The Movie Forums Top 100 Comedies Countdown

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I didn't wind up with any Ernst Lubitsch flicks on my ballot, though I considered a couple. To Be or Not To Be is not my favorite of his filmography but it is a damn goodun'. Very happy to see it on the list. Heil myself.

I am even happier to see Billy Wilder's One Two Three, which I think is the funniest of all of his comedies (if lesser known) and the first of my choices to make the countdown. I had it at fifteen, good for eleven of its sixty-nine points. I have been pimping this movie around MoFo like a buxom secretary to Commie bureaucrats since I joined the site twenty years ago. And apparently it paid off! Wilder updating the fast-talking Screwball farce with Cold War patriots and soda pushers is a winner of an idea executed perfectly, especially by the legendary Jimmy Cagney, lured out of retirement and bringing C.R. MacNamara roaring to life! Aram Khachaturian's "Sabre Dance" is the prefect metronome for the frantic mayhem, satire, and laughter. And remember, Kids, when you're eighteen you can make up your own minds whether you want to be a capitalist or a rich communist.

Holden’s Ballot
15. One Two Three (#85)


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Homework for me, but the best kind.

Looks like One Two Three is tough to find which is a bummer. To Be Or Not To Be tonight for me.
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Wow, don't think I had ever heard of those two.
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I forgot the opening line.
Although I'm familiar with To Be or Not To Be I've seen neither of these two films. It's been quite an opening streak for films not on my ballot, but these countdowns often start with "never heard of"s and "seen it but not on my ballot"s for me.
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Victim of The Night
Wow, did not see either of those coming. Adding them to my watchlist (TBoNTB has been kinda on it for a while but a lower priority).



A system of cells interlinked
Seen 9/16

None from my list so far!

Loved Stripes when I was a young fella, and watched it often. It still cracks me up when I see it these days, but it wasn't really in the running for my ballot.

Some of these earlier era comedies are clearly a big blind spot for me...
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Bright light. Bright light. Uh oh.
To Be or Not To Be has the funniest appearance of Adolf Hitler in a movie, probably Jack Benny's best film performance, Carole Lombard's final performance and several other comedy highlights to recommend it. The witty dialogue is non-stop even though it's one of the stronger anti-Nazi films around. Mel Brooks later remade it. Lubitsch is another great early director whose visual wit makes him highly relevant to all film watchers. My fave of his is the more-obscure Heaven Can Wait with Don Ameche, Gene Tierney and the wonderful Charles Coburn.

My #13, One, Two Three, is a machine-gun-paced Cold War comedy which covers just about everything one could think of, not just what was happening in the divided city of Berlin at the time. James Cagney is a marvel as a Coca-Cola executive who has to "babysit" his boss's teenage daughter (Pamela Tiffin) and gets several headaches when she marries a young "Bolshevik" (Horst Buchholz) from East Berlin. The young woman's family is also on the way to Berlin to pick up their daughter, so Cagney has little time to straighten things out. There is also the usual high quota of sex and movie jokes from scripters I.A.L. Diamond and Billy Wilder and a smart musical score which incorporates Khatchaturian's "Sabre Dance". It's almost impossible to describe how fast the dialogue flies by as everyone speaks as quickly as possible and the plot twists come at such a frantic pace. Don't expect to go to the kitchen or the bathroom with the movie playing because you'll miss about 20 visual or verbal jokes a minute. Of course, the better-versed you are in the world history and popular culture of 1961, the more fun you'll have watching this terrific comedy, but it's also a great way to learn some of those things in between all the laughs.

Also interesting that these two directors showed up the same day as they're proponents of earlyish sex comedies.

My List

13. One, Two, Three
25. Ruthless People
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To Be or Not To Be is the first film on my ballot to make this list. Very high, in fact, as I put it at #4. It's a great satire of the Nazis which finds a clever way to make them look like buffoons throughout the film and I always appreciate it when films do this. The way it builds to the first scene with Col. Ehrhardt is brilliant and works as well as it does due to the buildup with both the rehearsal of Gestapo in the opening and Tura's impression of Ehrhardt. In addition to that, several other scenes still remain funny to this day. I usually don't laugh much at older comedies, but that film is an exception to that. Really, its blend of slapstick and darkness resonated with me really well.

Haven't seen One, Two, Three.
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I have seen "To Be Or Not To Be", but only the Mel Brooks version. In which I enjoyed but have heard the original is far superior. It has been on my watch list forever. Time to remedy this.

I have never even heard of " One, Two, Three".



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• #85. One, Two, Three is my #7. I discovered this film about six years ago and I was so deeply impressed and happy of this hidden gem that I saw it three times in two weeks time.
Superb screenplay and great cast led by James Cagney. Extremely funny, full of witty jokes masterly presented by Cagney.



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• #86. To Be or Not To Be - haven't seen

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my stats

Top 100 seen 4/16.
(seen one pointers 4/42 • )
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My list:
1.
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5. The Kid (1921) [#88.]
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7. One, Two, Three (1961) [#85.]
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25.


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Now we're starting to get to the cluster of movies I haven't seen.
Listening to film podcasts, I know the name Lubitsch and know he's a blindspot for me. I think Heaven can Wait and To Be or Not To Be are the ones that I'd hear get mentioned (less sure on the latter because my memory might be confusing it with Hawks' To Have and Have Not, which I also haven't seen - I had to check Heaven Can Wait (also Hawks) on the list of movies who's titles I hear a decent amount but aren't in my viewing past). (An even bigger blindspot for me from the era is Douglas Sirk, but he's not relevant for this countdown).

I feel like I've seen an okay amount of Billy Wilder for someone who hasn't done a deep dive into Wilder's filmography, (it looks like I've seen six of his films, I think only three were relevant for this countdown). I don't think I've heard of this Wilder. Movies with Cagney are also a blindspot for me, so I'll try to keep an eye out for this one in case it becomes readily available.

Seen: 12/16



Surprised to see that To Be Or Not To Be seems to come out of left field for so many, (without judgment of course) where in my personal bubble the movie is as big and essential as let's say a The Big Sleep or an Arsenic and Old Lace.


Also a clear influence on a certain Tarantino movie.



"It's the picture everyone will want to see!" and then it flopped...




Of course its flopping wasn't really the movie's fault. At the start of America's involvement in WWII, audiences weren't waiting for a black comedy about Hitler invading Poland, let alone one starring America's sweetheart Carole Lombard, who died way too soon a few months before this release in a gruesome plane crash.



Surprised to see that To Be Or Not To Be seems to come out of left field for so many.

Same. I just figured that one would be an inevitability. It's just about as classic as comedy classic gets. And it's one of the best.


I'm aware of One, Two, Three, but I think it's one of the only Wilder's I haven't seen. I'm sure it's worthy, as I've never seen anything by Wilder that isn't special in some way.