Starring Gene Wilder and Donald Sutherland, and Gene Wilder and Donald Sutherland, Bud Yorkin’s Start the Revolution Without Me is an amusing parody of Alexandre Dumas’ The Corsican Brothers with an ending the audience doesn’t see coming.
Buy Start the Revolution Without Me from MovieZyngIdentical twin babies of an aristocrat and a peasant are split because the doctor wants to make sure they at least get it half right. The story jumps ahead 30 years to Paris, France, 1789, under the rule of King Louis XVI. Mismatched twins Claude and Charles Coupe (Wilder and Sutherland) were orphaned and now serve in the rebellion, but with their lack of bravery and fighting ability, they really serve themselves.
Meanwhile in Corsica, Philippe and Pierre de Sisi (Wilder and Sutherland), known as the Corsican Brothers, live in luxury as noblemen, although Philippe may have a screw loose as he can’t tell his falcon Thor is dead. Duke d’Escargot (Victor Spinetti) requests they come to Paris to find out the King’s secret plan. Posing as peasants, the boat they ride on is carrying weapons the rebels can use, so it is ambushed. Here is where the pairs get mixed up as Claude and Charles are taken to the king’s palace, mistaken for the de Sisis, while the de Sisis have been taken in by the rebels.
There’s quite a bit of palace intrigue between the King Louis (Hugh Griffith), the promiscuous Queen Marie Antoinette (Billie Whitelaw), and d’Escargot. Alliances and plans are constantly shifting, depending on which characters are interacting, leading to different requests made of Claude and Charles, from marriage to murder.
Wilder and Sutherland play off each other well as both sets of characters. Wilder’s characters lead both pairs and is more manic. Philippe is especially and frequently shrill, even unlikable at times. Sutherland’s characters are subdued.
The film has moments of meta humor, such as Orson Welles narrating and him noting he is not in the film (by the way, don’t trust the captions that state Welles is narrating offscreen when it’s clearly not his voice) and a scene that plays with the medium as a text scroll repeats itself at a faster and faster rate for no apparent reason. (Thought I may have hit the remote at first.)
Scanned and restored in 4K from the original camera negative, the video has been given a 1080p encoded transfer presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1. The production design skews toward lighter hues and deliver good earth tones. The image frequently exhibits a sharp focus although when Escargot visits the de Sisi brothers, the focus isn’t always sharp. Film grain looks natural
The audio is available in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono, playing in the front center channel. Dialogue is clear and is balanced well with the effects and composer’s John Addison score, which evokes the era, in the mix.
The Special Features are
- Audio Commentary by Yorkin, Wilder, and Sutherland edited together from individual sessions.
- Napoleon Bunny-Part (7 min) – Bugs Bunny spars with the French Emperor
- The Scarlet Pumpernickel (7 min) – Daffy Duck pitches himself in the lead role to a studio head
- Theatrical Trailer
Start the Revolution Without Me is an entertaining bit of historical silliness set during the French Revolution. The Warner Archive Collection Blu-ray delivers a pleasing high-definition presentation.
