The ancient Romans were crazy about it

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Movie
German title The ancient Romans were crazy about it
Original title A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
Country of production USA / CH
original language English
Publishing year 1966
length 92 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Richard Lester
script Burt Shevelove ,
Larry Gelbart ,
Melvin Frank ,
Michael Pertwee , with characters based on Titus Maccius Plautus
production Melvin Frank
music Stephen Sondheim
camera Nicolas Roeg
cut John Victor Smith
occupation

The old Romans drove madly is a film musical by US-American director Richard Lester from 1966. It is based on the musical A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and the book by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart . Films and musicals parody Hollywood's monumental and sandal films , but also take up ancient comedies, for example the Pseudolus or the Mostellaria of the Roman Plautus .

action

The work-shy but rascal slave Pseudolus wants to achieve his freedom by all means. All he has to do is raise enough money and win the special favor of his master.

Hero, the son of Pseudolus' gentlemen Senex, has fallen in love with Philia, a virgin courtesan in the house next door to the slave trader Marcus Lycus. Hero promises Pseudolus freedom if he should succeed in getting him and Philia together. When Hero's parents travel, Pseudolus devises a plan to bring the two together.

Unfortunately, the soldier captain Miles Gloriosus is also interested in Philia and has had her "reserved" for him. Pseudolus has to switch quickly and disguises his fellow slave Hysterium as Philia and wants to attribute him to Gloriosus. When he gets suspicious, Pseudolus quickly invents a new story. Philia died of a fatal illness. The tearful Gloriosus immediately wants to burn the false "Philia" - the only thing that helps Pseudolus, Hysterium, Hero and the real Philia is to flee.

After a furious chariot race, Gloriosus confronts the refugees and wants to have Pseudolus executed as the originator of the whole mess. Then the rich Erronius appears after a long search for his missing children and recognizes them in Gloriosus and Philia. Gloriosus is disappointed that he cannot marry Philia, but is happy about his new family. Hero gets Philia and Pseudolus his freedom after all.

backgrounds

Sondheim's musical, directed by George Abbott, premiered on May 8, 1962 at the Alvin Theater on Broadway , but received poor acceptance. The music was not nominated for a Tony Award , but the piece still received the award for "Best Musical". This subsequently helped him to succeed. It was performed 966 times in a row, making it Sondheim's longest-running musical. The main role played in the theater as in the film Zero Mostel. Even Jack Gilford was on stage with us. In 1996 there was a new performance with Nathan Lane as pseudolus, who was later replaced by Whoopi Goldberg .

In the Broadway performance in 1962, actor John Carradine made his Broadway debut in the role of Lycus .

The exteriors of the film originated in Switzerland, including the amphitheater of Avenches .

Others

The silent film star Buster Keaton , already seriously ill with lung cancer, played his last role in this film, in color and with dialogue.

Cinematographer Nicolas Roeg was later himself a successful director, including " The Man Who Fell to Earth " ( The Man Who Fell to Earth in 1976, with singer David Bowie ).

The actors Zero Mostel and Jack Gilford were put on the "black list" in the McCarthy era in the 1950s and banned from their profession.

Awards

Movie

  • 1967 - Oscar for best music adaptation for Ken Thorne
  • 1967 - Nomination for the Golden Globe as "Best Motion Picture - Musical / Comedy"

Broadway

  • In 1963, Zero Mostel received a "Tony" for Best Actor in a Musical for his role as Pseudolus on Broadway . George Abbott won the "Tony" in the category Best Direction of a Musical and David Burns in the category Best Featured Actor in a Musical for his role as Senex and also the book by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart and the producer Harold Prince won a "Tony" excellent.
  • In 1972, in the reissue at the Lunt-Fontanne Theater on Broadway, the actor Phil Silvers received the "Tony" as Best Actor in a Musical for the role of Pseudolus and the actor Larry Blyden received the "Tony" as Best Featured Actor in a Musical for the role The Hysteria Directed by Burt Shevelove.
  • In 1996, the re-edition of the musical, directed by Jerry Zaks at the St. James Theater on Broadway, received another Tony Award in the category Best Revival of a Musical and actor Nathan Lane in the role of Pseudolus received the award as Best Actor in a Musical .

Reviews

  • "Turbulent love and confusion stories (...) - set in an ancient Rome consisting of Hollywood set pieces. The film version of a Broadway musical (which in turn was based on the 21 comedies of Plautus) processes elements of burlesk theater, cabaret Revue, the slapstick clothes and the pop aesthetics to a ravishing parody of the genre of " sandal films ". (The German dubbed version is questionable, in which many subtleties are lost.) " -" Lexicon of international films "(CD-ROM edition ), Systhema, Munich 1997
  • "When transferring the material constructed for the stage to the screen, some problems had to be overcome, the solution of which the director only partially succeeded in. He gave the story (...) a completely new rhythm and enriched it with optical gags and tricks such as fast-paced ones Edits, slow motion and fast motion . That didn't always lead to happy results, but overall more gags hit the mark here than wrong. The actors are consistently stunning, especially Mostel and Gilford. (...) Stephen Sondheim's successful score remained largely preserved (...). " - -al- in: The great TV feature film film lexicon . Digital library special volume (CD-ROM edition). Directmedia, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-89853-036-1 , pp. 12483-12484
  • Turbulent color film clothes in the old Roman milieu. Despite some objections to the overly unscrupulous accumulation of gags of various quality and against the German dubbing, the film can be recommended to those who have a sense for upscale gossip. Protestant film observer , review No. 140/1967

media

DVD

  • The ancient Romans were crazy about it . MGM 2004 - 1730208 (in the English version with stereo sound)

music

  • Stephen Sondheim , Ken Thorne : A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum - Deluxe Edition. Original MGM Motion Picture Soundtrack from a United Artists film . Original soundtrack recorded under the direction of Ken Thorne. Rykodisk / MGM, Salem and London 1998, sound carrier no. RCD 10727

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