World's Best Comedy Films

[* = new additions]

• Airplane!
• Auntie Mame
• Babe
• Baby Boom
• Beautiful Girls*
• Beetlejuice
• Being John Malkovich
• Born Yesterday
• City Slickers
• Clueless
• Dr. Strangelove (bw)
• Driving Miss Daisy
• Duck Soup (bw)
• Ghostbusters
• Going in Style
• Good Bye, Lenin!* (Germany)
• A Great Wall
• Hannah and Her Sisters*
• Heathers
• Kind Hearts and Coronets (bw)
• M*A*S*H
• Midnight Run
• Mister Roberts
• Parenthood
• The Producers (original)
• Raising Arizona
• The Russians are Coming, the Russians are Coming!
• Singles
• Thank You For Smoking
• The Thin Man (series)
• Tootsie
• Wall-E*
• When Harry Met Sally*

Runners-Up: Animal House, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, Gung Ho!, La Cage Aux Folles (France), A Night at the Opera*, Smoke Signals, The Sunshine Boys, The Tall Blond Man With One Black Shoe (Italy), Young Frankenstein The Thin Man series is hard to classify, is it crime/mystery or comedy? It certainly stood out for the cleverly sarcastic repartee of the two characters, Nick and Nora Charles, expertly played by William Powell and Myrna Loy. The first two in the series are the best; the thin man actually refers to a victim, not to William Powell, and the dog Asta is the true scene stealer of the series. In all honesty, I like the series for its bizarre romance (he's always leaving her with ex-cons he helped put away), but without their humor they would be droll mysteries indeed. [Updated: 6.22.09]

Double Indemnity and the Birth of Film Noir

Double Indemnity (1944) was Billy Wilder's first serious film, and is given credit for the birth of film noir, literally "night film", which describes a visual style and mood of a type of dramatic film, usually crime, that's much more gritty and realistic than most films prior to this era.

Film noir was mostly shot at night or in dark interiors; there's lots of use of shadows, dimly lit edges, light from Venetian blinds (which simulates bars across characters), backlit smoke (Indemnity uses both cigars and cigarettes, Out of the Past is a tribute to cigarettes, each star is always smoking onscreen, especially when it gets tense).

Film noir got its origins in 30's detective stories, often called pulp fiction, gritty stories with sex, violence and seedy characters. Even the heros were often common people with street wisdom, often with a tough upbringing. Soldiers returning from World War 2 and a cinematic audience that had survived the Great Depression demanded more adult films in theme, subject, and style.

Wilder was impressed by author John Kain's pulp novella of "Double Indemnity", the same author of The Postman Always Rings Twice, but it was considered unfilmable due the the Hayes Code (of censorship). The script went through years of re-writes and applications before being allowed to be filmed in 1944. The Hayes Code first suppressed sex in films, then violence, later socialism, and was used to pass judgment on over 28,000 works of art! Apparently no freedom of the arts exists, just more minor ones that don't affect as many people, such as the press (who reads?) Wilder then had a difficult time casting the lead parts, two murdering adulterers.

He wanted Barbara Stanwyck all along, but eventually had to challenge her to get her to take the image-shattering role, "are you an actress or a mouse?" After several refusals by actors, including George Raft, who had a knack for turning down breakthrough parts like Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon, he convinced Fred McMurray to break his screen image of light romantic comedies to attempt something serious. His first scene with Stanwick, when he meets her at her home in a towel, uses his comedic skills along with some terrific dialogue.

Wilder also convinced leading actor Edward G. Robinson to take a non-starring character role, meaty enough for at least two important speeches that Robinson absolutely nailed. Crime novelist Raymond Chandler (The Big Sleep, The Long Goodbye) was brought in for his realistic dialogue, plenty evident here especially the opening scenes between Stanwyck and McMurray, but he, an introvert, and Wilder, an extrovert, didn't get along at all and never worked together again. Ironically,they were nominated for an Oscar together for their screenplay. Wilder later used Chandler as his model for his Oscar-winning Best Picture The Lost Weekend.

Double Indemnity was nominated for these 7 Oscars (but won none):

• BEST MOTION PICTURE - Paramount (Going My Way won!)
• DIRECTING - Billy Wilder
• ACTRESS - Barbara Stanwyck
• CINEMATOGRAPHY (Black and White) - John Seitz
• WRITING (Screenplay) - Billy Wilder, Raymond Chandler
• MUSIC (Music Score of a Drama or Comedy) - Miklos Rozsa
• SOUND RECORDING - Paramount Studio Sound Dept, Loren L. Ryder, Sound Director

Other classic film noir: Out of the Past, The Night of the Hunter, Panic in the Streets, D.O.A., The Postman Always Rings Twice, The Big Sleep, The Maltese Falcon, The Third Man.

Modern Noir: Wait Until Dark, Diva (France), Chinatown, Shoot the Piano Player (France), House of Games, Taxi Driver, Blood Simple, Body Heat, The Silence of the Lambs. The style is also clearly evident in parts of other classic films such as In the Heat of the Night, The Godfather, Batman, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, The Hustler, and The Departed.

Thanks to Beth G for suggesting Double Indemnity

Recently Viewed Films, July

A Face in the Crowd (Elia Kazan, 1957, bw) 5* (top rating) This is an overlooked masterpiece, simply jaw-dropping. It's about the misuse of television to influence the masses, to buy cheesy products, to vote for cheesy politicians, even to think the way of the charismatic "everyman" star, terrifically played by Andy Griffith in a rare dramatic performance. Patricia Neal turns in perhaps her best performance, and there's a young Walter Matthau (excellent), and a very young Lee Remick (eye-popping candy as a baton twirling teen). This film was way ahead of its time, and Kazan was unfairly shunned by Oscar and critics alike after the HUAC hearings. To Live (Zhang Yimou, China, 1994) 4.5* This is yet another undeniably classic Yimou epic, winner of the Grand Prize at Cannes in 1995, and Best Actor for Ge You (he's awesome). This film spans about 40 years in the life of one family, from before the Maoist revolution up to the 80's. Gong Li is also superb as You's wife (her best performance to me), and all the supporting cast is perfect. This is filled with unforgettable scenes, some with thousands of extras. An American film this good would have won 6-8 Oscars. Goodnight Mister Tom (Jack Gold, Masterpiece Theater, 1999) 5* This television film is John Thaw's (Insp. Morse) finest achievement, a true work of art. One of the biggest hearted films I've seen, you'll shed tears of joy. A truly inspired work, it's a disarmingly simple story of an elderly village resident (a widower) being forced to take charge of a London child evacuee during WW2. One of the highest rated films at Netflix from viewers (4.2, anything above 4 is extremely rare). From the novel by Michelle Magorian, this is truly a film that everyone should see, a rare gift to mankind. Touching the Void (Kevin MacDonald, British, 2003) 3.5* Winner of a British academy award for Best British Film, a re-enacted pseudo-documentary of a mountaineering accident. Gripping and tense, hard to watch, and a nearly unbelievable story. The first half moves better than the last, my only criticism. Gorgeous Peruvian Andes scenery; not for the weak-hearted. Forbidden Games (Rene Clement, France, 1954, BW) 3.5* This anti-war film has an amazing performance by 5-8 yr old Brigitte Fossey (it began with a short film, was later expanded into full-length after Jacques Tati convinced Clement it was worthy). There are some disturbing images in the beginning, then the film settles into a pastoral story about childhood innocence in a rural setting. Not really the masterpiece some claim, but still worth watching. The excellent Criterion dvd includes alternate beginning/endings, as well as interviews with Clement, and two with Brigitte Fossey, one recent, one as a teenager, and she's beautiful at any age.

The World's Best Films Introduction

We will list and review the greatest films in history, wherever and whenever they were produced. We will also pan those often considered classics by those with either limited exposure or undeveloped powers of artistic discrimination. Great films: The Best Years of Our Lives, Lawrence of Arabia, City of God, Memento, The Seven Samurai, Hero (Jet Li's), Babe, Finding Neverland, Parenthood, Hannah & Her Sisters Bad films: Cleopatra, Rocky, Saturday Night Fever, Oklahoma, South Pacific, Rambo, Footloose, Blazing Saddles, Top Gun, Beverly Hills Cop (could a crime film be any slower paced?) Stuck in the middle with you: Wizard of Oz, Gone With the Wind, Star Wars, West Side Story, The Sound of Music, Kramer vs Kramer, Titanic (good special effects, bad plot) NOTE: I just found this Time magazine "re-review" of Titanic: "Titanic? I caused a bit of a ruckus by reviewing the film a few weeks before it opened and declaring it, at least artistically, "dead in the water." (Matt Drudge later claimed that I was put up to my pan by Time Warner boss Gerald Levin. Not true! I disliked the movie all on my own.) After rewatching it this week, I feel a bit warmer about the Winslet-DiCaprio love story, especially since serioso heterosexual romance has just about disappeared from movie screens in the intervening decade. But I still find the shipboard storyline clunky and unpersuasive, and I still can't wait for the damned iceberg to show up. Sue me for not having a heart." Enjoy and feel free to leave comments!