mark.waltz While Stephen Sondheim has revealed that he prefers writing music to lyrics, I couldn't imagine anybody else writing the lyrics to the musicals he has written. Unfortunately, in the case of the movie version of the 1962 smash musical farce, most of his songs are missing and other than a few, they lack the punch of what was on stage. This is far from his best score, as it is extremely light-hearted, almost a burlesque of what Rodgers and Hart had written for the similarly themed "The Boys From Syracuse". Still, it is definitely his funniest musical which was a definite influence for "The Frogs" which he wrote a decade later but didn't get produced on Broadway until the mid 2000's. I refer to that show as "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Hades".Having seen two stage productions of "A Funny Thing Happened", I couldn't help but notice that the show simply couldn't be produced on film any other way than it has been. It is a show for a bawdy comic (hense Zero Mostel's presence as the narrator in the original), basically the type of show that funny men like Bobby Clark, Jackie Gleason and Bert Lahr might have done 20 years before. To re-create that on film looses the impact and it would have come off as too silly where while on stage an actor can ad-lib. Case in point, when I saw Whoopie Goldberg play the character of Pseudolous in the late 1990's, she ad-libbed quite a bit, to late patrons, to actors who forgot their lines, and to the whole silliness of the action on stage.Actually, Pseudelous is a man, not a free one, so to try to make something funny out of slavery is a difficult task. This is ancient Rome, however, so there's a lot to spoof. You couldn't do this about Southern slaves, but ancient times are ripe for parody. The cast is filled with funny people, including Mostel repeating his Tony winning role (which he wouldn't get to do for "Fiddler on the Roof"), Phil Silvers (who later won a Tony for playing Pseudelous in the first revival), Jack Gilford and Buster Keaton in his last film role. Just count the laughs Keaton gets for running around the seven hills of Rome seven times and giving the count to Mostel as he passes him. Gilford gets to repeat his stage part as the nervous Hysterium, and how can you not adore this gentle funny faced man? This is also of historical interest because of the fact that Mostel and Gilford had major comebacks after a period of blacklisting, sort of a public apology for the ridiculousness of the anti-red scare of a decade before. The role of Hero is played by none other than the future "Phantom of the Opera", Michael Crawford, in one of two movie musicals he did. He's quite unrecognizable in retrospective of his "Phantom" fame, but is low-key and shy when singing "Lovely" to the dizzy heroine, Annette Andre. British character actor Michael Hordern is appropriately lecherous as Psudelous's master with Patricia Jessel totally imperious as the rightly named Dominia. Unfortunately gone is Dominia's song, "That Dirty Old Man", which in retrospect is a perfect stage song yet might have been questionable if included in the film. Leon Greene as the General looks straight out of an Italian gladiator movie. The courtesans are properly tall and sexy and the element of farce is apparent throughout. Unfortunately, it's one of those movie musicals which for those who have seen it on stage has to be considered a missed opportunity. The problem is obviously not in its casting. That element is perfect. The problem is in the execution of how the film was done.The musical highlight has to be the inclusion of the show's biggest show-stopper, "Everybody Ought to Have a Maid", which just gets bawdier and bawdier as characters join in the number that initially just starts with Mostel and Hordern. So while the film is far from perfect, it does have a few highlights, but perhaps this is one hit Broadway show that just couldn't be done as written so we have to accept what we got.

grantss Has its moments but mostly quite silly. A farcical comedy, set in Roman times. Has some good one-liners but is mostly quite silly. Almost every plot development is merely an excuse for some pointless, mostly unfunny slapstick. It gets quite predictable after a while: you get some random detour and you can imagine how it is going to end up.To compound the misery, the movie is partly a musical! Yeah, you know, people randomly breaking into campy tunes. Not a recipe for a good movie.Zero Mostel is reasonably good in the lead role. His clowning around gives the movie some of its best moments. Cast also features Buster Keaton, though his performance is fairly subdued.

oscar-35 *Spoiler/plot- A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, 1966. A Roman slave who can win his freedom if he pairs up his innocent young master with the virgin courtesan next door.*Special Stars- Zero Mostel, Buster Keaton, Phil silvers, MIchael Crawford, Jask Gilford, Leon Greene, Annette Andre.*Theme- Love always finds a way.*Trivia/location/goofs- British, Musical. Is the last film appearance for Buster Keaton. Phil Silvers had to play his role without his glasses and was very distressed because he couldn't see properly on a very dangerous set. He retired to his trailer to protest this fact with the film's director, the director had Jon Pertwee do his role temporarily (Pertwee had done it on Broadway). Mr. Silvers relented and pressed on in the film role, in a very careful manner.*Emotion- An enjoyable and funny film with some recognizable and 'catchy' music tunes. Great to see this theatrical cast to work together on this farcical story in ancient Rome. Well worth you energy, time and interest.*Based on- Broadway theater musical show

anthony-rigoni Like Singin' in the Rain, this is one of the best musical comedies of all time. Zero Mostel(From Watership Down) plays Pseudolus, a slave who helps a young man name Hero(Michael Crawford) get the girl of his dreams, named Philia, in order to get his freedom. However, Pseudolus must outsmart the chief slave Hysterium, his master's parents, Sennex(Michael Hordern) and Dominia, and Marcus Lycus(Phil Silvers). Zero Mostel performs the role of Pseudolus very perfectly(I mean, who else can play Pseudolus) and features a few great musical numbers(Comedy Tonight was my personal favorite). It's a comedy of Roman Porportions!