University of Virginia Library

Hidden Family Jewels

The story, adapted for the
screen by Brooks, takes place in
post-revolutionary Russia, and tells
of a frantic chase to find a set of
dining room chairs that hide a
family fortune in jewels. The plot
has been done before in numerous
variants. In Stanley Kramer's "It's
a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World," the
treasure was a bundle of cash
pursued by a cast of thousands for
over two and a half hours. It's easy
to understand how great the
temptation must be to make an
overblown production. Ideas run
rampant in a director's mind, and
the project gets wrapped up in itself
and suffocates.

"The Twelve Chairs" is a small
film that looks like a larger
production than it is. This is due to
Brooks' shooting the film in
Yugoslavia, which to my eye looks
enough like Russia that I'll believe
it is. An additional advantage to
shooting in Yugoslavia is that the
peasants look like genuine peasants,
and the buildings look old and not
like Hollywood sets.

The cast is excellent. The show
stealer is Dom DeLuise as the raving
Father Fyodor. Brooks' wisely
limits DeLuise's scenes to those
with the supporting cast, or permits
him to "solo" in several hilarious
scenes. Like Jonathan Winters,
DeLuise can obliterate the presence
of another actor and gives his best
performance when alone.