The Twelve Chairs (1970)

Though I've been a Mel Brooks fan since childhood, I've somehow managed to miss this one. I went into this thinking that because it wasn't so well known it wouldn't be very good, but I was wrong.

"The Twelve Chairs" (adapted from a Russian novel) is set in the Soviet Union a few years after the Russian Revolution. Vorobyaninov, a former aristocrat in old Russia, learns from his mother-in-law on her deathbed of a wealth of jewels sewn into one of twelve chairs in a dining room set, but not before she tells the priest, Father Fyodor, while giving her last rites. The dining room set was lost during the chaos of the revolution, and so begins a madcap rush to find the chairs. At the beginning of his search, Vorobyaninov encounters a con man, Ostap Bender, who forces him into a partnership after threatening to turn him over to the police. Together they race to find the chairs before Father Fyodor does.

Compared to Brooks' other efforts, this one is pretty straight. There's no talking to the camera, no breaking 4th wall, etc. Dom DeLuise's performance as Father Fyodor is the most over-the-top in the film and it's comparatively tame to what followed in Brooks' later films. The story is predictable, but never boring and the ending was great. Ron Moody is excellent as Vorobyaninov, and after being generally unlikable for a good chunk of the movie, you begin to feel empathy for his character after a pivotal scene. Mel Brooks himself even has a small role in the first third of the movie, marking the first time he's cast himself in one of his pictures.

This is every bit as good as his classic films, just with a different approach. It's really much better than the trailer lets on. If you haven't seen this one, check it out.

4/5