Frank Langella) is a con-man from the streets. He befriends Tikon (Mel Brooks) and then bullies his master Ippolit into joining him in his search. The priest Father Fyodor (Dom DeLuise) brought in to give the Last Rites also tries to find the chairs.It's a satire based on Ilf and Petrov's "The Twelve Chairs". The film has a bit of slapstick and a bit of stinging rebuke of the communist system. It's not as vulgar as his later works. That's probably due to the need to follow the source material. It does lack a good rooting interest. Frank Langella is not a fun con-man. His intensity doesn't allow the comedy to flow easily. He's a serious actor and not really a comedian. This is interesting with a few good chuckles.

I saw this years ago and it was painfully unfunny. I showed it to some friends because Brooks is usually funny and I wound up being embarrassed. I barely remember what it was about, but what stuck in my mind was that it was laugh free. It has something to do with three losers during the 1920's in Russia looking for some jewels that are hidden in the chairs of a deceased aristocrat They go through various ordeals and at times bored me to tears. Brooks here shows none of the talent he would later display in films like "Blazing Saddles" or "Young Frankenstein." I really hated this film and can't imagine what parts anyone laughed at.

A week ago, I saw the Cuban version of "The Twelve Chairs" and assumed it was the first version of the famous Ilf and Petrov novel. However, I researched a bit and found that there are at least two other versions out there--and possible more. In the 1930s, there was a Czechoslovakian filming of the story (the first) and then a British version as well. I also learned that all of these versions are different and not so bleak as the original story--a story where one of the partners in crime KILLS the other--only to learn that the jewels are not in any of the chairs. I could see how this version would be better for Soviet propaganda--but funny, no way. So the movie versions apparently have a more innocent and funnier slant--a good idea if you ask me.This Mel Brooks version is quite different from the Cuban one--much more slapstick, more cinematic and possessing much more energy. In fact, the lack of energy was my biggest complaint about the Cuban film. For a comedy, it was just too retrained. Here in the 1970 version, however, the opposite is true--at times the story has a bit too much energy and relies a bit too much on slapstick. For example, during a few scenes Brooks does something I HATE--speeds up the camera to indicate it's a funny scene. However, if it's funny, let it be funny on its own merit--don't do cheap camera tricks. Also, while adding a new character to the story was not necessarily a bad idea, Dom DeLuise's priest was, at times, over the top and didn't fit with the mood set by the rest of the film. Eliminating the camera tricks and keeping DeLuise under control would have improved the film immensely. Also, keeping Brooks out of the film completely wouldn't have hurt, either. I loved his writing and directing, but his best films had him barely in them (such as "The Producers" and "Young Frankenstein").Now I have criticized the film quite a bit--but there is a lot to like and I think it's one of Brooks' better films. The most obvious plus in the film was the wild and crazy performance by Ron Moody. Because Moody had many quiet and restrained moments, his crazy scenes worked well. For example, while a generally restrained man, seeing him, out of the blue, climb up the pole to the high wire was hilarious. And, a few other times when he lost control, couldn't help but smile. RESTRAINT and selective craziness was what made him a joy to watch.I also respected the nice location shoot in Yugoslavia. It could have been made in the States but filming in a locale more like the USSR helped--and there was no way the Soviet Union would have allowed the film to be made there considering the state of US-USSR relations at the time. The color cinematography and locations shoots were nice.I was surprised, but Brooks' song "Hope For The Best, Expect The Worst" was also a wonderful song. It was catchy, summed up the film well and I found myself humming it after the movie was over.Finally, I liked the relationship between Moody and Frank Langella--particularly at the end of the movie. Going for a sentimental ending with some pathos was a great idea--and ending it like the novel would have been just awful.Overall, while I am sure many would disagree, I think that apart from "The Producers" and "Young Frankenstein" this was Brooks' best film. There is a likability and subtle (at times) that you just never see in his later films...and I like this and find it endearing. Too bad his films became progressively goofier and self-indulgent.

By the Nineties what you expected from a Mel Brooks movie was a satire of film genres, whether it was horror, western, science fiction, the backstage show business story, the fertile mind of Mel Brooks somehow skewered them all. He did one remake of a classic comedy from the studio era with To Be Or Not To Be. But most of his work was his own original take on a film genre. The Twelve Chairs stands out as an odd fish among his work.Although it has some very funny moments it doesn't quite come off as well as The Producers or Blazing Saddles or Young Frankenstein. Perhaps it was because Brooks was not creating his own original work, but was filming a play from another source, a novel The Twelve Chairs by Soviet Union authors Ilyiu and Petrova.Former aristocrat Ron Moody who was quite lucky to be alive after the Russian Revolution hears a death bed confession from his mother that the family fortune is in jewels that the Bolesheviks didn't get, but was hidden in one of twelve parlor chairs the family owned. The Soviets confiscated the furniture and sold it to benefit the new government.Moody teams up with young gentleman thief Frank Langella to try and find the one chair with the loot. They have a rival in fake Russian Orthodox priest Dom DeLuise also looking for the chair with the swag.Moody steals the show in this one, thinking about the lost life he once had and that the chair will gain it back for him in some measure, he becomes positively more manic as the film continues. His performance is a whole lot like Zero Mostel's in The Producers.Still The Twelve Chairs is not what I've come to expect from Mel Brooks. He'd do so much better in his next film, Blazing Saddles.