Product Details

• Actors: Robert Bernal, Bridget Brice, Ljubomir Cipranic, Diana Coupland, Dom DeLuise
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Language: English, Russian
• Rated: G (General Audience)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• VHS Release Date: July 1, 1997
• Run Time: 94 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0793984297
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #105,563 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Mel Brooks's 1970 comedy (his second work as a film director) is based on an old Russian folktale, and was first filmed in Yugoslavia in 1927. The story concerns an old woman who reveals on her deathbed that she has hidden jewels inside one of 12 chairs that were formerly in her home but are now scattered. Ron Moody plays the poor Russian nobleman seeking them, and Dom DeLuise is his rival. After Brooks's wild and even controversial first film, The Producers, The Twelve Chairs seems relatively tame; but it is still a funny and slightly exotic work owing to its director's longtime interest in classic cinema. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Change of Pace, May 3, 2000

By 

Larry Thompson - See all my reviews

This review is from: Twelve Chairs [VHS] (VHS Tape)

If you think Mel Brooks is only good for broad, obvious humor (Robin Hood- Men in Tights, or History of the World) or sharp parody, (Young Frankenstein) then you owe yourself a look at this movie. Made after The Producers, this is Brooks's first attempt at combining serious and comic elements. The film is NOT a laugh fest, nor is it meant to be. Brooks deals with character over comedy in the two main characters, creating an interesting (and often touching) relationship between the two, leading to a final shot in the film that is emotionally pure and effective. Dom Deluise provides wonderful comic relief as the priest who is also after the chairs, and Brooks himself makes a short cameo as the former servant to Ron Moody. Carl Reiner has said that to him, the funniest man on the planet is Mel Brooks. That's pretty high praise, but after seeing this movie, my bet is you'll come away with a deeper appreciation for Brooks's talent, and you might just wonder why he didn't make a few more films like this one.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great overlooked comedy, December 12, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Twelve Chairs (DVD)

I first saw this film when I was a Russian major in college in the 70s. It's based on the 1920s novel "Dvenadtsat' stul'ev" by the Russian-Jewish writing team of Ilya Ilf & Yevgeny Petrov, beloved for their hilarious, biting satires of the Bolshevik regime. (The Amazon reviewer said that 12 Chairs is from a Russian folk tale, but that's not the case.) While many of Ilf & Petrov's jabs at the inanities and bureacratic lunacies of Soviet life would be lost on an a non-Russian audience, Brooks does a marvelous job of turning this material into a parody of human foibles that can be appreciated by anyone regardless of time or place. What a masterstoke it was on the part of Mel Brooks to bring this uproarious classic to the screen!

24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Oh Lord....you're so strict!, March 30, 2001

By 

Archmaker (California) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Twelve Chairs (DVD)

You have to see this overlooked Mel Brooks comedy for one reason: Dom DeLuise's performance as the priest gone totally crazed with avarice. He is simply hysterical. I think the scene where he has gone to Siberia and finally hounded the chairs from the couple, only to come up empty, and begins his inept suicidal impulses is priceless.

There are other great moments in the film, a cameo by Brooks as the drunken Tikon, and nice performances from Ron Moody & Frank Langella.

The film is a dark comedy, not as light and fun as Blazing Saddles et al, and there is more exposition than usual, which tends to make the film's pace slower.

However, the real problem with the film, which prevents it from being a classic, is that there is a cruel streak in the relationship between Langella & Moody that can be uncomfortable at times.

Nonetheless, there are some great bits in this that make it well worth a look. I would rate it 3-1/2 stars if it were possible, but 4 will have to do. Dom makes it all worthwhile.