Dir: Mel Brooks | Cast: Zero Mostel, Gene Wilder | US comedy 1967
Rarely included in the history of musical films despite the songs and probably the supreme example of Jewish humour – including references to Kafka and ‘Ulysses’ – that lead to Mel Brooks subsequently declaring that only a Jewish comedian would have been permitted to make such a healthy living out of Hitler.
The result is that behind this innocuous-seeming title lies a comedy so lethally funny it could be employed as a secret weapon.
Nothing like as much fun to make as it looks and largely overlooked on its original appearance it’s since enjoyed a long afterlife as a Broadway musical in its own right and the inevitable remake. @RichardChatten
NOW ON TALKING PICTURES TV