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Film Recommendation: The Student and Mr. Henri (2015)
The 2015 French comedy-drama L'étudiante et Monsieur Henri (translation: The Student and Mr. Henri) centers on a college student, Constance (Noémie Schmidt), who is having trouble figuring out what...
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Film Recommendation: Two Worlds (2007)
Les deux mondes (English: Two Worlds), a 2007 French film, has a plot that mixes elements of comedy, fantasy, romance and drama. Rémy Bassano (Benoit Poelvoorde), a man under the stress of a pending...
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The Durable Humor of The Bear
Super Troopers 2 (2018)Bears have been a source of comedy from the early days of film comedy. The 1909 film Masquerade Costume (1909) involves a man who dresses in a bear costume for a masquerade...
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The Foolish Protagonist of "The Third Man" (1949)
It has never ceased to amaze me how radically my perception of a film can change over time. But it really shouldn't amaze me. We have many experiences in our lifetime. If we honestly and rigorously...
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Tidbits for November, 2018
The Dawn Patrol (1938), an excellent precursor to MASH, happened to be filmed at the same film ranch as MASH. Errol Flynn and David Niven are the film's Hawkeye and Trapper John, countering the...
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Spotlight on Benoît Poelvoorde
In the last few months, I have come to appreciate the versatile talents of Belgian actor Benoît Poelvoorde. For more than a quarter of a century, Poelvoorde has turned in strong performances in a...
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"C’était vraiment drôle" is French for "It was Really Funny"
Max Linder visits a ski resort in Love Unconquerable (1912). I was happy to find a few early French comedy films on YouTube recently. Ernesto Vaser wreaks havoc with his new wide-brimmed hat in the...
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The Films of Pierre Richard
In my latest book, I compare and contrast Richard Pryor's performance in The Toy (1982) with Pierre Richard's performance in La Juet (1976), the French comedy that inspired The Toy. Taking a close...
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Louis de Funès Double Feature: Pouic-Pouic (1963) and The Big Restaurant (1966)
I enjoyed a Louis de Funès double feature recently. The first film was Pouic-Pouic (1963). The plot was perfectly suited to Funès. Léonard Monestier (Funès) gets the idea to unload his ditsy wife's...
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The Glue Anointment
Vidarbha Agarwal has made a number of posts on Facebook looking for a specific film comedy routine. Here is one post:I've been trying to track down the Chaplin film where naughty boys sever a man's...
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The Unheroic French Resistance in Jean-Pierre Melville's "Army of Shadows"
Army of Shadows (1969) is a stylish film by Jean-Pierre Melville about a group of French Resistance fighters. As always, Melville proves to be a meticulous and self-assured director. As always, he...
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Odd Couples, Odd Conflicts
Vittorio Gassman and Jean-Louis Trintignant in Il Sorpasso (1962).Filmmakers tend to put together characters who are opposites because opposites create contrast and conflict. A story is more...
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A Criminally Bad Comedy: Tough Guy Richard Widmark Pushes a Film Down a...
It took me a long time to catch on to the charms of Doris Day. As a child, I found Day to be a befuddling figure. It made no sense to me that a woman in her forties was being marketed with a squeaky...
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Charles Ray: A Role Model of Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd
Charles Ray was a popular leading man at Paramount Pictures from 1915 to 1920. He usually portrayed a country bumpkin whose courage and perseverance brought about his success in endeavors as varied as...
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Early Baseball Films
The Pinch Hitter (1915) was discussed at length in the last article. The film was significant in the development of the sports film. Baseball-themed films made around the time of The Pinch Hitter...
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A Silent Film Rule: Pies Go Splat But Damsels Never Do
There is a Santa Claus. I feel the need to reassure you of this fact before I undertake today's terrible task, which could potentially ruin two long-cherished myths of film fans.First, Sandi Toksvig...
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Is There No Comedy in Likeable?
Phillip Rosenthal, the creator of Everybody Loves Raymond, said, "There's no comedy in likeable." He made the point that Basil Fawlty and Louie DePalma weren't likable. He said that the characters in...
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Tidbits for March, 2019
Oliver Hardy in The Fighting Kentuckian (1949).Max Linder engages in a few stock routines in King of the Circus (1924). He gets stuck in a revolving door. . .he becomes infested with fleas. . . and...
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More Early French Comedy Films
The 1909 comedy Le monsieur qui a mangé du taureau (English: The Gentleman Who Ate Bull Meat) involves a man who is compelled after dining on a bull steak to behave like a wild bull. He attacks...
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For Your Viewing Pleasure: Tutti a casa (English title: Everybody Go Home)...
Alberto Sordi hides from German soldiers.A young person would do well to take a break from The Walking Dead and instead watch Tutti a casa. The film, directed by neorealism master Luigi Comencini,...
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