Comedies
84 Episodes
Laugh a little! Screwball, satire, gags, pratfalls, and pranks—we’ve got it all.
-
1:41:56Episode 2
Plucking the Daisy
Episode 2
Directed by Marc Allégret • 1956 • France
When ultra-respectable General Dumont discovers that his nubile daughter Agnes is "A.D.", author of a scandalous under-the-counter novel, he wants her shipped to a convent; but she escapes to Paris, planning to live with her brother, ostensibly a rich ar...
-
La poison
Episode 3
Directed by Sacha Guitry • 1951 • France
Starring Michel Simon, Germaine Reuver, Jean DebucourtThe writer, actor, and director Sacha Guitry emerged from the theater to become one of France’s best-known and most inventive filmmakers, and LA POISON marked his first major collaboration with anothe...
-
Yoyo
Episode 4
Directed by Pierre Etaix • 1965 • France
This elaborately conceived and brilliantly mounted comedy is Pierre Etaix’s most beloved movie, as well as his personal favorite. Beginning as a clever homage to silent film, complete with intertitles, YOYO blossoms into a poignant family saga (in which E...
-
10:41Episode 5
Take a Chance
Episode 5
Directed by Alfred J. Goulding • 1918 • United States
In this one-reel film from 1918, Harold Lloyd stars as a man looking to spend his last 25 cents.
-
1:36:46Episode 6
A Private Function
Episode 6
Directed by Malcolm Mowbray • 1984 • United Kingdom
Starring Maggie Smith, Michael Palin, Bill PatersonHarkening back to the classic Ealing comedies, this shrewd social satire (scripted by Alan Bennett) features marvelous performances from Maggie Smith and Michael Palin as Joyce and Gilbert Chi...
-
25:30Episode 7
Number, Please?
Episode 7
Directed by Hal Roach and Fred Newmeyer • 1920 • United States
A young, heartbroken man goes to the amusement park, only to see the girl he lost with a new man.
-
27:49Episode 8
An Eastern Westerner
Episode 8
Directed by Hal Roach • 1920 • United States
In this two-reeler from 1920, a fast and furious parody of western films, Harold Lloyd stars as an East Coast boy shipped off to a ranch; Mildred Davis, who would later become Lloyd’s wife, costars. It is presented here with a new score composed and c...
-
1:41:36Episode 9
The Rocket from Calabuch
Episode 9
Directed by Luis García Berlanga • 1956 • Spain
Starring Edmund Gwenn, Valentina Cortese, Juan CalvoIn one of Luis García Berlanga’s gentlest comedies, an aging American scientist (Oscar winner Edmund Gwenn) goes incognito, trading in his career as a prominent atomic-bomb expert for a tranquil ...
-
1:33:41Episode 10
Rita, Sue and Bob Too
Episode 10
Directed by Alan Clarke • 1987 • United Kingdom
Starring Michelle Holmes, Siobhan Finneran, George CostiganAndrea Dunbar adapted her own slice-of-life stage play for this rare foray into comedy from social-realist director Alan Clarke. Life in their drab Yorkshire city holds no surprises for wo...
-
1:36:31Episode 11
Movie Crazy
Episode 11
Directed by Clyde Bruckman • 1932 • United States
Starring Harold Lloyd, Constance Cummings, Kenneth ThomsonClumsy Harold Hall (Harold Lloyd) is a young movie fan with a burning desire to be in pictures—but no real acting experience or ability. A mix-up in the casting office, however, brings hi...
-
29:55Episode 12
Never Weaken
Episode 12
Directed by Fred Newmeyer • 1921 • United States
Harold Lloyd plays a young man who is in love with a young woman, but he mistakenly believes she loves another. Despondent, he decides to commit suicide, but each attempt is unsuccessful.