Leave It to Adam Sandler to Ruin a Classic Comedy Routine
The statue routine has been making audiences laugh for hundreds of years. It is amazing to see this timeless comedy business fall with a resounding thud in Sandler's newest comedy, Grown Ups 2...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Forward March: A Brief Note on the Origins of the Military Comedy
Carl Alstrup, the star of The Actor as Soldier (1911).I did research to determine the earliest military farces on film. Two titles that I found were Twa Hieland Lads (1910) and The Actor as Soldier...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Special Delivery
Transporting a cumbersome object from shop to home can present problems. Early on, filmmakers recognized the comic possibilities of this sort of situation. Mack Sennett has trouble transporting a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Two Dead Dogs
People are strangely fascinated with dead dogs, which is probably the reason that a dead dog has turned up in many popular films. These furry corpses most often serve as a harbinger of death and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Strange and Twisted Love of Movie Spoilers
While browsing the Internet one day, I came across a heated debate about movie spoilers. Surprisingly, many of the debaters were strong supporters of spoilers and took the position that cinephiles...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Escaping a Bad Movie
I celebrated (or at least begrudgingly accepted) my milestone 55th birthday in July. As the years cruelly advance, I have come to realize that I am becoming less and less patient. This lack of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Beyond the Boohoo
I am not the biggest fan of sad movies. I have suffered enough heartache in my own life that I don't need to pay hard-earned coin to suffer heartache over the tragedies of movie characters. This is...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Stocks, Bonds and Pratfalls
The Wolf of Wall Street is a drug comedy. Forget the fact that the film involves stock fraud. Forget the fact that the film is based on a true story. Forget the fact that the film was directed by...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Flying Cars of Television
I have a new article at World Cinema Paradise called "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Other Flying Cars of Cinema." But, before you head out to read that article, I want to take this opportunity to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Funny Noises of Lou Costello
Not long ago, I talked to a young man about my love of Abbott and Costello. The young man had never seen an Abbott and Costello film and I offered to loan him a DVD of Hold That Ghost (1941). I must...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Sam and Diane: The Delayed Romance Strategy
Television critics often refer to the trendsetting romance of Sam and Diane from the 1980s sitcom Cheers. Sam and Diane (Ted Danson and Shelley Long) were sexually attracted to one another, but they...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Commedia dell'arte on Comedy Central
It has been a long time since the Commedia dell'arte routine “Lazzo of the Hands Behind the Back” was featured on a television series. It was almost forty-five years ago that Don Adams and Don Rickles...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Ja, Neil Simon!
The comedy of American playwright Neil Simon has translated well overseas. Numerous versions of The Sunshine Boys have been produced in Germany. The still that appears at the start of this article is...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Wanna Play Hide and Clap?
The "Wanna Play Hide and Clap?" scene from The Conjuring (2013) has elicited screams and gasps from millions of people. But this scene is nothing new to fans of classic comedy. The Conjuring (2013)An...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Hopeless Search for Laughs in 2014 Film Trailers
What do the trailers of Hollywood's upcoming slate of comedy films tell us about the state of American comedy? Unfortunately, today's filmmakers depend largely on raunchy comedy and shock comedy, both...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Harry Langdon in the Sound Era
A new YouTube channel, the host of which calls himself Johnny Flattire, is furnishing the general public with the sound films of Harry Langdon. The sound and picture quality is not the best, but it...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Clik here to view.
Buster Keaton Joins a Drill Squad
I found an interesting quote from Roscoe Arbuckle in a Moving Picture World article titled "How Fatty Arbuckle Makes 'Love'" (March 8, 1919). Arbuckle expressed his disappointment at Keaton leaving...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Merry Jerry
George Ovey starred as "Merry Jerry" in more than 100 Cub Comedies from 1915 to 1917. He stood with both of his feet pointed inwards just like a later Jerry. Here is a few production stills, ads...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Funny Tidbits for June
Allow me take care of some miscellaneous business today.Here is a Charley Chase performing the "trying on hats" routine in At First Sight (1924). This is Buster Keaton performing an early version of...
View Article