Product Description

Mel Brooks's zany comedy adventure. Although the plot of "The Twelve Chairs" is wild enough to have been created by Mel Brooks, it's actually based on a Russian story written by two Soviet journalists in the 1920s. Set in Russia in 1927, this much-loved, hilarious Mel Brooks comedy classic is the tale of a former aristocrat (Ron Moody) who is now a clerk under the new Soviet regime. When he learns that his dying mother-in-law sewed a fortune in family jewels into one of twelve dining room chairs, he sets off across Russia to find it with an opportunist (Frank Langella), a priest (Dom DeLuise) and his former servant (Mel Brooks) all in equal pursuit.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #107059 in DVD
• Released on: 2000-05-09
• Rating: G (General Audience)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 94 minutes

Amazon.com
Mel Brooks's 1970 comedy (his second work as a film director) is based on an old Russian folktale, and was first filmed in Yugoslavia in 1927. The story concerns an old woman who reveals on her deathbed that she has hidden jewels inside one of 12 chairs that were formerly in her home but are now scattered. Ron Moody plays the poor Russian nobleman seeking them, and Dom DeLuise is his rival. After Brooks's wild and even controversial first film, The Producers, The Twelve Chairs seems relatively tame; but it is still a funny and slightly exotic work owing to its director's longtime interest in classic cinema. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

Change of Pace
If you think Mel Brooks is only good for broad, obvious humor (Robin Hood- Men in Tights, or History of the World) or sharp parody, (Young Frankenstein) then you owe yourself a look at this movie. Made after The Producers, this is Brooks's first attempt at combining serious and comic elements. The film is NOT a laugh fest, nor is it meant to be. Brooks deals with character over comedy in the two main characters, creating an interesting (and often touching) relationship between the two, leading to a final shot in the film that is emotionally pure and effective. Dom Deluise provides wonderful comic relief as the priest who is also after the chairs, and Brooks himself makes a short cameo as the former servant to Ron Moody. Carl Reiner has said that to him, the funniest man on the planet is Mel Brooks. That's pretty high praise, but after seeing this movie, my bet is you'll come away with a deeper appreciation for Brooks's talent, and you might just wonder why he didn't make a few more films like this one.

Oh Lord....you're so strict!
You have to see this overlooked Mel Brooks comedy for one reason: Dom DeLuise's performance as the priest gone totally crazed with avarice. He is simply hysterical. I think the scene where he has gone to Siberia and finally hounded the chairs from the couple, only to come up empty, and begins his inept suicidal impulses is priceless.

There are other great moments in the film, a cameo by Brooks as the drunken Tikon, and nice performances from Ron Moody & Frank Langella.

The film is a dark comedy, not as light and fun as Blazing Saddles et al, and there is more exposition than usual, which tends to make the film's pace slower.

However, the real problem with the film, which prevents it from being a classic, is that there is a cruel streak in the relationship between Langella & Moody that can be uncomfortable at times.

Nonetheless, there are some great bits in this that make it well worth a look. I would rate it 3-1/2 stars if it were possible, but 4 will have to do. Dom makes it all worthwhile.

Great overlooked comedy
I first saw this film when I was a Russian major in college in the 70s. It's based on the 1920s novel "Dvenadtsat' stul'ev" by the Russian-Jewish writing team of Ilya Ilf & Yevgeny Petrov, beloved for their hilarious, biting satires of the Bolshevik regime. (The Amazon reviewer said that 12 Chairs is from a Russian folk tale, but that's not the case.) While many of Ilf & Petrov's jabs at the inanities and bureacratic lunacies of Soviet life would be lost on an a non-Russian audience, Brooks does a marvelous job of turning this material into a parody of human foibles that can be appreciated by anyone regardless of time or place. What a masterstoke it was on the part of Mel Brooks to bring this uproarious classic to the screen!