Essential comedies
by chatbada | created - 23 Mar 2020 | updated - 11 months ago | Public1930-2015 best comedies
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1. My Man Godfrey (1936)
Approved | 94 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A scatterbrained socialite hires a vagrant as a family butler - but there's more to Godfrey than meets the eye.
Director: Gregory La Cava | Stars: William Powell, Carole Lombard, Alice Brady, Gail Patrick
Votes: 26,462
2. To Be or Not to Be (1942)
Passed | 99 min | Comedy, Romance, War
During the German occupation of Poland, an acting troupe becomes embroiled in a Polish soldier's efforts to track down a German spy.
Director: Ernst Lubitsch | Stars: Carole Lombard, Jack Benny, Robert Stack, Felix Bressart
Votes: 43,069
3. Bringing Up Baby (1938)
Passed | 102 min | Comedy
While trying to secure a $1 million donation for his museum, a befuddled paleontologist is pursued by a flighty and often irritating heiress and her pet leopard, Baby.
Director: Howard Hawks | Stars: Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Charles Ruggles, Walter Catlett
Votes: 66,128
4. Paper Moon (1973)
PG | 102 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
During the Great Depression, a con man finds himself saddled with a young girl who may or may not be his daughter, and the two forge an unlikely partnership.
Director: Peter Bogdanovich | Stars: Ryan O'Neal, Tatum O'Neal, Madeline Kahn, John Hillerman
Votes: 52,482 | Gross: $30.93M
5. Cluny Brown (1946)
Passed | 100 min | Comedy, Romance, War
A free-spirited parlor maid and a Czech refugee surprise an English village with their unconventional ways.
Director: Ernst Lubitsch | Stars: Charles Boyer, Jennifer Jones, Peter Lawford, Helen Walker
Votes: 4,114
6. The Apartment (1960)
Approved | 125 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A Manhattan insurance clerk tries to rise in his company by letting its executives use his apartment for trysts, but complications and a romance of his own ensue.
Director: Billy Wilder | Stars: Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Fred MacMurray, Ray Walston
Votes: 196,994 | Gross: $18.60M
7. Nothing Sacred (1937)
Passed | 77 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
An eccentric woman learns she is not dying of radium poisoning as earlier assumed, but when she meets a reporter looking for a story, she feigns sickness again for her own profit.
Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: Carole Lombard, Fredric March, Charles Winninger, Walter Connolly
Votes: 7,267
8. You Can't Take It with You (1938)
Passed | 126 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
The son of a snobbish Wall Street banker becomes engaged to a woman from a good-natured but decidedly eccentric family not realizing that his father is trying to force her family from their home for a real estate development.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Jean Arthur, James Stewart, Lionel Barrymore, Edward Arnold
Votes: 27,919 | Gross: $4.66M
9. Singin' in the Rain (1952)
G | 103 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
A silent film star falls for a chorus girl just as he and his delusionally jealous screen partner are trying to make the difficult transition to talking pictures in 1920s Hollywood.
Directors: Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly | Stars: Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds, Jean Hagen
Votes: 260,841 | Gross: $8.82M
10. Some Like It Hot (1959)
Passed | 121 min | Comedy, Music, Romance
After two male musicians witness a mob hit, they flee the state in an all-female band disguised as women, but further complications set in.
Director: Billy Wilder | Stars: Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, George Raft
Votes: 283,704 | Gross: $25.00M
11. Heaven Can Wait (1943)
Passed | 112 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
An old roué arrives in Hades to review his life with Satan, who will rule on his eligibility to enter the Underworld.
Director: Ernst Lubitsch | Stars: Gene Tierney, Don Ameche, Charles Coburn, Marjorie Main
Votes: 12,377
12. Victor/Victoria (1982)
PG | 134 min | Comedy, Music, Romance
A struggling female soprano in 1934 Paris finally finds work after posing as a female impersonator, but it complicates her personal life when a visiting Chicago gangster finds himself inexplicably attracted to the seemingly male performer.
Director: Blake Edwards | Stars: Julie Andrews, James Garner, Robert Preston, Lesley Ann Warren
Votes: 23,691 | Gross: $21.93M
13. Sullivan's Travels (1941)
Passed | 90 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama
Hollywood director John L. Sullivan sets out to experience life as a homeless person in order to gain relevant life experience for his next movie.
Director: Preston Sturges | Stars: Joel McCrea, Veronica Lake, Robert Warwick, William Demarest
Votes: 28,531
14. Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941)
Passed | 94 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Romance
Boxer Joe Pendleton dies 50 years too soon due to a heavenly mistake, and is given a new life as a millionaire playboy.
Director: Alexander Hall | Stars: Robert Montgomery, Claude Rains, Evelyn Keyes, Rita Johnson
Votes: 7,392
15. Roman Holiday (1953)
Passed | 118 min | Comedy, Romance
A bored and sheltered princess escapes her guardians and falls in love with an American newsman in Rome.
Director: William Wyler | Stars: Gregory Peck, Audrey Hepburn, Eddie Albert, Hartley Power
Votes: 147,739
16. The Fortune Cookie (1966)
Passed | 125 min | Comedy, Romance
A crooked lawyer persuades his brother-in-law to feign a serious injury.
Director: Billy Wilder | Stars: Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, Ron Rich, Judi West
Votes: 15,584
17. Oscar (1967)
G | 85 min | Comedy
Neurotic businessman must find the right man for his pregnant daughter. In fact, it is little bit complicated.
Director: Édouard Molinaro | Stars: Louis de Funès, Claude Rich, Mario David, Germaine Delbat
Votes: 7,542
18. The Baker's Wife (1938)
Not Rated | 133 min | Comedy, Drama
A small village rejoices at the arrival of a new baker. But when his young wife runs off with another man, he is unable to keep baking and the village is thrown into disarray.
Director: Marcel Pagnol | Stars: Raimu, Ginette Leclerc, Fernand Charpin, Robert Vattier
Votes: 2,398
19. The Great Race (1965)
Passed | 160 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
In the early 20th century, two rivals, the heroic Leslie and the despicable Professor Fate, engage in an epic automobile race from New York to Paris.
Director: Blake Edwards | Stars: Tony Curtis, Natalie Wood, Jack Lemmon, Peter Falk
Votes: 19,853 | Gross: $25.33M
20. Funny Face (1957)
Not Rated | 103 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
An impromptu fashion shoot at a book store brings about a new fashion model discovery in the shop clerk.
Director: Stanley Donen | Stars: Audrey Hepburn, Fred Astaire, Kay Thompson, Michel Auclair
Votes: 33,047
21. Young Frankenstein (1974)
PG | 106 min | Comedy
An American grandson of the infamous scientist, struggling to prove that his grandfather was not as insane as people believe, is invited to Transylvania, where he discovers the process that reanimates a dead body.
Director: Mel Brooks | Stars: Gene Wilder, Madeline Kahn, Marty Feldman, Peter Boyle
Votes: 168,978 | Gross: $86.30M
22. M*A*S*H (1970)
R | 116 min | Comedy, Drama, War
The staff of a Korean War field hospital use humor and high jinks to keep their sanity in the face of the horror of war.
Director: Robert Altman | Stars: Donald Sutherland, Elliott Gould, Tom Skerritt, Sally Kellerman
Votes: 76,967 | Gross: $81.60M
23. Play It Again, Sam (1972)
PG | 85 min | Comedy, Romance
A neurotic film critic obsessed with the movie Casablanca (1942) attempts to get over his wife leaving him by dating again with the help of a married couple and his illusory idol, Humphrey Bogart.
Director: Herbert Ross | Stars: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Tony Roberts, Jerry Lacy
Votes: 28,007 | Gross: $2.30M
24. Love and Death (1975)
PG | 85 min | Comedy, War
In czarist Russia, a neurotic soldier and his distant cousin formulate a plot to assassinate Napoleon.
Director: Woody Allen | Stars: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Georges Adet, Frank Adu
Votes: 40,881
25. Stolen Kisses (1968)
R | 91 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
After being discharged from the army, Antoine Doinel centers a screwball comedy where he applies for different jobs and tries to make sense of his relationships with women.
Director: François Truffaut | Stars: Jean-Pierre Léaud, Claude Jade, Delphine Seyrig, Michael Lonsdale
Votes: 15,107
26. The Last Detail (1973)
R | 104 min | Comedy, Drama
Two Navy men are ordered to bring a young offender to prison, but decide to show him one last good time along the way.
Director: Hal Ashby | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Randy Quaid, Otis Young, Clifton James
Votes: 27,994 | Gross: $3.19M
27. When Harry Met Sally... (1989)
R | 95 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Harry and Sally have known each other for years, and are very good friends, but they fear sex would ruin the friendship.
Director: Rob Reiner | Stars: Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan, Carrie Fisher, Bruno Kirby
Votes: 242,914 | Gross: $92.82M
28. Life of Brian (1979)
R | 94 min | Comedy
Born on the original Christmas in the stable next door to Jesus Christ, Brian of Nazareth spends his life being mistaken for a messiah.
Director: Terry Jones | Stars: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam
Votes: 421,960 | Gross: $20.05M
29. As Good as It Gets (1997)
PG-13 | 139 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A single mother and waitress, a misanthropic author, and a gay artist form an unlikely friendship after the artist is assaulted in a robbery.
Director: James L. Brooks | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Helen Hunt, Greg Kinnear, Cuba Gooding Jr.
Votes: 318,609 | Gross: $148.48M
30. You, the Living (2007)
Not Rated | 95 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
You, the Living is a film about humankind, its greatness and its baseness, joy and sorrow, its self-confidence and anxiety, its desire to love and be loved.
Director: Roy Andersson | Stars: Elisabeth Helander, Jörgen Nohall, Jan Wikbladh, Björn Englund
Votes: 16,298 | Gross: $0.02M
31. The Big Lebowski (1998)
R | 117 min | Comedy, Crime
Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski, mistaken for a millionaire of the same name, seeks restitution for his ruined rug and enlists his bowling buddies to help get it.
Directors: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen | Stars: Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Julianne Moore, Steve Buscemi
Votes: 860,888 | Gross: $17.50M
32. The World According to Garp (1982)
R | 136 min | Comedy, Drama
A struggling young writer finds his life and work dominated by his unfaithful wife and his radical feminist mother, whose best-selling manifesto turns her into a cultural icon.
Director: George Roy Hill | Stars: Robin Williams, Mary Beth Hurt, Glenn Close, John Lithgow
Votes: 29,087 | Gross: $29.71M
33. Groundhog Day (1993)
PG | 101 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
A narcissistic, self-centered weatherman finds himself in a time loop on Groundhog Day.
Director: Harold Ramis | Stars: Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, Chris Elliott, Stephen Tobolowsky
Votes: 685,522 | Gross: $70.91M
34. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
PG | 95 min | Comedy, War
An unhinged American general orders a bombing attack on the Soviet Union, triggering a path to nuclear holocaust that a war room full of politicians and generals frantically tries to stop.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Keenan Wynn
Votes: 518,566 | Gross: $0.28M
35. Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
PG-13 | 89 min | Adventure, Comedy
A world-class playboy and part-time secret agent from the 1960s emerges after thirty years in a cryogenic state to battle with his nemesis Dr. Evil.
Director: Jay Roach | Stars: Mike Myers, Elizabeth Hurley, Michael York, Mimi Rogers
Votes: 257,314 | Gross: $53.88M
36. Macadam Stories (2015)
Not Rated | 100 min | Comedy, Drama
Improbable encounters bring tenderness, laughter and compassion to a world of urban alienation.
Director: Samuel Benchetrit | Stars: Isabelle Huppert, Gustave Kervern, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Tassadit Mandi
Votes: 3,606
37. The Rendez-Vous of Déjà-Vu (2013)
88 min | Comedy
Hector, who met Truquette at the Louvre on July 14, has only one concern since then: seduce this girl. The best way to do so is by taking her to the sea. Pator, his friend, is accompanying him along with Truquette's girlfriend, Charlotte.
Director: Antonin Peretjatko | Stars: Vimala Pons, Grégoire Tachnakian, Vincent Macaigne, Marie-Lorna Vaconsin
Votes: 1,203
38. The Nutty Professor (1963)
Not Rated | 107 min | Comedy, Romance, Sci-Fi
A timid chemistry teacher discovers a magical potion that can transform him into a suave and handsome womanizer.
Director: Jerry Lewis | Stars: Jerry Lewis, Stella Stevens, Del Moore, Kathleen Freeman
Votes: 19,430 | Gross: $7.63M
39. The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz (1955)
Not Rated | 89 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
The delirious journey of a mentally disordered man, who is obsessed with committing the perfect crime.
Director: Luis Buñuel | Stars: Ernesto Alonso, Miroslava, Rita Macedo, Ariadne Welter
Votes: 5,894
40. The Ghost Goes West (1935)
Approved | 95 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Horror
A haunted Scottish castle is dismantled and transported to Florida, bringing the family ghost along with it.
Director: René Clair | Stars: Robert Donat, Jean Parker, Eugene Pallette, Elsa Lanchester
Votes: 2,126
41. Father of the Bride (1950)
Not Rated | 92 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
The father of a young woman deals with the emotional pain of her getting married, along with the financial and organizational trouble of arranging the wedding.
Director: Vincente Minnelli | Stars: Spencer Tracy, Joan Bennett, Elizabeth Taylor, Don Taylor
Votes: 12,541 | Gross: $8.84M
42. It Happened One Night (1934)
Passed | 105 min | Comedy, Romance
A rogue reporter trailing a runaway heiress for a big story joins her on a bus heading from Florida to New York and they end up stuck with each other when the bus leaves them behind at one of the stops along the way.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert, Walter Connolly, Roscoe Karns
Votes: 112,345 | Gross: $4.36M
43. The Odd Couple (1968)
Passed | 105 min | Comedy
A New Yorker newly separated from his wife moves in with his best friend, a divorced sportswriter, but their ideas of housekeeping and lifestyles are as different as night and day.
Director: Gene Saks | Stars: Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, John Fiedler, Herb Edelman
Votes: 37,470 | Gross: $44.53M
44. Love Happy (1949)
Passed | 85 min | Comedy, Crime, Music
The Marx Brothers help young Broadway hopefuls while thwarting diamond thieves.
Director: David Miller | Stars: Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, Chico Marx, Ilona Massey
Votes: 3,082
45. Duck Soup (1933)
Not Rated | 69 min | Comedy, Musical
Rufus T. Firefly is named the dictator of bankrupt Freedonia and declares war on neighboring Sylvania over the love of his wealthy backer Mrs. Teasdale, contending with two inept spies who can't seem to keep straight which side they're on.
Director: Leo McCarey | Stars: Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, Chico Marx, Zeppo Marx
Votes: 62,760
46. I Married a Witch (1942)
Passed | 77 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Romance
A beautiful 17th-century witch returns to life to plague politician Wallace Wooley, descendant of her persecutor.
Director: René Clair | Stars: Fredric March, Veronica Lake, Robert Benchley, Susan Hayward
Votes: 9,534 | Gross: $0.31M
47. Tales of Manhattan (1942)
Passed | 118 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A formal tailcoat that gets passed from one owner to another affects each life in a significant way.
Director: Julien Duvivier | Stars: Charles Boyer, Rita Hayworth, Ginger Rogers, Henry Fonda
Votes: 2,515
48. Sabrina (1954)
Passed | 113 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A playboy becomes interested in the daughter of his family's chauffeur, but it's his more serious brother who would be the better man for her.
Director: Billy Wilder | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Audrey Hepburn, William Holden, Walter Hampden
Votes: 70,394
49. Eating Raoul (1982)
R | 90 min | Comedy, Crime
A relatively boring Los Angeles couple discovers a bizarre, if not murderous, way to get funding for opening a restaurant.
Director: Paul Bartel | Stars: Mary Woronov, Paul Bartel, Robert Beltran, Susan Saiger
Votes: 9,183
50. A Tailor's Maid (1957)
92 min | Comedy
The adventures of a young couple of high school students: her father is not opposed to their love, but the other, a doctor of prestige, is not at all happy about it.
Director: Mario Monicelli | Stars: Vittorio De Sica, Marcello Mastroianni, Antonella Lualdi, Marisa Merlini
Votes: 336
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