A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum [Blu-ray]

Director: Richard Lester Richard Lester

Overview

In this hilarious slapstick comedy, Pseudolus is a cunning Roman slave who'll do anything to win his freedom. The plot is way too complex to fully detail here, though we can note that it hinges on the fact that three suburban Roman houses are next door to one another.

Product Details

Release Date:	09/09/2014
UPC:	0738329137823
Original Release:	1966
Rating:	NR
Source:	Kl Studio Classics
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[DTS 5.1-Channel Surround Sound]
Language:	English
Time:	1:39:00
Sales rank:	19,279

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Zero Mostel	Pseudolus
Phil Silvers	Lycus
Buster Keaton	Erronius
Jack Gilford	Hysterium
Michael Crawford	Hero
Annette Andre	Philia
Leon Greene	Miles
Patricia Jessel	Domina
Michael Hordern	Senex
Inga Neilsen	Gymnasia
Myrna White	Vibrata
Pamela Brown	Priestess
Beatrix Lehmann	Domina's Mother
Alfie Bass	Gatekeeper
Roy Kinnear	Instructor
Lucienne Bridou	Panacea
Helen Funai	Tintinabula
Janet Webb	Fertilla
Frank Elliott	Actor
Bill Kerr	Gladiator-in-Training
Jack May	Shopkeeper
Frank Thornton	Roman Sentry #1
John Bluthal	Roman Chief Guard
Peter Butterworth	Roman Sentry
Andrew Faulds	Actor
Ronnie Brody	Roman soldier
Jennifer Baker	Geminae,Geminae
John Bennett	Actor
Ron Brody	Actor
Jon Pertwee	Actor
Ingrid Pitt	Actor
Stephen Sondheim	Composer

Technical Credits

Melvin Frank

Michael Pertwee

Burt Shevelove

Larry Gelbart

Richard Lester	Director
Melvin Frank	Screenwriter,Producer
Michael Pertwee	Screenwriter
Cliff Richardson	Special Effects
Burt Shevelove	Screenwriter
Larry Gelbart	Screenwriter
Joaquín Gómez	Stunts
Don Challis	Sound Effects
Gerry Humphreys	Sound Effects,Sound/Sound Designer
Cliff John Richardson	Special Effects
Leslie Hammond	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

Merging director Richard Lester's 1960s verve with old-fashioned Broadway and vaudeville entertainment, the movie version of the stage hit A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is an engagingly frenetic slapstick musical. Though the number of winning Stephen Sondheim songs is scaled back, stars Zero Mostel, Phil Silvers, Jack Gilford, and Buster Keaton pile on the schtick as Mostel's labyrinthine scams lead to nonstop mugging (except from Keaton), sexual shenanigans, hilarious one-liners, an elaborate chariot chase, and (naturally) hairy men in drag. Lester packs the screen with visual jokes and historically accurate Roman trappings; any residual staginess is mitigated by cinematographer Nicolas Roeg's and editor John Victor-Smith's New Wave flair for jump cuts and variable camera speeds. Broadway veteran Mostel is in peak form, especially when he goes toe to conniving toe with courtesan merchant Silvers and gauzily woos Gilford with a rendition of "Lovely," while Keaton remains a scene-stealer in one of his last films. A crowd-pleaser if not a Sondheim purist-pleaser, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum maintained the age-old attraction of "Comedy Tonight."