Mel Brooks IS one of the funniest people to have ever walked the earth. Being the 2000 year old man that should go without saying. Having been there at the start of television and offering some amazing work there his move to film should have been seen coming. And yet it was a struggle. So what is a writer director to do? Make a comedy that involves a Broadway musical about Hitler. Of course.
For his directorial debut in 1967 Brooks created the film THE PRODUCERS. The story revolves around two main characters. The first is Max Bialystock (Zero Mostel), a Broadway producer who was once the talk of the town but now ekes out a living seducing and charming little old ladies out of their money. The second is his accountant Leopold “Leo” Bloom (Gene Wilder), a nervous sort who’s discovered a discrepancy in the last play Max produced to the tune of $20,000.
Max asks Leo to shuffle a few things this way, a few others that way and to cover the missing funds. As the two discuss the problem Leo comes up with the revelation that a producer could make more money off of a failed production than a second one. Seeing this as an opportunity Max realizes that Leo has landed in a gold mine. If they over sell shares of a play that fails on its first night and closes they could make millions! Of course Leo is afraid of this adventure but Max convinces him to join him.
To do this they need to make certain that the play is a flop. Searching through the plays that have been sent to him Max finds the perfect vehicle. A play written by an ex-Nazi named Franz Liebkind (Kenneth Mars) called “Springtime for Hitler: A Gay Romp with Hitler and Eva at Berchtesgaden”. To insure the plays flop Max hires a hippie named Lorenzo St. Dubois (Dick Shawn) to play Hitler. Having sold 25,000% of the play to investors now all they have to do is wait for the outraged patrons to rush out of the theater in shear awe at the audacity of this play.
The comedy here revolves around the characters of both Max and Leo. Their personalities couldn’t be any further apart. Mostel eats up the scenery every moment he is on screen, presenting a maniacal interpretation of the character that is memorable. Wilder, who before this only had a handful of acting credits on TV and a bit part in BONNIE AND CLYDE, shows off his comedic talents here that would land him in the category of star, mainly in the films he and Brooks made together over the years.
In addition to the characters stirring up laughs from start to finish the supporting cast here is amazing. And the show they put on with the musical number where a cast prances and sings to the title tune is one of the funniest things ever filmed. The entire movie was truly inspired.
If all of this weren’t enough, Kino Lorber is releasing this movie to blu-ray with an updated 4k restoration of the film. In addition to that they’re adding extras that include a new audio commentary by filmmaker/historian Michael Schlesinger, “The Making of THE PRODUCERS”, playhouse outtakes, a sketch gallery, Peter Seller’s statement read by Paul Mazursky, radio spots for the film and the theatrical trailer for the film.
Odds are if you’re a fan of Brooks you already own a copy of this film. But with the quality of this release and the extras included by Kino Lorber you might want to consider picking this edition of the film up. It’s definitely worth updating your collection or adding it to yours if you don’t have it already.
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