Sleeper [VHS] [1973]

Allen plays Miles Monroe, who finds himself in the far flung future where he has to explain the peculiarities of the 20th century (such as Howard Cosell) to the historians. Of course the point is to critique the present (which is not past) by looking at the future (which has not happened yet). Miles becomes enamored of Luna Schlosser (Diane Keaton), who is even more out of touch than the lost in time Miles, and the pair become involved in an attempt by revolutionaries to overthrow the sterile government of the Leader. Miles is not the heroic type, but he needs to impress Luna, who has fallen for the dashing leader of the revolutionaries, Erno Windt (John Beck).

I never really thought of it before, but I can see where "Sleeper" is Allen's Buster Keaton film. Unlike most Allen films there are several funny physical gags, such as Allen having to pretend to be a robotic servant and getting caught in the orgasmatron. Allen does not make a passable Blanche DuBois, but Keaton does a pretty good Brando ("Hah!"). "Sleeper" is the best of the "early funny films" made by Allen (i.e., the ones before "Annie Hall"), mainly because it does not require you to have a thorough knowledge of Russian literature like "Love & Death." There is also the original jazz score by Allen with the Woodman himself wailing on his licorice whip as a special bonus. Who would have suspected what was in store once Allen turned "serious" in his films?

Sleeper is particularly heavy on visual, slapstick comedy, alot of which is brilliantly funny, not least because Allen himself looks like a total space-cadet. But if Allen's attempts at silly slapstick are not quite your cup of tea, there is still plenty of material here to keep you amused. After being awoken 200 years later, Monroe (Allen's character) admits "I knew it was too good to be true... I parked right outside the hospital", and (an Allen classic) "My analyst was a strict Freudian... if I had been going all this time I might even be cured by now".

But yet again, it's the cretins who put out the DVD's who are to blame for the 4 star rating, as the film easily deserves 5. They really haven't gone to too much trouble. Extra features... only a trailer. Actually, it's the best trailer I've seen on a DVD, and contains Allen himself giving a mock-serious synopsis of the film. But the real reason I've marked it down is that someone has seen fit to change a few scenes around. There is an entire scene replaced, (atleast on the copy I bought last week), where Allen is eating at the dinner table and Keaton watches in stunned amazement. Not my favourite scene by a long way, but that's hardly the point. Instead, there is a scene that I had never seen before, where Allen is shaving in the mirror. It's hardly worth losing much sleep over (pardon the pun!), but it's irritating to know that they will just chop whole scenes without telling you before you buy...

The sound is pretty lousy as well... and the overall presentation of the DVD, like many other Allen films, is below par, hence the whole package does not deserve the full 5 stars. But, until they remaster it, this still has to be called essential!