Mubi Monday: The Producers (1967)

While a lot of people still acknowledge The Producers as a fantastic comedy, and it has since been developed into a stage musical that was also then adapted into another film version, I can't help but feel that it's also slightly forgotten nowadays. When people think of writer-director Mel Brooks they tend to think of Blazing Saddles or Young Frankenstein (both equally brilliant, in different ways). Maybe even Spaceballs (not quite so brilliant, but full of fun). But if ever we needed a comedy that made Nazis ridiculous, and underlined that ridiculousness in a big musical number, then I think the time is now.

Zero Mostel plays Max Bialystock, a producer of stage plays who has to spend his days getting funding from little old ladies he allows to treat him like a young loverboy. It's a bit embarrassing, and he knows that his life isn't going the way he wants it to. Things look as if they're about to get worse when his accounts are audited by the nervy Leo Bloom (Gene Wilder). Seeing how unsuccessful Bialystock is, Bloom soon figured out that, with a bit of creative accounting, a flop play could make some people very rich. You just get much more investment than necessary, and then keep all of the "profit". The two men then seek out the worst play they can get their hands on, which they find in the absolutely awful "Springtime For Hitler". Written by Franz Liebkind (Kenneth Mars), a German upset at how the last World War ended, it's a joyous celebration of the Third Reich, the mission to assemble the master race, and Adolf Hitler. (who ends up played by a free-love hippy dippy beatnik named Lorenzo St. DuBois AKA L.S.D.)

I am going to make a general assumption here, and I am willing to be proven wrong. But I don't think I am. Most people think of The Producers and think of the third act. That's where you get the most outrageous moments, some of the biggest laughs, and that aforementioned musical number. It's a strong finale, and arguably one of the best examples of film comedy that is equally smart and silly. There are so many other highlights throughout the film though, from the antics of Mostel and his various investors, the panic attacks performed by Wilder, and one of my favourite quotes delivered by Mars about the painting talent of Hitler. I could go on and on (Lee Meredith as Ulla, almost every line delivered by Mostel), but I fear I would then fall into the trap of simply repeating every gag uttered in the film.

Although layering silliness upon silliness, Brooks always knows exactly what targets he is aiming at, and, whether it's the preciousness and precociousness of artistes or the fetishism of Nazi regalia, he hits every time with superb accuracy, helped by his usual excellent casting.

While I prefer Wilder to Mostel when thinking about a comedic leading man, there's no denying that they both complement one another perfectly here, with Mostel bringing a bone-deep weariness to the role that only starts to fade away when things look as if they might actually work. Wilder has the moments of manic energy, but his nerves help to remind viewers of just how much is at stake as the leads stage what they consider the most sure-fire flop of all time. Mars is very funny as Liebkind, and quite rightly mocked by others for his strange attempts to hang on to a past as it never was, and Dick Shawn is a delight as the cool cat, L. S. D. Meredith makes a hell of an impression in her few minutes onscreen, Christopher Hewett and Andréas Voutsinas are both excellent, and all of the older ladies who ultimately provide the funding for "Springtime For Hitler" are quite hilarious.

Very rewatchable, and I was tempted to give it another viewing immediately when I rewatched it this time, The Producers is absolutely on par with the other classics from Brooks. Some may view it as tasteless, but that tastelessness is part of the point. And I'd rather see people risk being offended by this, while laughing hard, than see people not being offended by public figures who, for example, think it's perfectly fine in this day and age to end their speeches with Nazi salutes.

9/10

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Prime Time: Panic In The Streets (1950)

When I dive deep into the muddy waters of noir, as I do almost every November nowadays, it is with two main aims. First of all, I love to discover the little gems that I'd never heard of before (which is a lot easier to do with the many noirs that were churned out cheaply enough back in their heyday). Second, I like to catch up on the titles I know by reputation, but have somehow not yet seen. Panic In The Streets was one of the latter titles. Part of me thinks that I may well have seen it many years ago, before I had the advantage of various internet sites and apps to help me keep track, but my memory was coming up with nothing when I read the title and synopsis, so I figured it would be worth my time. And it certainly was.

The plot is quite simple. A man is killed by some criminal types, but officials are put on red alert when it is discovered that the man had a terminal case of pneumonic plague. The important thing is to find anyone who has been infected by the man, and that's what Lt. Cmdr. Clinton Reed M. D. (Richard Widmark) and Capt. Tom Warren (Paul Douglas) set out to do. Unfortunately, that's not an easy task when they are dealing with a network of criminals used to avoiding the authorities whenever possible.

Directed by Elia Kazan, with the final screenplay credit given to Richard Murphy, from the numerous people listed (and unlisted), Panic In The Streets is a nice little race-against-time thriller with a decent smattering of main characters helping to distract from the unbalanced tone. Why is it unbalanced? Well, others may disagree, but it feels a bit too cosy to me, plays things a bit too safe when it could have simply continued to ratchet up the tension all the way to almost unbearable levels. I understand that the film was released in different times, yet it still feels a bit lighter than it needed to be. One or two more victims would have helped, although that may have possibly affected the plot too much, with more bodies meaning all hope of containing the outbreak lost.

Widmark and Douglas work well together, one being a smart man becoming increasingly desperate and tired, the other being someone non-plussed by the situation until it starts to become more and more tangible around him, at which point he fully steps up to do whatever needs done. And Barbara Bel Geddes does well to make a good impression in the rather thankless role of Nancy Reed aka the good little lady waiting to look after her husband when he comes home from his tough job. But film fans will have more fun with the crooks here. One minor criminal is played by Zero Mostel, more famous for his lighter roles, and the main villain of the piece is played by Jack Palance, billed here as Walter Jack Palance. Palance is as tough and intimidating as he would be in many other roles, and does well at showing the vicious nature of his character as he is put on the defensive while feeling the law closing in around him.

The polar opposites of Widmark and Palance make this work, with Douglas and Mostel both proving themselves superb supporting cast members, and this remains an enjoyable and strange little thriller, classed as a film noir (although that is more down to the central idea and characters being focused on than any other main noir tropes you can think of). It's not an unmissable classic, but I'm certainly not disappointed that I prioritised it as a viewing this week.

7/10

There's a disc here.
Americans can buy this copy.

Prime Time: Watership Down (1978)

Look, I didn't get to reach my mid-40s without being aware of how far removed Watership Down is from the image of animated fluffy bunnies frolicking around I had in my mind as a child. It may have taken me far too long to see it, although I thought I was somewhat mentally prepared after having seen The Plague Dogs (from the same team) some time ago, but I knew what to expect. Well, I thought I did.

The story is simple. A group of rabbits (led by Hazel and Fiver, voiced by John Hurt and Richard Briers) leave their warren to seek a new home, due to Fiver having a vision of some major doom heading their way. Their journey is a perilous one, and they meet a variety of characters, some of them who become friends and many who show themselves to be enemies.

People speak about Watership Down with a mixture of emotions. It's a favourite, it has some lovely moments, and yet it traumatised many who didn't know what to expect, especially those who saw it closer to the time it was initially released. Some people may warn you if you're about to check it out for the first time. And you steel yourself. You know that not all of these bunnies are going to have a happy life. You know that there are going to be moments of darkness and danger.

What you may not know is that this is an almost non-stop barrage of bloodied bunny bodies in a tale that amounts to little more than intense rabbit genocide for much of the runtime. Construction development, gas, a snare, a cat, a dog, other rabbits, a shotgun, natural causes, these rabbits face danger and death at every turn. The film starts with the entire species being cursed by a god it has been a bit cheeky to. The entire species doomed to be hunted forever.

And don't start me on "Bright Eyes", a beautiful song written by Mike Batt, and performed by Art Garfunkel, that I always assumed would be at least a moment of lovely relief from the pain and death onscreen. Yeah . . . no, it isn't. Not at all. "Bright Eyes" plays while a rabbit spirit is heading over to join the others in the rabbit afterlife. It's not a sweet song to accompany the visuals, it's a bloody elegy. All of these years I have spent knowing the song, humming or singing it at various points in my life, and it must have sent any rabbits within a 40-metre radius into hiding, wondering which of their furry friends had just died.

Writer-director Martin Rosen (adapting the Richard Adams novel) does a good job, I guess. I begrudge praising him because of how traumatic the whole thing is but it's actually well-judged in terms of how to absolutely upset younger viewers while allowing the beautiful animation to soften the harsher imagery. This is a film that must be watched as a rite of passage, although I feel sorry for any parents who settle down to watch this with their children without enough tear-wiping accessories to hand (have a box of tissues, an old t-shirt, or even a towel, to hand).

The voice cast is wonderful. So many of the supporting roles also sounded familiar to me, although I couldn't pinpoint every voice, but Hurt and Briers are the heart and soul of the film. Michael Hordern and Ralph Richardson are quite instantly recognisable, due to the memorable timbre of their speech, and Michael Graham Cox, John Bennett, Simon Cadell, and Roy Kinnear are all worth mentioning, as well as Lynn Farleigh, Hannah Gordon, Nigel Hawthorne, Derek Griffiths, and, almost managing to lighten the mood slightly, Zero Mostel, who voices a seagull named Kehaar. I'll also single out Harry Andrews for the fact that he plays Gen, Woundwort, arguably the scariest character in the movie.

Watership Down is an absolute classic. I just don't know when I will be ready to watch it again.

9/10

You can buy the movie here.
Americans may want to wait until there's something at a better price.