6.7 | / 10 |
Users | 5.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
A wily slave must unite a virgin courtesan and his young smitten master to earn his freedom.
Starring: Zero Mostel, Phil Silvers, Buster Keaton, Michael Crawford (I), Jack GilfordComedy | 100% |
Musical | 92% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
English
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 0.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
1966 was an interesting transitional year for the American film musical. The two previous years had seen the Academy Award for Best Picture go to The Sound of Music in 1965 and My Fair Lady in 1964, so one might think that 1966 would have been awash in big screen treatments of former Broadway blockbusters. And yet 1966 proved to be one of the most spectacularly bare years for film musicals and perhaps presciently offered a warning (ignored though it might have been) that the genre was about to experience (to borrow the title of a long ago musical) stormy weather. In fact the only Broadway musical hit to make it to the screen that year was A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, a goofy quasi-vaudeville show wrapped up in both a farcical ambience as well as a not exactly historically accurate toga which had taken the Great White Way by storm in 1962 and proven to cynics that Stephen Sondheim could effectively write both music and lyrics. Sondheim at that point was most famous for having served as lyricist for two of the greatest musicals of the fifties, West Side Story and Gypsy. (Despite the fact that “Comedy Tonight”, the song which opens A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, became a well known tune if not an outright standard, critics were soon complaining that Sondheim was incapable of writing anything “hummable”, as if that were a totally debilitating situation for a Broadway composer. Sondheim was famously passed over for even a Tony nomination that year, while long forgotten scores for shows like Bravo, Giovanni! rated a nod.) Sondheim, book writers Larry Gelbart (later of television’s M*A*S*H fame) and Burt Shevelove (who directed the acclaimed revival of Funny Thing in 1972), as well as various other creatives attached to the original production have been rather vocal through the years about their disappointment with Richard Lester’s film version of the venerable property, and there’s no denying that the film version strays rather radically from the stage version, including excising quite a few of Sondheim’s songs. Still, there’s an enjoyably manic atmosphere to the film that provides a number of belly laughs, even if Lester’s directorial tics tend to intrude into the flow of the piece.
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber Studio Classics with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Funny Thing has never looked great on home video and that tendency continues here, though there is a decent upgrade in color saturation and even fine detail in close-ups. However, the elements here have faded noticeably, giving things like flesh tones a ruddy pink hue. I would hazard a guess that this may be an older master, as evidenced by such anomalies as ringing and a general lack of detail that might have been mitigated by a newer transfer. Grain is still very much in evidence, so there does not appear to have been any overly aggressive denoising done. Some of the outdoor location photography offers substantial depth of field.
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum features a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track which more than capably supports both the singing and the rapid fire dialogue of the piece. The film was evidently originally released in stereo, but I'm not hearing much if any real separation here, which does not materially affect the actual fidelity of the track. There may be some who will be concerned that this release also has some audio sync issues which we've discussed in some previous Kino Lorber Studio Classics releases, but rest assured when the lips don't match the speaking (or more likely, singing) here, it's due to sequences having been pre-recorded and then lip synched to on set, as was (and continues to be) the custom in most musical films. For example, the entire opening segment, including Pseudolus' brief interstitial monologues, was pre-recorded, and thus when Zero Mostel's lips don't quite jibe with the soundtrack in this opening gambit, it's because Mostel wasn't quite keeping up with the playback. You'll also notice his monologues are more boxy sounding in the opening than the bulk of the film, again due to the pre-record. The original mix here is pretty busy and crowded sounding at times (as seemed to be Lester's preference), but there are no problematic issues to discuss.
If you've never seen A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, there's a perfectly easy and even reasonably accurate way to gauge whether or not you'll enjoy it. Simply take a gander at any of the screenshots featuring Zero Mostel. If you are unmoved by his variety of facial muggings, chances are you won't be particularly amused by the film. If at least one or two cause a smile if not an outright laugh, you're more likely to enjoy this incessantly frenetic romp. While Lester could have benefited from a serious prescription of chill pills here, there's a lot to enjoy in this film, and for those with a slightly skewed sense of humor, there are some fantastically funny bits on display. Technical merits are somewhat problematic (especially the video), but on the whole, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum comes Recommended.
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1963
1967
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1964
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