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The Twelve Chairs (1970)
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Overview
User Rating:
Release Date:
28 October 1970 (USA) moreTagline:
A wild and hilarious chase for a fortune in jewels. morePlot:
A treasure hunt. An aging ex-nobleman of the Czarist regime has finally adjusted to life under the commisars in Russia... more | add synopsisAwards:
1 win & 1 nomination moreNewsDesk:
(9 articles)
November 6: DVD alternatives to this weekend’s multiplex offerings (From FlickFilosopher. 7 November 2009, 12:48 PM, PST)
Walk This Way: Nine-Disc Mel Brooks Blu-ray Set!
(From Cinematical. 27 October 2009, 4:48 PM, PDT)
User Comments:
" I've Begged All My Life! " more (31 total)Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only)| Ron Moody | ... | Ippolit Vorobyaninov | |
| Frank Langella | ... | Ostap Bender | |
| Dom DeLuise | ... | Father Fyodor | |
| Andréas Voutsinas | ... | Nikolai Sestrin | |
| Diana Coupland | ... | Madame Bruns | |
| David Lander | ... | Engineer Bruns | |
| Vlada Petric | ... | Sevitsky | |
| Elaine Garreau | ... | Claudia Ivanovna | |
| Robert Bernal | ... | Curator | |
| Will Stampe | ... | Night Watchman | |
| Bridget Brice | ... | Young Woman | |
| Nicholas Smith | ... | Actor in play | |
| Rada Djuricin | ... | Actress in play | |
| Branka Veselinovic | ... | Natasha | |
| Miodrag 'Mladja' Veselinovic | ... | Peasant (as Mladja Veselinovic) |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
Add content advisory for parentsRuntime:
94 minCountry:
USAColor:
ColorAspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 moreSound Mix:
MonoCertification:
Finland:K-3 (cinema release) (1983) | Iceland:L | Singapore:PG | UK:U | Finland:S | Sweden:11 | USA:GP (original rating) | USA:GFun Stuff
Trivia:
Anne Bancroft encouraged Mel Brooks to write the music as well as the lyrics for "Hope for the best, expect the worst" and subsequently at least one song for all of his movies. She was 'like an angel on his shoulder' when it came to songwriting. moreGoofs:
Revealing mistakes: The chairs are supposed to be walnut which is a medium to dark-brown wood, but when they're broken a very pale wood is exposed. moreQuotes:
[Ostap Bender is kissing a young woman]Young Woman: Do you love me?
Ostap Bender: Let's just say that I am very much in lust with you.
more
Soundtrack:
Hope for the best, expect the worst moreFAQ
This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.more (31 total)
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In his lifetime Mel Brooks has created many motion pictures which have established him as an artistic genius. "The Twelve Chairs" is another milestone for him. From the very beginning of this film, to its ending, there is a sense of serious, but humanistic brilliance. The era is the aftermath of the Russian Revolution and a dying woman wants to clear her conscience and reveal her greatest sin. As thousands of the nobility are fleeing for their lives, she decides to hide her family's fortune inside the lining of a set of handcrafted chairs. That secret is her dying revelation and is said unfortunately into more than one set of ears. This initiates a mad dash for the lost treasure. Seeking the cache of jewels are three intrepid, but greedy set of characters. The first is incredibly talented Ron Moody who adroitly and brilliantly plays the legitimate, greedy and opportunistic son, Ippolit Vorobyaninov. Once a Marshall of the nobility, he is now reduced to a minor banking clerk and opportunistic son-in-law. Frank Langella is superior as Ostap Bender, a handsome, street-wise, traveling Gypsy, who also wants in on the treasure hunt. Finally there is Dom DeLuise who plays Father Fyodor, an Orthodox but impoverished monk who believes, God will help him find the elusive chair first. What the trio soon discover is that the chair is one of Twelve which have been scattered across the vast twelve thousand miles of Russia. If Mel Brooks sought to create an amusing memorable movie, he succeeded. By the time one reaches the end of this film, we realize . . . . a Classic has been born. ****