Comedy

  • Ted Fendt – Travel Plans (2013)

    2011-2020ComedyExperimentalTed FendtUSA

    A short 7-minute follow-up to Broken Specs by Ted Fendt — this one called Travel Plans. There are no travel plans, per se: the protagonist comes upon a Greyhound bus ticket (spoiler alert) on a sidewalk, which might have been shed by the psyche of a friend-of-a-friend who has previously discussed her own plans to keep on moving in her travel.

    When the three convene (in what appears to be the same kitchen as in Broken Specs?), a rapport is not formed, but a miniature-train station becomes the real place where none will bond, and, of course, this platform calls to mind, as a cinephile in-joke, in the same way that Moullet would do it, Gorin’s Routine Pleasures. Use what you have at hand.Read More »

  • Ted Fendt – Going Out (2015)

    2011-2020ComedyExperimentalTed FendtUSA

    Going Out. 2014. USA. Directed by Ted Fendt. 8 min.

    Liz thinks she’s going on a date with Rob to see RoboCop, but things take an unexpected (and inexplicable) turn.Read More »

  • Sidney Lanfield – Where There’s Life (1947)

    1941-1950AdventureComedySidney LanfieldUSA

    In a far off country, their king is critically wounded after an assassination attempt and the only heir is a timid New York radio personality, Bob Hope. After reluctantly traveling to his father’s homeland, Bob is not happy with becoming the target of the same terrorist organization that attacked the king.Read More »

  • Jean Renoir – French Cancan (1955)

    1951-1960ComedyFranceJean RenoirMusical

    Synopsis:
    Henri Danglard, proprietor of the fashionable (but bankrupt) cafe ‘Le Paravent Chinois’ featuring his mistress, belly dancer Lola, goes slumming in Montmarte (circa 1890) where the then-old-fashioned cancan is still danced. There, he conceives the idea of reviving the cancan as the feature of a new, more popular establishment…and meets Nini, a laundress and natural dancer, whom he hopes to star in his new show. But a tangled maze of jealousies intervenes…Read More »

  • Ludi Boeken – Britney, Baby, One More Time (2002)

    2001-2010ComedyCultLudi BoekenUSA

    “Prize-winning Milwaukee independent filmmaker Dude Schmitz (Mark Borchardt, American Movie) desperately need money! After a failed interview with the real Britney Spears, Dude hatches a scheme to cash in using Britney look-alike Angel Benton (Robert Stephens). Angel is lured with the promise of meeting his idol and poses as the real thing on a trek across the country for a series of road-trip style interviews.”Read More »

  • John Baxter – Dreaming (1944)

    1941-1950ComedyJohn BaxterMusicalUnited Kingdom

    The British music hall team of Flanagan and Allen tackle the dark jungle, the racetrack and the fog of war…

    Reviews
    Like most of their films together,the film merely serves as a device for Flanagan & Allen to deliver some of their well heeled stage routines and to provide a number of musical interludes.In this film Flanagan suffers a bump on the head,and whilst being operated on he has a number of totally unrelated dreams.Read More »

  • Charles Lamont – Bud Abbott Lou Costello Meet the Invisible Man AKA Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951)

    1951-1960Charles LamontComedySci-FiUSA

    Boxer Tommy Nelson is accused of killing his manager. While detectives Bud and Lou investigate they come across an invisibility formula with which Tommy injects himself rather than face the police. This sparks an idea for trapping gangster Morgan by having Lou fight champ Rocky Hanlon, with Tommy’s invisible help.Read More »

  • George Cukor – The Women (1939)

    1931-1940ClassicsComedyGeorge CukorUSA

    Synopsis:
    Wealthy Mary Haines is unaware her husband is having an affair with shopgirl Crystal Allen. Sylvia Fowler and Edith Potter discover this from a manicurist and arrange for Mary to hear the gossip. On the train taking her to a Reno divorce Mary meets the Countess and Miriam (in an affair with Fowler’s husband). While they are at Lucy’s dude ranch, Fowler arrives for her own divorce and the Countess meets fifth husband-to-be Buck. Back in New York, Mary’s ex is now unhappily married to Crystal who is already in an affair with Buck. When Sylvia lets this story slip at an exclusive nightclub, Crystal brags of her plans for a still wealthier marriage, only to find the Countess is the source of all Buck’s money. Crystal must return to the perfume counter and Mary runs back to her husband.Read More »

  • Orson Welles – Too Much Johnson (1938)

    1931-1940ComedyOrson WellesSilentUSA

    Synopsis:
    Posing as wealthy Cuban plantation owner Joseph Johnson, Augustus Billings is having an affair with married Clairette Dathis. Augustus is able to get away just before Clairette’s husband, Leon Dathis, comes home. But Leon finds out about the affair. With Augustus’ photograph in hand, Leon goes on a search for his wife’s lover. The ensuing chase leads to one sight gag close call after another. Eventually, the real Joseph Johnson in Cuba gets unwittingly into the act.Read More »

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