Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Funny Thing? Hilarious, actually.., 2 Jan 2003
By A Customer
Despite seeming dated in these days of CGI Technology, this film is quite frankly, hilariously funny. The film (based on the stage show) successfully re-creates Ancient Rome, (but with a brilliant musical score), and many humorous situations surrounding the wealthy upper classes and the problems caused by their slaves and neighbours. The slave Pseudelous (played by the late, great Zero Mostel with panache) is desperate to gain/win/buy/steal (pick one) his freedom, but his repeated attempts at doing so mean that he lands himself in sticky situations, whilst taking his young master along for the ride!
The best way to sum up this under-rated film would be to say: think 'Carry On' in Ancient Rome, but with more wit.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
BRILLIANT!, 8 Jul 2004
This film is one of my all-time favourites. Having studied 20 plays of the Roman playwright Titus Maccius Plautus, the writers constructed a 'new' Plautine play using some of the stock characters of Rome in the 2nd century BC: the clever slave who wants to buy his freedom, the young hero in love with an unsuitable girl, children stolen in infancy by pirates, and a houseful of beautiful courtesans ('That's for those of you who have absolutely no interest in pirates...')I recently saw the stage play in London and the film-makers were right to remove some of the duller songs and put in scenes from the baths, arena and temple and to top it all with a hilarious chariot-race finale. Zero Mostel, Phil Silvers, Jack Gilford and the late, great Buster Keaton are all superb, their New York Jewish humour fits perfectly in this Roman farce. And Michael Crawford does his own stunts - as usual. The musical was filmed in Spain and the street and house scenes of 'Roman Life' are superb: the stonemason's shop, the butcher's, the fullers, the baths, the aqueduct... When I taught Latin I used to show this film at our end-of-term Latin party. Run don't walk to buy this masterpiece.
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2.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing, 8 Jan 2004
A pale shadow of the stage version, with many missing songs and added slapstick sequences. Admittedly, some of the changes that have been made to the script are funny, but not more so than the original. All in all, very disappointing.
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