Comedies from the 1960s

Cooking with Butter (La Cuisine Au Beurre)
      1963 | France | Laughs: 2.0 (Light-Hearted) | imdb: 6.5
      who was involved?

A lazy Frenchman who stayed in Germany with a concubine after the war returns his town in the South of France where everyone thought him dead. He tells everyone that he was held captive in Siberia. His wife has remarried with a serious worker from northern France who has turned the man's former restaurant into a bustling business, and who invites him to stay awhile. This is a light-hearted movie that features the clash of cultures between the North and South of France, symbolized by the use of butter or olive oil in the respective regions' cuisines. It may have made people laugh in simpler times. Today there is little reason to watch it, except perhaps as a document. (Last viewed: August 2014)

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My Friend Sybil (Meine Freundin Sybille)
      1967 | East Germany | Laughs: 2.0 (Light-Hearted) | imdb: 6.5
      wikipedia | who was involved?

This enchanting movie follows a group of East German tourists on a cruise on the Black Sea. I don't think it made me laugh, but it had me smiling. It presents a picture of innocence, a world where people of various (Eastern European) nations treat one another like brothers, where material comfort and pleasure seem to be a given. With fewer cars and no electronic gadgets, this was a simpler world in which I would have enjoyed living.

What? That world was all a fantasy? Yes, but a colorful one. If you fancy a short trip in culture and time, I highly recommend this film. (Last viewed: August 2015)

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Mouth-Watering (L'eau à la Bouche)
      1960 | France | Laughs: 1.5 (Don't Bother) | imdb: 6.3
      wikipedia | who was involved?

A young woman visits a relative's castle to claim an inheritance, accompanied to her lover who claims to also be part of the family. A love imbroglio ensues. Despite the title and the Serge Gainsbourg unaging eponymous song, the film feels very dated. (Last viewed: January 2016)

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The Diamond Arm (Бриллиантовая рука / Brilliantovaya Ruka)
      1969 | Soviet Union | Laughs: 1.5 (Broken Comedies) | imdb: 8.5
      wikipedia | who was involved?

I was ready to laugh at this Russian comedy. Instead, I found it absolutely boring, if cute. (Last viewed: May 2011)

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Carbide and Sorrel (Karbid und Sauerampfer)
      1963 | East Germany | Laughs: 1.5 (Light-Hearted) | imdb: 7.1
      wikipedia | who was involved?

In a time of penury, a man's workmates send him on a long errand to pick up barrels of carbide they need for soldering. Along the way, he runs into thieves, Russian and American soldiers, and love. This is a cute movie that is entirely watchable today thanks to tight editing and a pleasant soundtrack. It probably won't make you laugh, but if you don't mind a bit of vintage black-and-white, it will probably put a smile on your face. (Last viewed: August 2015)

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Bedazzled
      1967 | U.K. | Laughs: 1.5 (Smirk) | imdb: 6.9
      wikipedia | who was involved?

A shy fast-food worker sells his soul to a very modern devil so he can woo the waitress he adores. The devil grants him seven wishes, but through some loophole or other those always come short of the poor man's expectations.

This was an enjoyable and fun movie, although not the kind that makes me laugh. Apparently much better than the remake, which I haven't seen. (Last viewed: December 2018)

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The Little Bather (Le Petit Baigneur)
      1968 | France | Laughs: 1.2 (Broken Comedies) | imdb: 6.7
      wikipedia | who was involved?

Shortly after firing one of his engineers and ripping up the contract for a boat the man had designed, a boat builder learns that he made a big mistake: the said boat just won a prize, and 200 pieces have been ordered. This is one of these sadistic movies where you spend more time worrying about a poor guy who is anxious to get what he wants than enjoying the weak scenes that try but fail to be comical. The movie is also heavy on two of de Funès's weakest stock characters—the angry man and the greedy man. Burn the reels. (Last viewed: September 2012)

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What's Up, Tiger Lily?
      1966 | USA | Laughs: 1.1 (Light-Hearted) | imdb: 5.9
      wikipedia | who was involved?

Woody Allen took a Japanese spy movie and changed the soundtrack, turning it into a comedy. It's goofy, easy on the eyes, and if you're in a tolerant mood it will make you smile. (Last viewed: October 2012)

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Kidnapping, Caucasian Style (Кавказская пленница)
      1967 | Soviet Union | Laughs: 1.0 (Don't Bother) | imdb: 8.4
      wikipedia | who was involved?

A young researcher collecting tales in the Caucasus falls in love with a local maiden then unwittingly becomes involved in her kidnapping on behalf of an unwanted suitor. The movie is sweet, but the comedy hasn't aged very well and the overall effect is a little boring. For a funnier movie with the same central character (the shy but pure-hearted student Shurik), see Operation Y. (Last viewed: August 2015)

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Polosatyy Reys (Полосатый рейс)
      1961 | Soviet Union | Laughs: 1.0 (Don't Bother) | imdb: 7.4
      who was involved?

Hired to accompany a shipment of tigers, a butcher must pretend he is a tamer of wild beasts. A monkey adds to the confusion on board the ship.

While this was the most impressive display of tigers on film I've ever seen, the movie didn't make me laugh. It is cute, but what we find funny today is just not the same as what people found funny in the Soviet Union in 1961. The world is more complex, and we expect more of the characters in movies.

On the other hand, an elderly friend who watched with me found the film hilarious, so if you still laugh at old films, this might be for you. (Last viewed: September 2016)

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It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World
      1963 | USA | Laughs: 1.0 (Just Awful) | imdb: 7.5
      wikipedia | dmoz | who was involved?

As a man who crashed his car is about to die, he tells the five people who came down the ravine to assist him that a treasure lies buried 200 miles away. A mad hunt ensues. For humor, this movie relies on a single device—to have people punched, trampled and beaten up in a hundred other ways. It's also from a time when yelling at the top of one's voice was considered good acting. With two hours and forty minutes of this loud rubbish, watching it is extremely hard work. The best thing about the movie is the story I am about to tell you. I once asked a German visitor to tell me the names of the funniest German movies he had seen. He replied that his mom would be the one to ask, and that in fact she had often told him that as a young woman she had seen a movie that was so funny that during the projection a man had died of a heart attack. Needless to say, I immediately pushed the house phone in his hand and asked him to ring his mom. She told him that the movie was called Eine total, total verrückte Welt. I was excited to discover this amazing German movie, but a few seconds on Google revealed that it was in fact an American movie, the one we are now discussing. This shows how much we have moved on since 1963. I am sure that my grandfather (may he rest in peace) would have laughed if he had seen this movie as a boy, in the 1920s. People were simpler then. The fact that this movie still has a high imdb rating shows me that many people on imdb rate movies based on how they remember them, rather than rating them right after watching them again. There is simply no way that anyone in the 21st century could give this film more than a five out of ten, and that would be insanely generous. I wasted my time for you. Do yourself a favor and watch something else. (Last viewed: October 2012)

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The Visit
      1964 | Italy | Laughs: 1.0 (Light-Hearted) | imdb: 7.4
      wikipedia | who was involved?

A man who responded to a personal ad travels to the countryside to meet the woman, with whom he has corresponded. The only thing they have in common is their loneliness. This is a good, light-hearted, often funny movie, but certainly not a comedy in the meaning embraced by this site. A worthwhile watch, but not in order to laugh. (Last viewed: July 2014)

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Leontine (Faut Pas Prendre les Enfants du Bon Dieu pour des Canards Sauvages)
      1968 | France | Laughs: 1.0 (Light-Hearted) | imdb: 6.1
      who was involved?

A young woman pulls her aunt out of her retirement from a life of crime to retrieve the loot that was stolen from her. This is a charming, entertaining and well-paced movie whose style of narration is entirely original. This comedy is to be watched as an art piece—it won't make you laugh, but it's worth a watch. (Last viewed: August 2014)

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The Plank
      1967 | U.K. | Laughs: 0.5 (Don't Bother) | imdb: 6.8
      wikipedia | who was involved?

I made myself watch this half-feature because it's supposed to be a classic, but it was clear from the first minute that it's way past its best-by date. The general thread follows two klutzes as they try to bring a plank back from the timber yard to the house they're working on, hitting everything and everyone along the way. This comedy's sub-genre fits somewhere between 'grotesque' and 'slapstick', two poor parents.

Between two yawns I was reminded of the time as a teenager when my host family in England sent me off for the day with a bag of chips and a sandwich which had a fifth of an inch of butter between the two slices of white bread. They used to lay it on thick. (Last viewed: May 2019)

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Death of a Bureaucrat (La Muerte De Un Burócrata)
      1966 | Cuba | Laughs: 0.5 (Light-Hearted) | imdb: 7.7
      wikipedia | who was involved?

At the initiative of his loving colleagues, a hard-working man is buried along with his worker's card. When his widow goes to claim her pension, she is asked to produce that card. The hurdles that ensue are predictably chaotic and a tad tiresome, but the film has quirky and attaching sides. To you Animal Farm lovers, please don't tell me that this is a searing critique of bureaucracy in a communist country. The same kind of film could be made about interactions with the Department of Motor Vehicles or the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Although the film didn't make me laugh, I found it to be a worthwhile watch for its charm and the window it offers into a different time and place. (Last viewed: June 2017)

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