Love and Death (1975) 11868-Love-and-Death.jpg
Woody Allen takes his New York Jewish shtick and plonks his persona right in the middle of Russia during the Napoleonic wars, where even as a child he is given to religious dreams and asking the Grim Reaper some poignant question about the after life "Are there girls? " While managing to live through a battle that sees Boris (Woody Allen) become a war hero accidentally of course. Diane Keaton is again Allen's love interest and all round foil. Woody's humour ranges from the downright silly, see the scene where Allen and Keaton are trying to knock someone out with a wine bottle to philosophical pseudo debates that are just as silly but probably give the intellectuals in the audience something to laugh at as well.
The genius of Allen's early films was that he could pretty much get laugh 's from any subject matter, I remember watching Love and Death on television when I was an early teen,and while I did not get any of the literature references, it still gets a laugh just from absurdity of it all. The black drill sergeant putting Boris through his paces, or the explanation about why Young Gregor's son was older than Old Gregor.Nobody could figure out how that happened and What's it like to be dead? You know the chicken at Tresky's Restaurant? It's worse. And since I have never read any of the classic Russian novels the film is supposedly spoofing its is a testament to Allen's comedy that it does not really matter, because at the end of the day all it seems to come down to basically is love and death, or more to the point sex. Also the newly released Arrow Blu Ray is a very nice upgrade, while the film does not boast any special effects as such, it looks like it should, a film from the 1970's,no fancy what ever the **** they do with restorations, it just looks like a film no more no less. Love and Death is my favourite Woody Allen after Broadway Danny Rose, and they both stand well to repeated viewings, which is always a good sign.And remember Never shoot up in the air when you're standing under it.