My Top 50 Favourite Comedies
 

Eventually I'd like to get around to posting my top 50 films covering all of my favourite genres. Comedies, particularly the classics from the golden age of the 30s and 40s, have always been among my favourites, so thought I'd start with them. As with the top 50 Film Noirs, I'll post just 10 at a time. Hope this generates some interest.

50. Tais Toi Dir. Francis Veber
(Jean Reno, Gerard Depardieu, Richard Berry, Andre Dusollier, Jean-Pierre Malo, Leonor Varela)
Two mismatched criminals go on the run together from both the Police and a criminal gang.
Written and directed by the master of French farce, the film moves at a breakneck pace with non-stop action and laughs.
Depardieu as dim-witted Quentin is hilarious.

49. The Miracle Of Morgan's Creek Dir. Preston Sturges
(Betty Hutton, Eddie Bracken, William Demarest, Dianna Lynn, Brian Donlevy)
Betty attends an all-night party, gets pregnant, and can't remember who the father is.
Roaringly funny comedy, in deliciously bad taste. The miracle is how it ever managed to get past the Hay's Office censors.

48. Holiday Dir. George Cukor
(Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, Doris Nolan, Lew Ayres, Edward Everett Horton, Henry Daniell)
Delightful adaptation of Phillip Barry's play about a nonconformist (Grant) who changes the lives of a stuffy N.Y.C. society family, and meets his match in Hepburn.
Lew Ayres comes close to stealing the show as the black sheep of the family.

47. The Cat And The Canary Dir. Paul Leni
(Laura LaPlante, Tully Marshall, Creighton Hale, Flora Finch, Gertrude Astor)
Influential silent comedy / horror, in which a group of people must spend the night in a haunted house.
The forerunner of all the 'old dark house' mysteries.

46. Best In Show Dir. Christopher Guest
(Bob Balaban, Jennifer Coolidge, Eugene Levy, Parker Posey, Michael McKean, Fred Willard)
American dog owners and their pets come to Philadelphia for the Mayflower Kennel Club's annual competition.
Hilarious mock-documentary, taking a broadly satirical swipe at America's obsession with winning at all costs.
Coolidge, Levy and Willard are standouts.

45. A Night At The Opera Dir. Sam Wood
(Marx Brothers, Margaret Dumont, Kitty Carlisle, Allan Jones, Sig Rumann)
The Marx Brothers invade the world of opera, and chaos ensues.
The Brothers' first big budget extravaganza, with some of their best ever comic sequences, including the state room scene and the party of the first part contract.
Margaret Dumont is marvellous as always.
The musical interludes slow it down somewhat, but were a big hit on its first release.

44. Shaun Of The Dead Dir. Edgar Wright
(Simon Pegg, Kate Ashfield, Nick Frost, Dylan Moran)
"The romantic zombie comedy we've all been waiting for."
Zombies run amok in London, and a bunch of friends hole up in the local pub to fight them off.
Marvellous spoof, which draws on elements of films as diverse as Dawn Of The Dead, and Assault On Precinct 13.


43. The Man In The White Suit Dir. Alexander Mackendrick
(Alec Guinness, Joan Greenwood, Cecil Parker, Ernest Thesiger)
A young inventor (Guinness) discovers a fabric which cannot soil or wear out.
Horrified manufacturers set out to bury his formula.
One of the most fondly remembered of the Ealing satirical comedies.

42. Young Frankenstein Dir. Mel Brooks
(Gene Wilder, Marty Feldman, Peter Boyle, Madeline Kahn, Terri Garr, Cloris Leachman)
Victor Frankenstein's grandson continues his experiments and creates another monster.
Brooks foregoes his usual scatter-gun approach, and has instead turned out a beautifully crafted and affectionate homage to James Whale's original, even using the same sets.
Riotously funny, and wonderfully well cast - it's difficult to single out any one performance; they're all brilliant. Brooks' most successful parody.

41. The Gold Rush Dir. Charlie Chaplin
(Charlie Chaplin, Georgia Hale, Mack Swain)
A timeless classic, and one of Chaplin's most fondly remembered films.
So many highlights - the dancing rolls; eating the shoe; the cabin teetering over the cliff.
Far and away my favourite Chaplin.

My Top 50 Comedies (Contd.)
 

40. My Man Godfrey Dir. Gregory La Cava
(William Powell, Carole Lombard, Gail Patrick, Eugene Pallette, Alice Brady, Mischa Auer)
One of the great classic screwball comedies.
As part of a scavenger hunt, Lombard has to find a 'forgotten man'. She meets Powell, thinking he is a penniless tramp, and brings him home to her crazy family who hire him as a butler. He teaches them a few facts of life before it's revealed that he's really a millionaire.
In a first rate cast, Eugene Pallette as the harried family patriarch stands out.

39. Our Hospitality Dir. Buster Keaton / Jack Blystone
(Buster Keaton, Natalie Talmadge, Joe Keaton, Joe Roberts)
Buster goes to the South to claim a family inheritance, and falls in love with the daughter of a family who have been involved in a feud with his family for generations.
Wonderful silent comedy, one of Buster's best, with a thrilling, genuinely hair-raising finale. Buster's comic timing is, as always, faultless.

38. Sons Of The Desert Dir. William A. Seiter
(Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Charley Chase, Mae Busch, Dorothy Christy)
Stan and Ollie want to attend a convention in Chicago, but tell their wives that they are going on a cruise for health reasons.
Architypal Laurel and Hardy comedy, one of their finest, with great gags, superb timing and fine characterisation. Charlie Chase is hilarious.

37. Annie Hall Dir. Woody Allen
(Diane Keaton, Woody Allen, Tony Roberts, Carol Kane)
The film which turned Woody Allen from cult favourite to superstar.
Typical of its creator, and hugely appealing, with some of Woody's best and most timeless one-liners. (Don't knock masturbation - it's sex with someone I love.)

36. The Adventures Of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert Dir. Stephen Elliott
(Terence Stamp, Hugo Weaving, Guy Pearce, Bill Hunter)
Two drag queens and a transsexual travel from Sydney to Alice Springs in a pink bus to perform in a cabaret.
A warm, funny, enjoyably bitchy road movie with outstanding performances from the three leads.

35. The Big Lebowski Dir. Coen Brothers
(Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Julianne Moore, Steve Buscemi, David Huddleston, John Turturro)
A genuine one-of-a-kind.
Probably the most affectionate, inventive, off-the-wall comedy the Coens have done to date.
Jef Bridges' performance as the slobbish, laid-back Dude has virtually overshadowed everything else he's done.

34. Animal Crackers Dir. Victor Heerman
(Marx Brothers, Margaret Dumont, Lillian Roth, Louis Sorin)
The Brothers' second film occasionally suffers from staginess, but gives them plenty of opportunity to show off their comic skills.
The story has something to do with a stolen painting, but is almost irrelevant next to such comic gems as Chico and Harpo playing bridge, Groucho singing 'Hooray For Captain Spaulding' and shooting an elephant in his pajamas.

33. His Girl Friday Dir. Howard Hawks
(Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy, Gene Lockhart, Helen Mack)
Splendid reworking of The Front Page, with the character of Hildy Johnson turned into a woman.
Cary Grant is the conniving editor, with Rosalind Russell as his star reporter (and ex-wife), who is now engaged to milksop Ralph Bellamy.
Hilarious farce, played at breakneck speed. The interplay between Grant and Russell is dazzling.

32. The Awful Truth Dir. Leo McCary
(Irene Dunne, Cary Grant, Ralph Bellamy, Cecil Cunningham, Mary Forbes)
Delightful screwball comedy has Dunne and Grant as a divorced couple, each doing their best to scupper the other's plans to remarry.
Great chemistry between the two stars.
Leo McCarey deservedly won an Oscar for his direction.


31. Adam's Rib Dir. George Cukor
(Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Judy Holliday, David Wayne, Tom Ewell)
Husband and wife lawyers are on opposing sides in the trial of a woman for attempted murder.
An intelligent, sophisticated Battle Of The Sexes comedy, with razor sharp dialogue and superb leading performances.
Judy Holliday, in her debut performance, is outstanding.

My Top 50 Comedies (Contd.)
 

30. Never Give A Sucker An Even Break Dir. Edward Cline
(W. C. Fields, Gloria Jean, Leon Erroll, Margaret Dumont, Franklin Pangborn)
W. C. Fields' last starring film, from a story by 'Otis Cribblecoblis'.
Don't expect it to make any sense; it doesn't. It's completely insane, but has some of the funniest bits you're ever likely to see in a comedy.
The climactic chase scene is a classic.

29. She Done Him Wrong Dir. Lowell Sherman
(Mae West, Cary Grant, Gilbert Roland, Noah Beery, Rochelle Hudson)
Adapted for the screen by Mae West from her Broadway hit play.
Mae plays Diamond Lil, and Grant runs the local Salvation Army shelter, but he's really an undercover cop.
Noone before or since has ever had a way with a double entendre that Mae had. It's the film where she first said "Come up and see me sometime."
Also, her only film to be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar, and a huge hit. (It saved Paramount Pictures from bankruptcy.)

28. Jour De Fete Dir. Jacques Tati
(Jacques Tati, Guy Decomble, Paul Frankeur)
Jacques Tati's feature debut, in which he plays a small town postman who attempts to modernise delivery after seeing a film about the American postal service.
It's really just a series of delightful sight gags built around the town's Bastille Day celebration, and containing affectionate portraits of the inhabitants.
Exquisite.

27. Manhattan Murder Mystery Dir. Woody Allen
(Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Angelica Huston, Alan Alda)
When a neighbour dies, a married woman smells a rat and nags her reluctant husband into investigating the possibility that a murder has been done.
Full of the usual great one-liners, and with a fun cast who are obviously enjoying themselves.
The finale is a nice homage to Welles' "Lady From Shanghai".

26. The Castle Dir. Rob Sitch
(Michael Caton, Anne Tenney, Sophie Lee, Stephen Curry, Charles Tingwell, Teriel Mora)
A close knit, loving family fight to save their home when they are faced with a compulsory purchase order so that their property can be used to expand the local airport.
Broadly comic, unsubtle, but totally irresistable comedy which treats its characters with warmth and affection.
A huge hit in Australia and New Zealand.

25. It Happened One Night Dir. Frank Capra
(Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert, Walter Connolly, Roscoe Karns)
A runaway heiress falls in love with the reporter who is helping her, initially to get a story.
Madcap romantic comedy, which set the benchmark for other screwball comedies in the following years. Great chemistry between the two stars.
The first film to scoop the four major Oscars. It still comes up fresh and sparkling after more than 75 years.

24. The Lavender Hill Mob Dir. Charles Crichton
(Alec Guinness, Stanley Holloway, Sid James, Alfie Bass, John Gregson)
Guinness plays a timid bank clerk who plans and executes a perfect scheme for pulling off a gold bullion robbery.
Superb characterisation and a wonderful eye for detail, make this not just one of the best Ealing Comedies, but one of the best comedies to come out of Britain.
The madcap chase climax is brilliantly executed.

23. Unfaithfully Yours Dir. Preston Sturges
(Rex Harrison, Linda Darnell, Rudy Vallee, Barbara Lawrence, Edgar Kennedy, Lionel Stander)
Often side-splittingly funny comedy about a famous symphony conductor (Harrison) who suspects that his wife (Darnell) is unfaithful, and imagines three possible courses of action - including murder - during a concert.
Hilarious blend of sophisticated comedy, melodrama and low slapstick. It shouldn't work, but it does, brilliantly.
The cast is faultless.
Sturges' last Hollywood film. (Remade - badly - in 1984, starring Dudley Moore and Nastassja Kinski.)

22. Safety Last Dir. Fred Newmeyer / Sam Taylor
(Harold Lloyd, Mildred Davis, Bill Strothers, Noah Young)
Harold plays a young go-getter from the country, determined to make good in the big city so that he can marry his sweetheart.
The famous building climbing sequence, containing one of the most famous shots in the history of cinema, is still guaranteed to thrill and amaze after all these years.

21. Whiskey Galore Dir. Alexander Mackendrick
(Basil Radford, Joan Greenwood, James Robertson Justice, Jean Cadell, Gordon Jackson)
During W.W.II, a ship full of whiskey is wrecked off the coast of an island in the Hebredes, and the inhabitants do everything they can to subvert the efforts of the local Customs and Excise man to stop them getting their hands on it.
Hilarious, fast moving, well cast and beautifully detailed comedy in the best Ealing tradition.

My Top 50 Comedies (Contd.)
 

20. Divorce Italian Style Dir. Pietro Germi
(Marcello Mastoianni, Daniela Rocca, Stefania Sandrelli, Leopoldo Trieste, Odoardo Spadaro)
An Italian nobleman longs to marry his beautiful cousin. There's only one problem; he's already married, and living in a society which frowns upon divorce. He comes up with a plan to prove his wife an adultress, so that he can then kill her, as the society which won't allow divorce will forgive crimes of passion.
Wickedly funny black comic satire of Italy's antiquated laws and customs. It moves at a cracking pace, and while it won't make you laugh out loud, it will keep you chuckling all the way.
Mastroianni is superb.

19. Monty Python's Life Of Brian Dir. Terry Jones
(Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Terry Gilliam)
By far the Pythons' best film. Controversial, and originally banned in parts of the UK and US.
It's a gloriously funny send-up of all those pious, po-faced, boring religious 'epics' such as Ben Hur, Quo Vadis and King Of Kings, with the Pythons all in top mickey-taking form.
The hilarious crucifixion finale shows that, as one reviewer put it, "When the Pythons were in peak form their talent seemed, well, God given."

18. Ninotchka Dir. Ernst Lubitsch
(Greta Garbo, Melvyn Douglas, Sig Rumann, Felix Bressart, Alexander Granach, Ina Claire)
A cold, straight-laced Russian emissary is sent to Paris to sell some royal jewels. She meets and falls in love with a playboy.
Somewhat of a change of pace for Lubitsch. More hard edged and cynical in tone than much of his other work - probably the influence of screenwriters Wilder and Brackett.
Nonetheless, this comedy sparkles, with Garbo showing not only a talent for romantic comedy, but also a touching vulnerability. Superb supporting cast.

17. The Ladykillers Dir. Alexander Mackendrick
(Alec Guinness, Katie Johnson, Cecil Parker, Herbert Lom, Peter Sellers)
A little old lady takes in a lodger who is the leader of a gang of bank robbers. When she finds out, and threatens to go to the police, they plot to kill her but end up bumping one another off instead.
Droll, witty black comedy, with Guinness in top form, given wonderful support from a top-notch cast. One of the few comedies in which death is both shocking and very funny.

16. Bullets Over Broadway Dir. Woody Allen
(John Cusack, Chas Palminteri, Dianne Wiest, Jennifer Tilly, Jim Broadbent)
A struggling playwright's latest play is funded by a mob boss on the condition that his talentless moll is cast as one of the leads.
One of the high points of Woody's 90's films, made with a beautiful feel for the period, with inspired characterisation, witty dialogue and true film making flair.
In a fine cast, Dianne Wiest and Chas Palminteri are standouts.

15. The Palm Beach Story Dir. Preston Sturges
(Claudette Colbert, Joel McCrea, Rudy Vallee, Mary Astor)
The wife of a struggling engineer, believing that she's holding her husband back, takes off to Florida and becomes involved with a bumbling millionaire and his scatty, man crazy sister.
Sturges at his most manically hilarious, with virtually non-stop laughs.
The cast is uniformly excellent.

14. Easy Living Dir. Mitchell Leisen
(Jean Arthur, Edward Arnold, Ray Milland, Franklin Pangborn, William Demarest)
Millionaire Arnold throws his wife's mink coat out of the window, and it falls onto poor working girl Arthur. Complications ensue, leading to her being suspected of being his mistress. Meanwhile, his son, Milland, determined to make his own way in the world, meets and falls in love with - you guessed it!
Sparkling romantic comedy written by Preston Sturges, and with a standout performance by Arnold.

13. The Philadelphia Story Dir. George Cukor
(Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, James Stewart, Ruth Hussey, Roland Young)
A stuffy, uptight society heiress, about to enter into her second marriage, is humanised by the influence of both her ex husband and the reporter who is sent to cover her wedding, and who falls for her.
Witty, literate adaptation of Phillip Barry's hit play, with a script which actually improves on the original. The performances, particularly Stewart's, are just perfect.

12. The Lady Eve Dir. Preston Sturges
(Barbara Stanwyck, Henry Fonda, Charles Coburn, Eugene Pallette, William Demarest)
Stanwyck and Coburn are father and daughter con artists who set their sights on shy, bewildered millionaire Fonda. Unfortunately, she finds herself falling in love with him.
Preston Sturges' most brilliant film, a combination of sparkling, witty dialogue and inspired slapstick. Stanwyck, Fonda and Coburn provide a masterclass of deftly comic performances. The Battle Of The Sexes has never been funnier.

11. Sherlock Jnr. Dir. Buster Keaton
(Buster Keaton, Kathryn McGuire, Ward Crane, Joseph Keaton)
A movie projectionist walks into the screen and takes part in the detective story being shown.
Buster was at his creative peak in this hilarious and beautifully constructed film.
The sight gags and the superb comic timing are as good as ever, and blended with the delightful fantasy make for a film whose influence can be seen in the work of directors as diverse as Woody Allen, Jacques Rivette and Luis Bunuel.

Is Anchorman in here somewhwere?:D
I like your lists, Siegfried. I'm a little too young to appreciate the majority of their content but you've definitely brought at least a couple of films to my attention that I haven't seen yet.

Thanks for your comments, and I'm glad that you like the lists. Although the majority of the films fall into the 'classic' category, I really believe that the 30s and 40s were a golden age as far as film comedy is concerned. So many of these films tend to be overlooked today, and one of my aims was to attempt to bring them to the attention of people like yourself who are younger and have missed out on them. I hope that you'll be encouraged to give some of them a try.
Sorry, Anchorman isn't there, but you didn't really expect it to be, did you? :eek:

My Top 50 Comedies (Contd.)
 

10. Duck Soup Dir. Leo McCarey
(Marx Brothers, Margaret Dumont, Louis Calhern, Raquel Torres)
Rufus T. Firefly, Prime Minister of Freedonia, wages war on neighbouring Sylvania, having paid a month's rent in advance on the battlefield.
Considered nowadays to be a satirical masterpiece, this is the Brothers' most sustained piece of insanity.
With so many hilarious one-liners and brilliant comedy routines, the one that stands out is the superbly executed mirror sequence.

9.Kind Hearts And Coronets Dir. Robert Hamer
(Alec Guinness, Dennis Price, Joan Greenwood, Valerie Hobson)
The cast-off member of a titled family sets out to murder the eight members of the family who stand in the way of his inheriting the dukedom.
Peerless black comedy, in many respects the jewel in the crown of Ealing comedies.
A witty screenplay directed in genteel style, and with an incomparable cast. Alec Guinness' wonderful versatility in playing all eight members of the D'Ascoigne Family has led to the excellent performances of his co-stars being somewhat unfairly overlooked.

8. Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown Dir. Pedro Almodovar
(Carmen Maura, Antonio Banderas, Julietta Serrano, Maria Barranco)
A television actress whose married lover has left her, becomes involved with his family, and with a friend who is also involved with a group of Shiite terrorists.
The film which made Almodovar's international reputation.
It's a wonderfully inventive, colourful farce, fast paced, and with a cast who cannot be faulted in terms of their comic timing.

7. M. Hulot's Holiday Dir. Jacques Tati
(Jacques Tati, Nathalie Pascaud, Micheline Rolla, Louis Perrault, Andre Dubois)
Tati's first film to feature the character of M. Hulot, a bumbling but well meaning Frenchman on a summer holiday at the seaside.
It's an accurate but affectionate observation of the French at play, told almost as a silent film.
More a series of often hilarious vignettes than a coherent plot, but endlessly amusing and entertaining.

6. Bringing Up Baby Dir. Howard Hawks
(Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, May Robson, Charles Ruggles, Walter Catlett)
Hepburn's only venture into slapstick comedy. She plays a madcap heiress who sets her sights on an absent-minded palaeontologist, and makes a shambles of his life.
The definitive screwball comedy, one of the fastest, funniest films ever made.
Dudley Nichols' and Hagar Wilde's screenplay gives the first-rate cast opportunity to shine, and Hawks' direction is a miracle of pace and wit.

5. Way Out West Dir. James W. Horne
(Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Sharon Lynn, James Finlayson, Rosina Lawrence)
Stan and Ollie travel to Brushwood Gulch to deliver the deed to a gold mine to the daughter of a prospector.
Crooked Finlayson and his equally reprehensible wife scheme to steal the inheritance.
A total joy of a film, with Stan and Ollie at the peak of their form.
The humour is gentle, the comic sequences are superbly executed and brilliantly timed, and the musical interludes, particularly Stan and Ollie's dance, are charming.

4. Some Like It Hot Dir. Billy Wilder
(Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, Joe E. Brown, George Raft)
Two unemployed musicians witness the St Valentine's Day Massacre and hide out as members of an all-girl band heading for Miami.
A milestone of film comedy; fast paced, witty, inventive and with just enough of an edge of suspense to ensure that the interest never flags.
Lemmon and Curtis are marvellous, Monroe turns in one of her best comedy performances and it's capped off by one of the best punch lines ever.

3. Twentieth Century Dir. Howard Hawks
(John Barrymore, Carole Lombard, Walter Connolly, Roscoe Karns)
An egomanaiacal theatrical producer (Barrymore) makes a shop girl (Lombard) into a star. When she leaves him he does everything he can to lure her back during a lengthy trip on the train of the title.
Barrymore, in a deliciously hammy, over-the-top performance, has never been funnier, and is matched note for note by Lombard.
Connolly and Karns, as his long-suffering cronies, are ace.
The script sparkles, and the whole thing is directed at breakneck pace by Hawks.

2. The General Dir. Buster Keaton / Clyde Bruckman
(Buster Keaton, Marian Mack, Glen Cavender)
Buster's masterpiece, based on a true story and set during the American Civil War.
A Confederate train driver has his train and his sweetheart stolen by Union spies. He gets them back, and in the process is responsible for defeating the Union Army in battle.
Superbly mounted, historically accurate, endlessly inventive and very, very funny.
The beautifully timed series of sight gags, each one topping the one before, are a joy to behold.

1.To Be Or Not To Be Dir. Ernst Lubitsch
(Jack Benny, Carole Lombard, Robert Stack, Sig Rumann, Felix Bressart)
Jack Benny had the role of a lifetime as "That great, great Polish actor Joseph Tura", and Carole Lombard, in what was sadly to be her final role, was his wife, Maria.
They and their theatre troup become involved in espionage after the Nazis invade Poland and put them out of business.
The film begins as melodrama, progresses through romantic comedy and suspense into sheer farce. The transition is handled superbly by Lubitsch - it's his finest and most sustained piece of film making.
Felix Bressart and Sig Rumann are impressive in supporting roles.