The Twelve Chairs

Gambolling about the Balkans is the theme of Mel Brooks' second feature, with comic Moody and personable Langella chasing the one chair out of a set which is stuffed with pre-Russian Revolutionary booty. They run into Dom DeLuise, playing a Zero Mostel-in-The Producers role, and Brooks himself as a loony lackey. It's all very fairytale, delightful to watch, and certainly not as self-indulgent as the major Brooks works it slips in between (The Producers and Blazing Saddles). What's more pleasant about it is the direction, both of the performers and of the action within scenes: the excellent timing can now be seen as preparation for the sort of classical control that made a lot of Young Frankenstein so good.