“The Producers” (1967) Review

            Many films use music to create the mood for a scene but not many use music to further deepen a story and entice the audience like a musical does. One film that does this well is the 1967 Mel Brooks film “The Producers”. This film focus on theatrical producer Max Bialystock and a timid accountant known as Leo Bloom, and their endeavor to make a large sum after they realize that if Max was to produce a play that flopped then they would be able to keep all the money that was raised but wasn’t used. While you are entertained by their endeavor it will make you feel like you’re watching a short comical nickelodeon that you just want to keep watching over and over again; ranging from the musical numbers such as Springtime for Hitler, to the montage used to acquire the money to produce the production. This is one masquerade that Mel Brooks produced that will be put into Media Studies and Film due to its use of music, melodrama acting of Gene Wilder, and it’s mise-en-scene. Comparably, this film relies on image very similarly to Hitchcock’s film “North by Northwest” in which the background is just as important as the foreground within the major scenes, and how the camera angle can change the perspective of an image. For example, in “North by Northwest” in the scene in the cafeteria at mount Rushmore the actual action of the scene was occurring the corner while it provided a greater shot to also in capitate the presidential faces that are engraved into the mountain. While in “The Producers Mel Brooks uses the camera to give the movie viewer a different look to what the in movie audience is seeing such as during Springtime for Hitler when all the Nazi actors have locked arms and appear to be moving in a circle they are actually forming a shape of a swastika in order to provide a comical effect due to the actual production was supposed to be purposeful flop. However, through the master shot of the film we learn that the play was actually a big success, and it was in part to the stupidity of the performer that was given the role as Hitler and his song “Hail Me” which turned the serious Nazi propaganda production into whimsical comedy. As “Time Magazine” once wrote about the film “The Producers has many things going for it -- notably a wild, ad-lib energy that explodes in a series of sight gags and punch lines.” and this couldn’t be any truer. The only thing I wonder is if they put a microphone on all the actors that were used in each musical production or if they were prerecorded and then edited in. If you haven’t witnessed this outstanding Mel Brooks film you definitely should for it outshines the remake and you’ll have a nonstop burst of laughs.