The Twelve Chairs

The Twelve Chairs (1970) is Mel Brooks's comedy drawn from the Ilf and Petrov novel, and you can watch online on iFILM. In 1920s Soviet Russia, a fallen aristocrat named Vorobyaninov learns from his dying mother-in-law that a fortune in jewels lies sewn inside one of twelve dining chairs.

The catch: the chairs were scattered across the country years ago, and Vorobyaninov isn't the only one who knows. Father Fyodor, the greedy priest who took the old woman's confession, races off after them too. And the aristocrat soon finds himself saddled with Ostap Bender — a silver-tongued con man who promptly takes charge of the whole hunt. What follows is a chase from town to town, each chair pried open and gutted, each one empty. Ron Moody and Frank Langella make the hapless pair, with Dom DeLuise as the priest unhinged by greed.

Brooks shot this between The Producers and Blazing Saddles, and his trademark farce is already here — only gentler, sadder underneath the laughs than usual. Brooks himself turns up in a small role. Stream The Twelve Chairs (1970) online on iFILM.