Silent Movie (1976)

Shhhhh...Aspiring filmmakers Mel Funn (Mel Brooks), Marty Eggs (Marty Feldman) and Dom Bell (Dom DeLuise) go to a financially troubled studio with an idea for a silent movie. In an effort to make the movie more marketable, they attempt to recruit a number of big name stars to appear, while the studio's creditors attempt to thwart them. The film contains only one word of dialogue, spoken by an unlikely source. Hilarity ensues quietly.

Trivia: Marcel Marceau, the famous mime, has the only speaking line in this movie: "No!" (when refusing a role in the silent film). As a result, the movie has been listed in the Guinesss Book Of World Records as having the fewest spoken lines of any sound movie. The logo for Big Picture Studios features the slogan "Ars est pecunia" which is "Art is money" in Latin. This is a takeoff on the MGM slogan "Ars gratia artis" which means "Art for art's sake." The villainous company Engulf & Devour is a spoof of Gulf & Western, which between 1965 and 1970 swallowed up 80 different companies, including Paramount Pictures in 1966. One scene shows the skyline of New York City. The orchestra begins playing "San Francisco", and the music comes to a sudden and noisy halt. The orchestra then goes into "I'll Take Manhattan". Mel Brooks claimed that he was able to get all of the big star cameos (Burt Reynolds, James Caan, Liza Minnelli, Paul Newman, etc.) for under $300 a day, far below there normal salaries. Though, of course, they didn't have to learn any lines. At the sneak preview of the silent movie, several posters for Young Frankenstein (1974) are visible in theater lobby.

Well, if you are reading this you have figured out that I have been able to tweak my blog so that I can now find my spoilers by camouflaging them. From now on if you see a large blank space in my commentary, it is because it contains a spoilers. Okay, and now for the movie. I love Mel Brooks movies. They are hilarious. His genre comedies are the best. When I call them genre comedies I mean Brooks making fun of Westerns in Blazing Saddles, Sci-fi in Spaceballs, Horror in Young Frankenstein, and Hitchcock movies in High Anxiety. This is his take of silent movies, really, I'm serious. There was some great sight gags in this movie. Not his best (Blazing Saddles) but pretty good.