THE PRODUCERS

Peter Sellers and I have at least one thing in common; we both agree that Mel Brooks' masterpiece "The Producers" is the funniest film ever made. I've watched it countless times just as I've watched the competition countless times, ("Airplane", "Les Vacances du M Hulot" perhaps some Keaton or Chaplin or maybe even Preston Sturges' "The Palm Beach Story"), but no other film creases me up or causes me such delicious pain as "The Producers". Of course, it isn't to everyone's taste. The great British critic Dilys Powell was appalled by it. Dilys had lived through the War and didn't think Hitler or the Nazi Party was anything to joke about and yes, I know there are some things that are still sacred but I'm also inclined towards the dictum that nothing's sacred if it's funny and how can anyone not find "The Producers" funny?

It was Brooks' first feature and he won the Oscar for his screenplay, (something of a feat in itself for a comedy). Later films such as"Blazing Saddles" and "Young Frankenstein"were more polished but great as they are they never quite scale the dizzy heights of bad taste and quick-fire brilliance that "The Producers" does and they lacked one crucial element namely Zero Mostel whose performance as Max Bialystock might arguably be the finest by any actor in any comedy ever. Brooks subsequently turned it into a Broadway musical which was in turn filmed by that show's director, Susan Stroman. It was fun but it's no classic.