Art of Film with Ian Nathan on Sky Arts: Episode 5 Comedy, Parody, Satire and Laughs

 

In his introduction, Ian Nathan talked about there being so many different categories of comedy in film. He talks to Steve Punt (a writer/comedian), Stephen Wooley, Paul Webster, a producer and Stephen Armstrong. We start with slapstick and the 1923 silent film Safety Last, and then The General from 1926. Stephen Wooley thought it was a classic. These  demonstrated how Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton took advantage of the new medium that was perfect for their brand of humour. 

With the arrival of sound, His Girl Friday from 1940 was one of many screwball comedies that used witty fast talking dialogue in character driven movies. Howard Hawks directed Cary Grant, but Paul Webster said it was all about the writing, adapted from the 1928 play. In 1941 came Sullivan's Travels directed by Preston Sturges that Stephen Armstrong called "a remarkable film". 

On to satire, and the 1933 Marx Brothers film Duck Soup was one of the films that confronts authority with political satire. Meet John Doe from 1941 was set in a newspaper office and I'm All Right Jack set unions against the management. Peter Sellers was perfect as the shop steward. The Producers from 1967 starred Mel Brooks in a classic. 

I wondered why we then jumped back to 1917's Easy Street. It's because we arrive at laughs. The section on romantic comedies starts with It Happened One Night from 1934 and directed by Frank Capra which Stephen Armstrong said that it set up all the rules for future rom coms. The odd couple formulae was shown in the Laurel and Hardy film The Flying Deuces from 1939 and later in 1952's Road to Bali and all those Road movies. 

British comedy came next with 1949's Passport to Pimlico amongst many others. We were told about the particular brand of comedy for British films, particularly Ealing Comedies and the Carry On films. We see a clip from Carry On Constable that would not be tolerated today. Another Peter Sellers film was Two Way Stretch from 1960. Finally, from the same year, the greasy Terry Thomas showed us all that was terrible about these movies with School for Scoundrels.