Underrated Allen Comedy

Rating: Null/10 (7 August 2011)

Love and Death (1975)
*** 1/2 (out of 4)
Very funny film from Woody Allen is a spoof of Russian movies and especially literature. In the film Allen plays Boris, a weak coward who is too scared to fight in the war but once forced to he accidentally becomes a hero. Back at home he finally admits his love for his distant cousin (Diane Keaton) and the two come up with a plot to assassinate Napoleon. There's no doubt that Allen was on an extremely high point in his career and one that would continue to get even better over the next couple films. LOVE AND DEATH is certainly one of his most unusual films but there's no denying it's pure comic madness as we get one very funny sequence after another. While everyone knows about this spoofing Russian literature, another point that often gets overlooked is how the screenplay seems to be paying homage to the Marx Brothers as well. Throughout the picture you can just see Allen delivering and saying certain lines as if he was in a Marx Brothers movie and you can almost see Harpo and Chico being able to pull these lines off as well. One of the strongest aspects of the film is the terrific screenplay that really fires off one terrific line as another. It's somewhat hard to put your finger on one great sequence because the movie really builds up on small moments. One of the funniest lines in the film has to do with the Keaton character's cheating with a countless number of men and when Allen asks if she's almost done naming them she answers no because she's still in the names starting with A. Another very funny gag deals with Allen's father who carries around the land that he owns. It goes without saying but Allen is perfect in the role as no one can say his lines better than himself. Even better is how great Keaton is and as you'd expect the two stars have a lot of chemistry together and really nail the material. It's funny because Allen and Keaton are so wonderful together yet they often get overlooked when people discuss great comedy teams. The film doesn't stop at Russian jokes as the French get a few hits and there are even some obvious nods to Ingmar Bergman. Of all the Allen-Keaton films, this one here is probably the one that's most overlooked because of the subject matter but if people give it a chance they'll see how special it really is.