Silent Movie
| Silent Movie | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster
by John Alvin |
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| Directed by | Mel Brooks |
| Produced by | Michael Hertzberg |
| Written by |
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| Starring |
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| Music by | John Morris |
| Cinematography | Paul Lohmann |
| Edited by |
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Production
company |
Crossbow Productions
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| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
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Release date
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Running time
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87 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language |
Silent (Only word of dialogue spoken in French) |
| Budget | $4.055 million |
| Box office | $36.1 million |
Silent Movie is a 1976 American satirical comedy film co-written, directed by, and starring Mel Brooks, and released by 20th Century Fox on June 17, 1976. The ensemble cast includes Dom DeLuise, Marty Feldman, Bernadette Peters, and Sid Caesar, with appearances by Anne Bancroft, Liza Minnelli, Burt Reynolds, James Caan, Marcel Marceau, and Paul Newman playing themselves.
While indeed silent (except for one word, music, and numerous sound effects), the film is a parody of the silent film genre, particularly the slapstick comedies of Charlie Chaplin, Mack Sennett, and Buster Keaton. Among the film's most famous gags is the fact that the only audible word in the film is spoken by Marcel Marceau, a noted mime.
Sound is a big factor in the film's humor, as when a scene that shows the New York City skyline begins with the song "San Francisco", only to have it come to a sudden stop as if the musicians realize they are playing the wrong music. They then go into "I'll Take Manhattan" instead.
A play on the current trend of large corporations buying up film studios is parodied by the attempt of the Engulf and Devour Corporation to take control of a studio (a thinly veiled reference to Gulf+Western's takeover of Paramount Pictures).
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Wikipedia