The movie runs the full gamut from funny to hysterical.
Critics have thought the film too manic, the larger-than-life Mostel overplaying his part and the self-effacing Wilder too cowed by the older actor. I found the pair a bit too slapstick and over-the-top at first, too, but I later came to see them as uproarious together. It's a matter of expectations. Critics also found the subject matter, Hitler and the Nazis, improper topics for comedy. Brooks tells us on the accompanying documentary that he received numerous protests from Holocaust survivors, but adds that he believes humor and ridicule to be the best weapons against evil. "Laugh Hitler into oblivion" is his way of putting it. Finally, the movie has been criticized for being Brooks's most "Jewish" film, a censure that's neither here nor there. It's a great film comedy, and that's all one needs to know.
Video:
After years of watching scratchy, blurry tapes of the movie, I'm thrilled by the new DVD transfer. MGM had a spotty reputation early on for sometimes less-than-perfect picture quality on their discs, but this one is excellent. On the same side of the DVD, you will find widescreen and standard screen formats. The anamorphic widescreen, an approximately 1.74:1 ratio, preserves most of the movie's original theatrical exhibition size; and the standard screen is a typical pan-and-scan affair that cuts off a portion of the image to the left and/or right in order to fit it to a 1.33:1 ratio television. Since the film was not in a particularly wide format to begin with, not a lot of damage is done by the P&S but enough for the discriminating viewer to stick to the widescreen.
The picture quality itself is splendid in almost every respect. Colors are bright and vivid; grain, moiré effects, halos, and other digital transfer degradations are almost nonexistent. And the image outlines are moderately well defined. I can't imagine anyone having serious objections to the video.
Audio:
The audio is available in either its original monaural form or in a newly remixed Dolby Digital 5.1 configuration. Switching between the two with my remote revealed more inner detail in the remix, a sharper, crisper sonic presentation, and, of course, a wider front-channel stereo spread. However, this is not to say it competes with today's five-channel discrete sonics. In fact, the stereo spread is still quite narrow, and there is very little information conveyed to the rear speakers. But the sound is so very clean and clear, with so little background noise, one can hardly complain.
Extras:
MGM have labeled this disc a "Special Edition," and while it may not boast the kind or number of items found on a "Star Wars" set, a couple of its extras are quite rewarding. The most important of the special features, found on the second side of the disc, by the way, is a new, sixty-three-minute documentary on "The Making of The Producers." It contains comments and insights by practically every surviving cast and crew member, including Brooks and Wilder. Brooks tells us that when the film flopped in its première, he was ready to give up movies altogether. Wilder says if he looked scared in the film, it's because he really was scared; Zero Mostel intimidated the heck out of him for their first few days working together. Then, there's a sketch gallery, mainly of sets and designs; a Playhouse outtake, which is actually an alternative ending; a photo gallery; a brief reading by actor/director Paul Mazursky of Peter Sellers' praise of "The Producers"; twenty-eight scene selections; a theatrical trailer for this film and several other MGM titles; and a soundtrack spot for the Broadway cast album. English is the only spoken language available, but subtitles come in English, French, and Spanish.
Parting Thoughts:
After a slow start in movie houses, the film picked up momentum in 1968 and finally acquitted itself nicely at the box office. It picked up momentum with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, too, with Brooks winning an Oscar for Best Screenplay and Wilder an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Brooks also wrote two of the songs for the show, incidentally, "Springtime for Hitler" and "Prisoners of Love." Zero Mostel was not recognized by the Academy but did win a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Musical/Comedy.
In its present form on DVD, the audio and video qualities of "The Producers" surely outshine those of the old VHS tape I've had for years. I'm delighted by practically every aspect of the disc and heartily recommend it to anyone young or old.
Video:
After years of watching scratchy, blurry tapes of the movie, I'm thrilled by the new DVD transfer. MGM had a spotty reputation early on for sometimes less-than-perfect picture quality on their discs, but this one is excellent. On the same side of the DVD, you will find widescreen and standard screen formats. The anamorphic widescreen, an approximately 1.74:1 ratio, preserves most of the movie's original theatrical exhibition size; and the standard screen is a typical pan-and-scan affair that cuts off a portion of the image to the left and/or right in order to fit it to a 1.33:1 ratio television. Since the film was not in a particularly wide format to begin with, not a lot of damage is done by the P&S but enough for the discriminating viewer to stick to the widescreen.
The picture quality itself is splendid in almost every respect. Colors are bright and vivid; grain, moiré effects, halos, and other digital transfer degradations are almost nonexistent. And the image outlines are moderately well defined. I can't imagine anyone having serious objections to the video.
Audio:
The audio is available in either its original monaural form or in a newly remixed Dolby Digital 5.1 configuration. Switching between the two with my remote revealed more inner detail in the remix, a sharper, crisper sonic presentation, and, of course, a wider front-channel stereo spread. However, this is not to say it competes with today's five-channel discrete sonics. In fact, the stereo spread is still quite narrow, and there is very little information conveyed to the rear speakers. But the sound is so very clean and clear, with so little background noise, one can hardly complain.
Extras:
MGM have labeled this disc a "Special Edition," and while it may not boast the kind or number of items found on a "Star Wars" set, a couple of its extras are quite rewarding. The most important of the special features, found on the second side of the disc, by the way, is a new, sixty-three-minute documentary on "The Making of The Producers." It contains comments and insights by practically every surviving cast and crew member, including Brooks and Wilder. Brooks tells us that when the film flopped in its première, he was ready to give up movies altogether. Wilder says if he looked scared in the film, it's because he really was scared; Zero Mostel intimidated the heck out of him for their first few days working together. Then, there's a sketch gallery, mainly of sets and designs; a Playhouse outtake, which is actually an alternative ending; a photo gallery; a brief reading by actor/director Paul Mazursky of Peter Sellers' praise of "The Producers"; twenty-eight scene selections; a theatrical trailer for this film and several other MGM titles; and a soundtrack spot for the Broadway cast album. English is the only spoken language available, but subtitles come in English, French, and Spanish.
Parting Thoughts:
After a slow start in movie houses, the film picked up momentum in 1968 and finally acquitted itself nicely at the box office. It picked up momentum with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, too, with Brooks winning an Oscar for Best Screenplay and Wilder an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Brooks also wrote two of the songs for the show, incidentally, "Springtime for Hitler" and "Prisoners of Love." Zero Mostel was not recognized by the Academy but did win a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Musical/Comedy.
In its present form on DVD, the audio and video qualities of "The Producers" surely outshine those of the old VHS tape I've had for years. I'm delighted by practically every aspect of the disc and heartily recommend it to anyone young or old.
Average user rating (1-5):
[release]10635[/release]