Twelve Chairs (3 Stars)

The film takes place in Russia in 1927, ten years after the revolution. The mother of a previous Russian nobleman reveals on her deathbed that she had hidden the family jewels by sewing them into the lining of one of their dinner table chairs. These chairs were later confiscated by the Bolsheviks. The rest of the film is devoted to the hunt for the 12 chairs, which have since been divided and sold separately.

This is the only film directed by Mel Brooks for which he did not write the story himself, so it can be argued that this isn't a real Mel Brooks film. To use the technical terms, it isn't an original screenplay, it's an adapted screenplay. The film has elements of the slapstick that characterises his later films, but it isn't up to the usual high standards we expect from him.

I found out today that the Russian novel this film is based on has been filmed 18 times between 1933 and 2011. Eighteen times? I wonder what it is about the story that captures the imagination of audiences and film makers.