Rhinoceros

Gene Wilder

"Rhinoceros" belongs to the 'Theater of the Absurd' movement, which was fashionable during the 1950s and 60s. Eugene Ionescu, the author, was one of the key proponents of this kind of play and, it has to be said, is not to everybody's liking. To my mind, if an absurdist play is to succeed, it has to be done by a fine ensemble of actors. This film of the play has such a cast. For the main roles,the producer Ely Landauer and director Tom O'Horgan managed to get together again Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder, who made such a hit in Mel Brook's "The Producers". Wilder has the largest part in the film and he is extremely good, but the movie really belongs to Zero Mostel whose performance is unforgetable: surely a benchmark performance ?