FLavius Valerius Constantinus Posted April 13, 2006 Report Share Posted April 13, 2006 Just wondering if anyone else has seen this movie, because I really love it. My teacher decided to show it in class before spring break, and I must say, Plautus is hugely a funny and uncanny Roman. I sure love his work. I found it interesting that Plautus would name the guy Hero. Is there any connection with the modern meaning? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil25 Posted April 23, 2006 Report Share Posted April 23, 2006 Just wondering if anyone else has seen this movie, because I really love it. My teacher decided to show it in class before spring break, and I must say, Plautus is hugely a funny and uncanny Roman. I sure love his work. I found it interesting that Plautus would name the guy Hero. Is there any connection with the modern meaning? "Funny Thing" is a wonderful show - early and very sophisticated Sondheim - the stage play is even better than the movie, IHMO. The film is flawed by the unnecessary chase at the end. Lester fills in lots of little details and zany silent visual gags. But some of the best songs are cut including the wonderful "I'm calm" and "Free". I directed the play for the amateur stage in the UK in the early 90s and the songs are technically demanding. But the humour is wonderful and the audience almost fell out of their seats. Plautus often used "generic" names for characters - so the conquering hero is "MILES GLORIOUSOS" (literally the wonderful soldier). The old man is SENEX - and so on. I think the opening number "Something familiar, something peculiar" is possibly my favourite song in any musical. Witty, dramatic and effective. Just some random thoughts, Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FLavius Valerius Constantinus Posted April 23, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 23, 2006 Glad to have you back Phil, and thanks for the details. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Q Valerius Scerio Posted April 23, 2006 Report Share Posted April 23, 2006 I also agree that the play is much better than the film. Luckily for me I saw the play first. However, it was not written by Plautus. The play was actually based on two plays by Plautus - Psuedolus and Miles Gloriosus. In neither of those plays was there a character named "Hero" nor a "Domina". Those are the modern inventions. But do realize that hero is a Latin word (from Lt. Heros; from Greek). And if you remember us talking about it earlier, I mentioned that it did have a demigod-like meaning attached to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil25 Posted April 24, 2006 Report Share Posted April 24, 2006 The use of names in Funny Thing is, of course, ironic. Hero is far from being a hero and Miles Gloriosus a long way from being "glorious" by most standards, even if we take his achievements at his own estimation. ...the play is much better than the film... While I largely agree, there are some wonderful things in the film and some great performances. Richard Lester was a very idiosyncractic director, but he had a knack of bringing together a wonderful sense of period with a really off-beat sense of humour. His Three and Four Musketeer films are among my favorites - thrilling but constantly making you laugh out loud because of the unspoken touches he brings to the scenes. I find Forum a very good evocation of life in ancient rome in (I assume) the late republic (before Sulla perhaps). The streets look authentic, and little touches in the houses make them look lived in. But the film is a comedy-musical not a drama or a documentary, and I can live with that. The stage version would have to have been changed for the screen anyway - the concept of the "Proteans" - a handful of actors who play all the bit parts on stage - would not, I think, have transferred well to the silver screen. It's just the final chase sequence (more applicable to It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, World or other films of the era). Was it an attempt to refer to the chariot races in Ben Hur and Fall of the Roman Empire? Or just a misjudgement. But the sequence is, for me, the film's major flaw. Do you, incidentally, know of the BBC's sit come based on the same sort of idea? "Up Pompeii" with the main character Lurcio played by Frankie Howerd, was very popular in the Uk in the 70s. Howerd played Pseudolus in the London production of Forum (I saw him in arevival in the late 80s/early 90s). Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankq Posted April 24, 2006 Report Share Posted April 24, 2006 Another interesting thing about this film is that it's one of the very few where you get to see Zero Mostel. He made all too few, sadly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil25 Posted April 24, 2006 Report Share Posted April 24, 2006 I agree Frankq. But many of those he did make are memorable, not least the unsurpassable, original "Producers". Why on earth they have remade it, I cannot imagine. Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankq Posted April 24, 2006 Report Share Posted April 24, 2006 (edited) I agree Frankq. But many of those he did make are memorable, not least the unsurpassable, original "Producers". Why on earth they have remade it, I cannot imagine. Phil Yeah, I agree, but you do mean the Broadway play, right? Not another movie? It was one of a kind, can't be redone. I recall Zero in only one other film, from the 50's, and he played like a gangster. I just don't think he ever took off on the screen. Or didnt like it. Alfred Drake is another case in point. Edited April 24, 2006 by frankq Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil25 Posted April 24, 2006 Report Share Posted April 24, 2006 I agree Frankq. But many of those he did make are memorable, not least the unsurpassable, original "Producers". Why on earth they have remade it, I cannot imagine. Phil Yeah, I agree, but you do mean the Broadway play, right? Not another movie? It was one of a kind, can't be redone. I recall Zero in only one other film, from the 50's, and he played like a gangster. I just don't think he ever took off on the screen. Or didnt like it. Alfred Drake is another case in point. Surely Mostel is Bialystok in the original Mel Brook's 1970s "The Producers" (IMDB agrees with me - I just checked)!! The Producers has been remade as a film recently - dvd out today in the UK (I have NOT bought it)!! Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankq Posted April 24, 2006 Report Share Posted April 24, 2006 I agree Frankq. But many of those he did make are memorable, not least the unsurpassable, original "Producers". Why on earth they have remade it, I cannot imagine. Phil Yeah, I agree, but you do mean the Broadway play, right? Not another movie? It was one of a kind, can't be redone. I recall Zero in only one other film, from the 50's, and he played like a gangster. I just don't think he ever took off on the screen. Or didnt like it. Alfred Drake is another case in point. Surely Mostel is Bialystok in the original Mel Brook's 1970s "The Producers" (IMDB agrees with me - I just checked)!! The Producers has been remade as a film recently - dvd out today in the UK (I have NOT bought it)!! Phil Eeee-gads. But it's probably a film of the musical, which the original film was not. And Brookes has been the active force behind the new version. All time best line: ''Smart as a whip.'' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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