A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM

US, 1966, 98 minutes, Colour.
Zero Mostel, Phil Silvers, Jack Gilford, Buster Keaton, Michael Crawford, Michael Hordern.
Directed by Richard Lester.

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum is a very entertaining musical. It is a vehicle for Zero Mostel, a very good comedian in various films such as Rhinoceros, The Front, and The Producers. He is ably helped by comedians such as Phil Silvers, Jack Gilford, Michael Crawford, Michael Hordern and a guest appearance by Buster Keaton in one of his final films. The music is by Steven Sondheim.

However, one of the impressive features of the film is its direction by Richard Lester. Lester was a T.V. commercial director and applied some of his techniques to zany effects in the films of The Beatles' A Hard Day's Night,and Help. He then went on to make the very effective comedy, The Knack; this musical came next. He then went on to the antiwar films, How I Won The War, and The Bed Sitting?Room. After some time away from films, he returned with such successes as The Three Musketeers, and the Four Musketeers, Royal Flash, and The Ritz. The musical is enjoyable, the technique is quite flashly impressive.

1. The film is principally an entertainment musical. Why was it enjoyable?

2. The film is obviously a satire on Roman ways, but a lot of the jokes have contemporary styles and reference. How was it a satire on modern attitudes and living?

3. How clever was the film, especially the editing devices, the parody of modern styles (slow motion running through fields etc.) the techniques used for the songs? Did technique add to or distract from the film?

4. How were the family life and virtues and vices satirised by the family - mother, father, son?

5. What was being satirised by the Phil Silvers' character and the brothel? By the Jack Gilford character, his loyalty, confusions, by the Buster Keaton character and his search?

6. What did Zero Mostel's personality contribute to his performance - as a slave, as a master of the situation, his mistakes?

7. Were the characters all 'types'? If so, did this matter?

8. Why were the situations funny? Was the film witty?

9. How humorous was the resolution of the film - rings, potions, mix-ups? What kind of attitudes to right order, right and wrong and so on in the audience did it presuppose?

10. What insights into human nature did the film offer?