Considering how many bad movies I've seen in the last year this one finally deserves high ratings from me. Especially since this is not a genre I normally even watch. I've never been a fan of silent movies or old school visual comedies like this. But I was surprised.

First you need to understand the context of this comedy. It was meant to be a parody of the "silent movie" era and did a great job of recreating one. I actually watched this twice, once with and once without audio. It was better without audio.

Second, back in the old days when this was made things were much different than today without all the woke and political correct nonsense. It was also a far more naive and trusting era. Some of the things you see in the movie you wouldn't see today. Like leaving main floor doors and windows open at night, cuffing a noisy bratty kid to shut up and the main character would have been arrested for being a sexual predator stalking a woman. LOL

Last but not least. Too bad the film lost a little of its original quality over time. There's so many interesting details in the background that some of it was lost and too dark or grainy to see. There's a Godzilla poster I really wanted to see but it was never clear enough.

A BOMB WAS STOLEN is a very odd, very obscure Romanian comedy with science fiction elements. It was shot in black and white and is completely dialogue free. The story is an episodic journey narrative that takes place over the course of a single day and night and involves an unsuspecting man who comes into possession of a suitcase containing a nuclear bomb.

Watching this film is a strange experience indeed and you'll often wonder what exactly it is you're watching. The performances are mannered and exaggerated and the rest even more so. Admittedly the direction has a good visual flair and the opening scenes on the plains with the bucket-headed agents are memorably off-beat and strongly reminiscent of classic science fiction.

However, the film gets more and more farcical as it goes on and I found it quite repetitive. Some things, like the woman with wings, just seem deliberately obscure and not made to make sense. The main character is a bit of a dummy as well. It's not my favourite film, I'll say that.

Thieves steal an atomic bomb (about the size and shape of a large turnip) but when the caper goes awry, the satchel containing the deadly device ends up in the hands of an unknowing man who casually carries it around town, much to the terror of the criminals who are trying to recover it. There is no plot per se beyond a circular pursuit of the apocalyptic McGuffin, no dialogue (although characters occasionally make verbal noises (similar to Mr. Bean (1990))) and the humour comes from broad pantomime and sight gags, bordering on slapstick at times. The criminals are a gang of Runyonesque hoods who, in classic 'clown car' shtick, all emerge from a single small vehicle. The 'everyman' who unknowingly schleps the bomb around town is infatuated with a pretty streetcar conductor, who sprouts angel wings every time he gazes longingly at her (amusingly, she occasionally pulls the wings off and tosses them to the ground). There is lots of running up and down halls and in and out of doors, silly 'gun play', vintage gags involving closets and quick wardrobe changes, but also some clever comical touches (such as the helmets worn by the radiation workers: inverted buckets with eye slits that still have the handles attached). The film is funny in a goofy way and an odd blend of 1920's Hal Roach-style slapstick and 1960s atomic paranoia. Unique.