Mel Brooks has always seemed like such a ball of energy, and after more than sixty years in show business, shows no sign of slowing down. Last November saw the release of the terrific box-set, The Incredible Mel Brooks: An Irresistible Collection Of Unhinged Comedy, a six-disc (five DVDs, one CD) treasure trove of material that’s a must-have for any Mel Brooks fan. In June, a collector’s edition of The Producers (the original 1968 film), will be released on Blu-ray. If that weren’t enough, next month sees the release of Mel Brooks: Make A Noise, a feature-length documentary on the life and work of Mel Brooks, featuring the funny man himself.
Brooks has never authorized a biography but this film, part of the PBS American Masters series comes close. Beginning with his childhood Brooklyn, Mel talks about the moment he knew he’d be in show business. In 1934, at just eight years old, his uncle took him to see Ethel Merman in Anything Goes on Broadway. He talks about his personal life—trying psychoanalysis, and his wonderful 41-year marriage to Anne Bancroft. Those his comments about her are brief, it’s clear that her 2005 death still affects him greatly, and it may in fact be the one thing he can’t be funny about.
Naturally, much of Make a Noise focuses on Mel’s celebrated career. He discusses his time as a writer for Sid Caesar on Your Show of Shows, admitting to the fact that Caesar probably held him back, in the sense that Sid was so good, and fun to write for that Mel waited longer than he otherwise would have to step in front of the camera himself. Watching Mel Brooks in this new interview footage, it’s amazing he was ever happy just being in the writer’s room, With the exception of a few brief moments when he’s reflecting on his family, Brooks always appears to be “on,” and ready with a quick joke. I found myself laughing at nearly every other sentence he uttered, but I wasn’t ever sure if he was being serious or just going for the laugh. Whether he’s relating a story about World War II—singing to the Germans through a bull horn—or singing a song about himself, the man is undeniably hilarious. After all, Mel says, “I don’t really do anything for the audience. Ever. I always do it for me, and most of the time the audience joins me.”
Make a Noise features new interviews with the following notables, most of whom worked with Mel through the years: Carl Reiner, Rob Reiner, Tracey Ullman, Joan Rivers, David Steinberg, Barry Levinson (who was co-writer of Silent Movie), Steven Weber, Nathan Lane, Michael Gruskoff, Richard Lewis, Andrew Bergman (co-writer of Blazing Saddles), Norman Steinberg (co-writer of Blazing Saddles), Cloris Leachman, Susan Stroman (director of The Producers on Broadway), Bill Pullman, Matthew Broderick, and others.
The film also includes archival interviews with Anne Bancroft, Gene Wilder, Madeline Kahn, Marty Feldman, Sid Caesar, Neil Simon and David Lynch.
Make A Noise was directed by Robert Trachtenberg, who also conducted the interviews. The documentary will air on PBS on May 20, 2013, and will be released on DVD on May 21, 2013 through Shout! Factory.
The DVD will include the following special features:
- Deleted Segments (16:53) This includes more anecdotes from Mel Brooks, Cloris Leachman, Rob Reiner and others. It also includes a brief clip of Helen Hunt, who doesn’t appear in the main film, discussing Mel’s appearance on Mad About You.
