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The Producers Special Edition [1968] [DVD]
 
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The Producers Special Edition [1968] [DVD]

DVD ~ Zero Mostel
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Actors: Zero Mostel, Gene Wilder, Dick Shawn, Kenneth Mars, Estelle Winwood
  • Directors: Mel Brooks
  • Format: Box set, PAL, Special Edition
  • Language English
  • Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
  • Number of discs: 2
  • Classification: PG
  • Studio: Momentum Pictures
  • DVD Release Date: 25 Oct 2004
  • Run Time: 84 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B0002UUO8Q
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 31,644 in DVD (See Bestsellers in DVD)

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Reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review

Mel Brooks' directorial debut remains both a career high point and a classic show-business farce. Hinging on a crafty plot premise, which in turn unleashes a joyously insane onstage spoof, The Producers is powered by a clutch of over-the-top performances, capped by the odd couple pairing of the late Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder, making his screen debut.

Mostel is Max Bialystock, a gone-to-seed Broadway producer who spends his days wheedling cheques from his "investors", elderly women for whom Bialystock is only too willing to provide company. When wide-eyed auditor Leo Bloom (Wilder) comes to check the books, he unwittingly inspires the wild-eyed Max to hatch a sure-fire plan: sell 25,000 per cent of his next show, produce a deliberate flop, then abscond with the proceeds. Unfortunately for the producers (but fortunately for us), their candidate for failure is Springtime for Hitler, a Brooksian conceit that envisions what Goebbels might have accomplished with a little help from Busby Berkeley.

Truly startling during its original 1968 release, The Producers does show signs of age in some peripheral scenes that make merry at the expense of gays and women. But the show's nifty cast (notably including the late Dick Shawn as LSD, the space cadet that snags the musical's title role, and Kenneth Mars as the helmeted playwright) clicks throughout, and the sight of Mostel fleecing his marks is irresistibly funny. Add Wilder's literally hysterical Bloom, and it's easy to understand the film's exalted status among late-60s comedies. --Sam Sutherland, Amazon.com

Synopsis

What do a down-and-out Broadway producer, his anxiety-attack-prone accountant, a go-go dancing Swedish secretary, and a Nazi playwright have in common? They're all part of Mel Brooks's wild and wacky first film, THE PRODUCERS. In this hysterical farce, rapacious but lovable producer Max Bialystock (Zero Mostel) hasn't had a hit in years and resorts to fulfilling sexually crazed little old ladies' fantasies for extra cash. But when he meets his new meek, neurotic accountant, Leo Bloom (Gene Wilder), the two accidentally come up with a plot to oversell shares in a sure-fire flop musical and make off with the profits. The plan sends the new partners-in-crime on a search for the worst play ever: SPRINGTIME FOR HITLER, written by an ex-Nazi (Kenneth Mars) whose only friends are the filthy city pigeons he keeps on his roof.


Inspired, manic performances by all involved, along with Brooks's lively direction--which affectionately alludes to such MGM Golden Age musicals as SINGIN' IN THE RAIN--make THE PRODUCERS both referential and highly original as it moves along swiftly to the ultimate musical climax.

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Customer Reviews

23 Reviews
5 star:
 (15)
4 star:
 (5)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:
 (2)
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 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.3 out of 5 stars (23 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The funniest film of the 20th Century, 24 Mar 2002
By Penguin Egg (London, England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   
This review is from: The Producers [VHS] [1967] (VHS Tape)
This film has lost none of its charm since it was made over a quarter of a
century ago. This remains Mel Brooks' funniest and finest film. It is about
two Broadway producers who borrow money heavily in order to put on a
Broadway show that will flop. If they borrow more than they spend, they keep
the rest of the money and make a fortune. The hoped for flop is a musical
based on the life of Hitler, called Springtime for Hitler. It all goes
hilariously wrong when the musical becomes an unintentional success. The
performances are spot-on. Zero Morstel barnstorms his way through every
scene and Gene Wilder was never better as the nervous accountant turned
producer who falls foul of Morstel's greedy ambitions. Kenneth Marrs'
performance as the deranged ex-Nazi burns itself into your brain and has to
be one of the funniest turns I have ever seen. Brooks keeps the pace frantic
but steady. He never lets the pace drag but he never lets it get too over
the top. The performances are manic but the actors never ham it up for the
camera. Even the sheer bad taste of the musical sequence of Springtime for
Hitler is handled with skill, and you will never find a funnier scene in
cinema. This has to be one of the funniest films of the 20th Century.
Watching this, you will be laughing along with it scene by scene until the
very end, and afterwards you will be humming the theme tune to Springtime to
Hitler.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Great movie, shame about the cuts., 6 Sep 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: The Producers [VHS] [1967] (VHS Tape)
This is of course a great movie, probably the greatest comedy film of all time. However I've refrained from giving it 5 stars because there are some cuts in this edition. At the beginning in the conversation between Max and Leo, there is an awful piece of editing -what's been omitted or why isn't clear in this first case, but there is some dialogue missing.
Also, towards the end when they're in the theatre, some dialogue involving Kenneth Mars - "...with people it is male to female. With electricity it is strange, it is male to male", and his attempts to use a detonator, are missing from this edition. One can perhaps understand as it the above could be construed as being a negative allusion to homosexuality (maybe on the part of the author). On the other hand, these words are coming out of the mouth of a demented nazi, who talks to his "burds", and is the author of a play called "Springtime for Hitler". These omissions aside, this is great value for money.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Mel Brooks at his best, 10 Mar 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: The Producers [VHS] [1967] (VHS Tape)
A musical called "Springtime for Hitler"? Believe me there is no way I could adequately describe how side-splittingly funny that particular sequence is. The highlight in a film that has more than its fair share of them. Watch it with someone who has never seen it before and see their jaws drop in disbelief. That alone makes buying a copy well worth it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A very special film
The reviewer who gave up after ten minutes is missing out on an utter masterpiece.

The other complaint here is about deleted scene - which makes the blowing up of... Read more
Published 6 months ago by lovingboth

5.0 out of 5 stars The Producers Special Edition
'The Producers' was Mel Brooks' first and by far funniest film. It was
also the film debut of the wondeful Gene Wilder. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Stewart K. Potter

5.0 out of 5 stars YOU VILL READ ZIS !!!!
This was my first brush with Gene Wilder and since then have collected all his films and also all Mel Brookes. Read more
Published 9 months ago by RAF ROK

4.0 out of 5 stars A Classic Film
I haven't seen this film in years but remembered it was funny. Some years ago Barry Norman rated it as one of his favourites and when I saw it on Amazon at a bargain price I had... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Jeffrey Hunt

5.0 out of 5 stars Better than the remake
No disrespect to the new effort, but this older version of the Producers if far superior. And part of it's appeal is that it was made at a time when certain aspects of the story... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Bianca White

4.0 out of 5 stars First class comedy
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Published 16 months ago by S J Buck

4.0 out of 5 stars very funny
No film ever has devided opinion like this. Some say it is brilliant and others says it is rubbish, very strange rubbish at that. Read more
Published on 18 Jan 2008 by Red Rose

5.0 out of 5 stars none finer
The Producers is without a doubt a classic of 20th century cinema. It is born out of that moment of magic when forces come together to produce genius. Read more
Published on 20 Mar 2007 by P.J.

5.0 out of 5 stars "The Producers" (1967)
Mel Brooks' "The Producers" is one of the funniest films ever made. I know the film virtually of by heart. Read more
Published on 20 Dec 2006 by Jake M. Cochrane

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant
This was an incredibly daring first movie by Mel Brookes that so nearly never saw the light of day. One of THE great comedy movies, with Zero Mostel and Kenneth Mars turning in... Read more
Published on 12 Oct 2006 by D. lumsden

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