A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

Broadway purists have always treated Richard Lester's 1966 adaptation of the beloved Stephen Sondheim musical with indifference bordering on contempt. Much of the original text was rewritten to accommodate zany slapstick sequences—including a freewheeling chariot chase finale—while half the score was cut (reportedly infuriating Sondheim, although Ken Thorne's adaptation won an Academy Award). Others, however, might argue that Lester's changes bring a refreshing charge of kinetic energy to the bawdy material. A farcical tale of mistaken identities and taboo love in ancient Rome, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum boasts inventive camerawork, rapid-fire editing, and sight gags that mix the sublime with the wonderfully silly. Zero Mostel and Jack Gilford reprise their Broadway roles as the scheming slave Pseudolus and his jittery sidekick Hysterium (re-establishing their screen careers after years of being blacklisted), while Phil Silvers (for whom the role of Pseudolus was originally conceived) adds to the mayhem as the wily courtesan procurer Marcus Lycus. Also in the mix is Buster Keaton as the befuddled Erronius, whose search for his long-lost children runs parallel to the plot's many twists. At the time 70 and ill with cancer, Keaton still steals the show with astonishing stunt-work and the droll ability to handle burlesque-style routines with fast-talkers Mostel and Gilford. On Blu-ray, Nicolas Roeg's cinematography looks better than on any previous home video release. Highly recommended. (P. Hall)