My Top 50 Favourite Comedies

[Siegfried]

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.