Comedies
73 Episodes
Laugh a little! Screwball, satire, gags, pratfalls, and pranks—we’ve got it all.
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1:44:57Episode 1
American Movie
Episode 1
Directed by Chris Smith • 1999 • United States
It takes a village to make a movie, but when that village is Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, the results are bizarre, comical, and quintessentially American. With the help of his mother, his eighty-two-year-old uncle, and a local cast of oddballs, DIY f...
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Tampopo
Episode 2
Directed by Juzo Itami • 1985 • Japan
The tale of an eccentric band of culinary ronin who guide the widow of a noodle-shop owner on her quest for the perfect recipe, this rapturous "ramen western" by Japanese director Juzo Itami is an entertaining, genre-bending adventure underpinned by a deft...
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1:27:07Episode 3
The Daytrippers
Episode 3
Directed by Greg Mottola • 1996 • United States
Starring Parker Posey, Hope Davis, Liev SchreiberWith its droll humor and bittersweet emotional heft, the feature debut of writer-director Greg Mottola announced the arrival of an unassumingly sharp-witted new talent on the 1990s indie film scene....
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Amarcord
Episode 4
Directed by Federico Fellini • 1973 • France, Italy
This carnivalesque portrait of provincial Italy during the fascist period, the most personal film from Federico Fellini, satirizes the director's youth and turns daily life into a circus of social rituals, adolescent desires, male fantasies, an...
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1:27:38Episode 5
A Hard Day’s Night
Episode 5
Directed by Richard Lester • 1964 • United Kingdom
Meet the Beatles! Just one month after they exploded onto the U.S. scene with their Ed Sullivan Show appearance, John, Paul, George, and Ringo began working on a project that would bring their revolutionary talent to the big screen. A HARD DAY’S...
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1:34:38Episode 6
Good Morning
Episode 6
Directed by Yasujiro Ozu • 1959 • Japan
Starring Masahiko Shimazu, Koji Shidara, Kuniko MiyakeA lighthearted take on director Yasujiro Ozu’s perennial theme of the challenges of intergenerational relationships, GOOD MORNING tells the story of two young boys who stop speaking in protest after t...
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1:41:56Episode 7
Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!
Episode 7
Directed by Pedro Almodóvar • 1990 • Spain
Starring Antonio Banderas, Victoria AbrilPedro Almodóvar’s colorful and controversial tribute to the pleasures and perils of Stockholm syndrome, TIE ME UP! TIE ME DOWN! is a rambunctious dark comedy starring Antonio Banderas as an unbalanced but alluri...
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Mon oncle
Episode 8
Directed by Jacques Tati • 1958 • France, Italy
Starring Jacques Tati, Jean-Pierre Zola, Adrienne ServantieSlapstick prevails again when Jacques Tati’s eccentric, old-fashioned hero, Monsieur Hulot, is set loose in Villa Arpel, the geometric, oppressively ultramodern home of his brother-in-law,...
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1:47:45Episode 9
Withnail and I
Episode 9
Directed by Bruce Robinson • 1986 • United Kingdom
Starring Paul McGann, Richard E. Grant, Richard GriffithsLondon. The 1960s. Two unemployed actors—acerbic, elegantly wasted Withnail (Richard E. Grant) and the anxiety-ridden “I” (Paul McGann)—drown their frustrations in booze, pills, and light...
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1:27:16Episode 10
Modern Times
Episode 10
Directed by Charles Chaplin • 1936 • United States
Starring Charles Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Henry BergmanMODERN TIMES, Charlie Chaplin’s last outing as the Little Tramp, puts the iconic character to work as a giddily inept factory employee who becomes smitten with a gorgeous gamine (Paulette...
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Hopscotch
Episode 11
Directed by Ronald Neame • 1980 • United States
Starring Walter Matthau, Glenda Jackson, Sam WaterstonThe inimitable comic team of Walter Matthau and Glenda Jackson star in this nimble tale of international intrigue from master British filmmaker Ronald Neame. Based on Brian Garfield’s best-sell...
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2:33:42Episode 12
The Ruling Class
Episode 12
Directed by Peter Medak • 1972 • United Kingdom
Starring Peter O'Toole, Alastair Sim, Arthur LowePeter O’Toole gives a tour-de-force performance as Jack, a man “cured” of believing he’s God—only to become Jack the Ripper incarnate. Based on Peter Barnes's irreverent play, this darkly comic indi...
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1:28:55Episode 13
Monsieur Hulot's Holiday
Episode 13
Directed by Jacques Tati • 1953 • France
Starring Jacques Tati, Nathalie PascaudMonsieur Hulot, Jacques Tati’s endearing clown, takes a holiday at a seaside resort, where his presence provokes one catastrophe after another. Tati’s masterpiece of gentle slapstick is a series of effortlessly well...
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1:32:49Episode 14
Zazie dans le métro
Episode 14
Directed by Louis Malle • 1960 • France
Starring Catherine Demongeot, Philippe NoiretA brash and precocious ten-year-old (Catherine Demongeot) comes to Paris for a whirlwind weekend with her rakish uncle (Philippe Noiret); he and the viewer get more than they bargained for, however, in this ana...
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1:44:52Episode 15
Divorce Italian Style
Episode 15
Directed by Pietro Germi • 1961 • Italy
Starring Marcello Mastroianni, Stefania Sandrelli, Daniela RoccaBaron Ferdinando Cefalù (Marcello Mastroianni) longs to marry his nubile young cousin Angela (Stefania Sandrelli), but one obstacle stands in his way: his fatuous and fawning wife, Rosalia (D...
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2:07:45Episode 16
A Taxing Woman
Episode 16
Directed by Juzo Itami • 1987 • Japan
Starring Nobuko Miyamoto, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Masahiko TsugawaCertainly the most exuberantly entertaining film ever made about the intricacies of the Japanese tax system, this delightful comedy stars Nobuko Miyamoto as a fiercely dedicated tax collector who g...
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1:31:58Episode 17
The Executioner
Episode 17
Directed by Luis García Berlanga • 1963 • Italy, Spain
Starring Nino Manfredi, Emma Penella, José IsbertThis masterpiece of black humor, beloved in Spain but too little seen elsewhere, threads a scathing critique of Franco-era values through a macabre farce about an undertaker who marries an ex...
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Limelight
Episode 18
Directed by Charles Chaplin • 1952 • United States
Starring Charles Chaplin, Claire BloomCharlie Chaplin’s masterful drama about the twilight of a former vaudeville star is among the writer-director’s most touching films. Chaplin plays Calvero, a once beloved musical-comedy performer, now a was...
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1:37:15Episode 19
My Lucky Stars
Episode 19
Directed by Sammo Hung • 1985 • Hong Kong
Starring Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Yuen BiaoLongtime friends Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, and Yuen Biao—who had worked together since childhood as part of a Beijing opera troupe—join forces for this rollicking blend of action thrills and lunatic humor, which...
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1:46:45Episode 20
Big Deal on Madonna Street
Episode 20
Directed by Mario Monicelli • 1958 • Italy
Starring Vittorio Gassman, Renato Salvatori, Memmo CarotenutoAn all-star cast and jazzy score highlight this charming comedy, a deft satire of classic caper films like RIFIFI. BIG DEAL ON MADONNA STREET hilariously details the plight of a sad-sack grou...
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2:07:08Episode 21
Supermarket Woman
Episode 21
Directed by Juzo Itami • 1996 • Japan
Starring Masahiko Tsugawa, Nobuko Miyamoto, Ryunosuke KanedaIn this vibrant comedy, failing supermarket manager Goro (Masahiko Tsugawa) hires Hanako (Nobuko Miyamoto), an old classmate, to help him compete with the new rival grocery store in town. Soon, Han...
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2:04:21Episode 22
Monsieur Verdoux
Episode 22
Directed by Charles Chaplin • 1947 • United States
Starring Charles Chaplin, Mady CorrellCharlie Chaplin plays shockingly against type in his most controversial film, a brilliant and bleak black comedy about money, marriage, and murder. Chaplin is a twentieth-century bluebeard, an enigmatic fam...
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1:35:50Episode 23
The Importance of Being Earnest
Episode 23
Directed by Anthony Asquith • 1952 • United Kingdom
Starring Michael Redgrave, Joan Greenwood, Dame Edith EvansOscar Wilde’s comic jewel sparkles in Anthony Asquith’s film adaptation of THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST. Featuring brilliantly polished performances by Michael Redgrave, Joan Greenw...
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Speedy
Episode 24
Directed by Ted Wilde • 1928 • United States
Starring Harold Lloyd, Ann Christy, Bert WoodruffSPEEDY was the last silent feature to star Harold Lloyd—and one of his very best. The slapstick legend reprises his “Glasses Character,” this time as a good-natured but scatterbrained New Yorker who ca...