A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum (1966) | English | w/ Zero Mostel, Phil Silvers, Buster Keaton, Michael Crawford, Annette Andre

Comedy | Musical | USA/UK | English | Colour | Dir: Richard Lester | 97min w/ Zero Mostel, Phil Silvers, Buster Keaton, Michael Crawford, Annette Andre The wild story, set in ancient Rome, follows a slave named Pseudolus (Zero Mostel) as he tries to extricate himself from an increasingly farcical situation; Mostel and a bevy of inspired clowns, including Phil Silvers, Jack Gilford, and Buster Keaton, keep the slapstick and the patter perking. The cast also includes the young Michael Crawford as a love-struck innocent. This project landed in the lap of Richard Lester, then one of the hottest directors in the world after his success with the Beatles' films. Lester telescoped the material through his own joke-a-second sensibility, and also ripped out some of the songs from Stephen Sondheim's Broadway score. The result is a pixilated romp and very close to the vaudeville spirit suggested by the title. Oddly enough, amidst all the frenzy, Lester creates a grungy, earthy Rome that seems closer to the real thing than countless respectable historical films on the subject.