Friday, April 29, 2011

Where To Start

I was talking with Andy Wood, the organizer of the Bridgetown comedy festival, about some classic comedy icons and he asked where a good place to start would be for The Marx Brothers. Here are my quick suggestions for some absolute must see comedy films:

The Marx Brothers: Duck Soup  (Fantastic, and the climactic, musical courtroom scene at the end makes me laugh no matter how many times I see it. This is also the film with the classic mirror scene. My second choice for the brothers would be Horse Feathers.)


Charlie Chaplin: Modern Times (Hilarious but also poignant and politically very brave. Watching it with my 10 year old nephew and explaining the cultural context to him made me realize it's a socialist propaganda film in the best way. The Great Dictator is also very interesting, especially in the context of the times it was made but Modern Times is much funnier, imho.)

Buster Keaton: The Scarecrow and The General.
(The 1st is a short film the other his most famous feature. They make a great double feature. Go West is also very good.)

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