Students are to watch the following clips, and make notes on their genre study handout. Students should use their comedy handout to facilitate the analysis. Topics upon which students may reflect include a deconstruction of "the funny", the style of acting (consider physicality and eyes, in particular), the writing, the use of the camera, etc...
First, the silents:
1. The first comedy film (also, likely, the first fictional film): Watering the Gardener (1895) by the Lumière brothers
2.
Excerpts from Charlie Chaplin:
The
Table Ballet - The Gold Rush (1925) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XefGvxVKrZk
The
Lion's Cage - The Circus (1928) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79i84xYelZI&feature=related
3. Excerpts from Buster Keaton:
One
Week (1920) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9onHRnIguko&feature=related
Elevator
Chase (1921) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XS5ST2bqiRI
4. Excerpt from Harold Lloyd:
Safety
Last (1923) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEcTjhUN_7U&feature=related
And
then comes the sound:
6. Excerpt from W.C. Fields:
6. Excerpt from W.C. Fields:
It's
a Gift (1934) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y189-69cQPs&feature=related
7.
Excerpt from The Marx Brothers:
Horse
Feathers (1932) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0Gwe5gKgjo
A
Night at the Opera (1935) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5lU52aWTJo
This takes us to the 1930s... Then the war came and things changed a little. Screwball comedies (kind of like slapstick-y irreverent rom-coms) became popular for a while as did social satire.
The
1940s saw Bob Hope make a lot of movies... but you don't need to see them.
The 1940s also saw Abbott and Costello transition to film.
The 1940s also saw Abbott and Costello transition to film.
Excerpt
from The Naughty Nineties (1945) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTcRRaXV-fg
Then
Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin were everybody's favorite... but you don't need to
see them... unless you're French.
Post-war
and the 1950s saw the rise of television which hurt movie revenues for a while,
as people stayed home for their entertainment. A lot of comedy at that
time was found on TV, rather than in films, and was based in situations (i.e.
the rise of the situational comedy - the sitcom).
One of the more famous film comedies from the fifties:
One of the more famous film comedies from the fifties:
Some
Like it Hot (1959) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdrw8Ve4cpg&feature=fvwrel
The
60s and 70s had comedies built around stars like:
Peter Sellers - These are excerpts from his later works (although he was doing the same shtick since 1963):
Peter Sellers - These are excerpts from his later works (although he was doing the same shtick since 1963):
from
Trail of the Pink Panther (1982 - but built from footage taken from the earlier
films) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzbgpGuX6-s
from
The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976)- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXn2QVipK2o&feature=related
Mel Brooks - Excerpt from Blazing Saddles (1974)
The
60s and 70s also had comedies built around ensembles:
Monty Python - Excerpt from Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
Monty Python - Excerpt from Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
The
National Lampoon Films - Excerpts from Animal House (1978):
And
some modern TV comedy (Portlandia)
and
more (Key & Peele)
A
list of the best comedy films of all time
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