Mel Brooks strikes again in his ingeniously original, fast-paced 1976 comedy SILENT MOVIE. Like the title hints (or should hint--it's not one of those misleading titles, for sure), this film is made in full silence, just like a film before the use of "talkie" technology, and it shows a title card after a mouth or two
moves (which gets a bit annoying after about an hour, but the title cards are part of what establishes the humor). It seems Mel Brooks has some talented, homaging tricks up his sleeve: a few brief years before SILENT MOVIE, he directed YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN in black-and-white; and for this, he only lets us hear the corny sound effects and cheesy music, a la that used in THE THREE STOOGES. But besides his creativity, this is somewhat a funny movie (though not quite a classic) and it was quite enjoyable.
September 24, 2011
