Search - The Mel Brooks Collection (Blazing Saddles / Young Frankenstein / Silent Movie / Robin Hood: Men in Tights / To Be or Not to Be / History of the World, Part 1 / The Twelve Chairs / High Anxiety) on DVD

K. K. (GAMER)
Reviewed on 1/2/2025...

History of the World, Part 1 - This would never fly in today's sensitive world since it has some really inappropriate parts that really should not be in any movie. The movie does has some funny parts if you are a fan of Mel Brooks' unusual humor.

To be or Not to Be - Fans might like this but most will not.

Silent Movie - The silence killed it!

Blazing Saddles - Politically incorrect in today's standards. There is one really great scene though!

High Anxiety - High potential for a Mel Brooks comedy but never got there. Weird and boring. Skip the trip to the institute!

Robinhood Men in Tights, Young Frankenstein and Twelve Chairs

Good set but I'd wait for the individual releases--phone # f

Wayne Klein | My Little Blue Window, USA | 04/14/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Most of the movies here are classics which makes it a problem if you don't want all the movies. The version of "Blazing Saddles" is the earlier release from Warner which doesn't look as good as the 30th Anniversary re-release and the extras aren't any great shakes. The transfer looks so-so and lacks the sharper look of the later 30th Anniversary Edition. "Young Frankenstein" resembles the first DVD release of the film from Fox with the same extras. Reportedly "Young Frankenstein" was supposed to be remastered in anamorphic widescreen but the wrong master used or the wrong discs shipped with this set. For those that care it's not anamorphic. The film looks extremely good but if you already have these classic films, I'd suggest waiting for these to be released individually.



Fans of Brooks will be buying this for the previously unreleased films "Silent Movie", "Robin Hood:Men in Tights", "To Be or Not to Be" (which Brooks didn't direct but stars in) and "High Anxiety". All these films look pretty good here (although "The Twelve Chairs" is probably going to be of the least interest to fans that grew up on Brooks other classic films). "Robin Hood" comes with an featurette produced for HBO on the film. Most of the others come only with theatrical trailer(s). "To Be or Not To Be" comes with a short featurette and some profiles of Brooks, the late Anne Bancroft and Charles Durning. Clearly they weren't produced for the DVD but must be some sort of promotional bits for another format (you're guess is as good as mine)possibly for an Electtronic Press Book.



If you have problems with any of the discs you can contact Fox at their customer service phone number 1-888-223-2FOX.

"

Most are cropped for widescreen look, shot full frame.

Paul J. Mular | San Carlos, CA USA | 06/04/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"FYI everyone, Mel Brooks only shot TWO films in wide screen: "Blazing Saddles" and "History of the World Part 1".



If you compare the rest of the films to the original full frame laserdiscs you will see that FOX just masked off the top & bottom of the picture to make the films look widescreen. They should have been presented in full frame to give us the complete picture, some signs & faces get cut off.



So now I have to keep my 1987 laserdiscs, even though these new transfers look sharper.



The missing films not in this box set are not owned by 20th Century Fox. We are lucky they made a special arrangement with Warner Brothers to include Blazing Saddles (although it is the old master) in this set.



"The Producers" , "Space Balls" and "Life Stinks" are owned by MGM.

"Dracula Dead and Loving it" is distributed by Warner Brothers & owned by Castlerock."

Finally!!

R. M. Carlson | Tampa, FL | 03/07/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Like many of the others, I have been waiting for one of the movies in this set to come out on DVD...High Anxiety. I have no problem selling my copies of Blazing Saddles, History of the World Part 1, and Young Frankenstein since they will all be in the box set. Now, I'm as big a fan of Mel Brooks as anyone else, and would LOVE to see a box set come out with all of his films. I've read where some people are disappointed that the original Producers, Spaceballs and Life Stinks are not included in this set. I hope this isnt news to anyone, but the rights to those films are owned by MGM studios. These films are all released by FOX. Perhaps in the near future, MGM will release a box set, too, but until then, I'll be enjoying this set."