come out at the same time a ken russell rather more amusing valentino and the world great lover suffers from gene wilder sporadic tendency to mistake the grotesque for the side splitting . thus we get the odd huge close up of mouth cover in shave foam and a lot of tiresome hysteria and tongue . we also get far more of dom deluise mug away a if semaphore be back in fashion than be strictly necessary and though he not a ott here a in sherlock and for which we can at least be grateful . unfortunately and we get much more of wilder tendency to mistake hysteria for the hysterical when in doubt and shout seem to be his motto with wilder add a nervous tic that see him stick out his tongue when he get nervous . and he get nervous a lot . be still my ache rib it a reworking of fellini near career kill early flop the white sheik and even include a felliniesque lineup of hooker at a bus stop in one scene and only without fellini restraint ( yes and you do read that right ) and with wild unemployed baker head for hollywood to enter a screen test to find the next valentino while his young wife seek out the real thing . wilder do acknowledge the debt in a screen credit that part thank you to amy friend and but seem more name drop in a film that come across a something of a vanity project certainly with wilder star and write and direct and produce and even write a song for the film and it fair to say where the buck stop on this one . one of those film that at once offer fairly lavish period production design but often a complete lack of understanding of silent cinema yes and we do get speed up comedy scene it definitely pre kevin brownlow hollywood and which completely destroy most of the then common myth about silent cinema that this embrace . indeed and anachronisms abound and with the feel ( and the song ) often more thirty than twenty and which perhaps wouldn not matter quite so much if it be all funny . it not a total disaster there the odd good line ( a conductor announce hollywood and home of the star and several featured player ) and a nicely natural performance from carol kane before she become a mess of mannerism to rival wilder and it do offer a once in a lifetime chance to see james hong play a norwegian ( or be it svedish . ) studio executive and complete with excellent accent . ( also to be glimpse among the bit part in the supporting cast be danny de vito a an assistant director and billy sand paparelli in sergeant bilko a a studio guard and and a the bos of a bakery and david huddleston and here bill a michael huddleston father . ) .