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Comedy
Classic Comedy Films from 1930 - 1999


It Happened One Night (1934)
Directed by Frank Capra and starring Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert, It Happened One Night is a landmark romantic comedy that set the blueprint for the genre.

Soames Inscker
4 min read


Annie Hall (1977)
Woody Allen’s 1977 masterpiece Annie Hall is a landmark in the history of romantic comedies, marking a definitive shift in the genre’s tone and narrative style. Winner of four Academy Awards — including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Actress for Diane Keaton — the film represents Allen at his most innovative and introspective. Both a love story and a post mortem of a relationship, Annie Hall broke cinematic conventions while exploring the neur

Soames Inscker
4 min read


A Night at the Opera (1935)
A Night at the Opera is one of the Marx Brothers' most iconic and celebrated films, released in 1935 during Hollywood’s Golden Age. Directed by Sam Wood and produced by Irving Thalberg at MGM, the film marked a significant transition in the Marx Brothers' cinematic careers—from the anarchic free-for-alls of their earlier Paramount pictures to more structured narratives aimed at a broader audience.

Soames Inscker
4 min read


The Cannonball Run (1981)
The Cannonball Run is a film that thrives on energy, absurdity, and pure unadulterated fun. Directed by former stuntman Hal Needham, the movie is an ensemble comedy inspired by the real-life Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash—an illegal cross-country car race conceived by automotive writer Brock Yates.

Soames Inscker
4 min read


"Hello, Dolly!" (1969)
“Hello, Dolly!” (1969) is a lavish, sprawling adaptation of the 1964 Broadway musical of the same name, which was itself based on Thornton Wilder’s play The Matchmaker. Directed by musical legend Gene Kelly and starring the inimitable Barbra Streisand in only her second film role, the movie exemplifies the final flourish of Hollywood’s golden era of big-budget musicals.

Soames Inscker
4 min read


The Odd Couple (1968)
The Odd Couple (1968) is one of those rare comedies that not only delivers enduring laughs but also taps into the human condition with surprising poignancy. Based on Neil Simon's smash Broadway play and brought to life on screen by the dynamic pairing of Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, the film remains a gold standard for character-driven humour.

Soames Inscker
4 min read


Murder By Death (1976)
Murder by Death is a genre-savvy spoof that brings together caricatures of the world’s most famous fictional detectives — thinly veiled versions of Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, Sam Spade, and Charlie Chan, among others — and places them in a haunted mansion for a mysterious dinner party. The film was penned by the legendary playwright and screenwriter Neil Simon, known for his sharp wit and theatrical flair.

Soames Inscker
4 min read


The Return of the Pink Panther (1975)
After a decade away from the role, The Return of the Pink Panther marked the triumphant comeback of Peter Sellers as the bumbling, absurdly self-confident Inspector Jacques Clouseau. It was also a revival for the franchise itself, which had faltered slightly after the 1964 hit A Shot in the Dark and the Sellers-less 1968 film Inspector Clouseau.

Soames Inscker
4 min read


The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a transgressive, irreverent, and gloriously bizarre musical comedy-horror film that quickly outgrew its modest box office beginnings to become the ultimate cult classic. Based on the 1973 British stage musical by Richard O’Brien, the film is a madcap tribute to B-movies, sci-fi serials, glam rock, and sexual liberation.

Soames Inscker
4 min read


Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail is a comedic tour de force that turns the medieval legend of King Arthur into a gleefully absurd farce. Directed by two of the Monty Python troupe’s key members — Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones — and performed by the entire group in multiple roles, the film is a subversive, self-aware parody of chivalric myths, storytelling conventions, and historical epics.

Soames Inscker
4 min read


Young Frankenstein (1974)
Young Frankenstein is both a razor-sharp parody and a loving tribute to the classic Universal monster movies of the 1930s — particularly James Whale’s Frankenstein (1931) and Bride of Frankenstein (1935). Co-written by Gene Wilder and directed by Mel Brooks, the film is a rare feat: a comedy that manages to be wildly funny, visually sophisticated, and emotionally endearing all at once.

Soames Inscker
4 min read


Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask) (1972)
Woody Allen’s Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask)* is a sketch comedy anthology, loosely inspired by the bestselling 1969 sex manual by Dr. David Reuben. Rather than a straightforward adaptation or educational satire, Allen uses the book’s provocative questions as jumping-off points for seven wildly different comedy vignettes, each lampooning a particular sexual taboo, myth, or neurosis.

Soames Inscker
5 min read


Bananas (1971)
Bananas is one of the early films that established Woody Allen’s voice as a filmmaker—neurotic, erudite, chaotic, and absurdist. Before Allen's transition to more introspective, narrative-driven comedies like Annie Hall or Manhattan, Bananas represents his Marx Brothers-inspired period, where anarchic comedy and slapstick reigned supreme.

Soames Inscker
4 min read


Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971)
Often viewed as a spiritual cousin (and sometimes understudy) to Mary Poppins, Bedknobs and Broomsticks is a 1971 musical fantasy that combines whimsy, wartime grit, and good old-fashioned Disney spectacle. With a stellar performance from Angela Lansbury and the visual innovation of combining live action with animation, the film is a nostalgic oddity that hasn’t always received the attention it deserves.

Soames Inscker
5 min read


Fiddler on the Roof (1971)
Fiddler on the Roof (1971) is a sweeping, emotionally resonant film adaptation of the 1964 Broadway musical, itself based on the stories of Sholem Aleichem. Set in a Jewish shtetl in Tsarist Russia at the turn of the 20th century, the film tells the story of Tevye, a humble milkman, as he struggles to hold onto tradition in the face of a changing world.

Soames Inscker
4 min read


Raising Arizona (1987)
Raising Arizona, directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, is a madcap, irreverent, and deeply original crime-comedy that helped define the Coen Brothers’ reputation for blending quirky humour, visual inventiveness, and offbeat Americana.

Soames Inscker
5 min read


Alfie (1966)
When Alfie premiered in 1966, it sent a cultural shockwave through British cinema. Directed by Lewis Gilbert and based on the stage play by Bill Naughton, it was at once funny, brash, deeply moving, and unflinchingly honest. Powered by a career-defining performance from Michael Caine, Alfie captured the swinging spirit of 1960s London while simultaneously exposing the emotional emptiness and moral cost of its hedonism.

Soames Inscker
5 min read


Our Man in Havana (1959)
Directed by the legendary Carol Reed and based on the novel by Graham Greene, Our Man in Havana (1959) is a sly, stylish espionage comedy that mixes light-hearted farce with deeper undercurrents of cynicism and existential unease.

Soames Inscker
4 min read


Manhattan (1979)
Written and directed by Woody Allen, this 1979 classic is often hailed as one of his finest works, with its stunning cinematography, insightful screenplay, and exploration of human relationships.

Soames Inscker
6 min read


Being There (1979)
Being There is an enigmatic, poignant, and darkly comic exploration of identity, media manipulation, and the human search for meaning.

Soames Inscker
7 min read
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