What Comedy Movies to watch on Criterion Channel

Actress Judy Carroll, from the gas-house district has been trained, educated and developed so well by her manager, that not even the publicity-seeking world of the theater has guessed her antecedents. But she has not loved well or wisely as she learns when she tries to adopt a baby.

Sir Guy Grand adopts homeless bum Youngman to be heir to his obscene wealth, and immediately begins bringing him into the intricacies of the family business, which is to prey upon people's greed by use of the vast holdings of the Grand empire. They leave no stone unturned as sporting events, restaurants, art galleries, and traditional pheasant hunts turn into lurid displays of bad manners and profiteering. Things climax at the social event of the season, the inaugural voyage of the new pleasure cruiser, "The Magic Christian".

In a mythical Japan, Ko-Ko, a cheap tailor, has been appointed Lord High Executioner and must find someone to execute before the arrival of the ruling Mikado. He lights upon Nanki-Poo, a strolling minstrel who loves the beautiful Yum-Yum. But Yum-Yum is also loved by Ko-Ko, and Nanki-Poo, seeing no hope for his love, considers suicide. Ko-Ko offers to solve both their problems by executing Nanki-Poo, and an agreement is reached whereby Ko-Ko will allow Nanki-Poo to marry Yum-Yum for one month, at the end of which Nanki-Poo will be executed, in time for the arrival of the Mikado. But what Ko-Ko doesn't know is that Nanki-Poo is the son of the Mikado and has run away to avoid a betrothal to an old harridan named Katisha. The arrival of the Mikado brings all the threads of the tale together.

Henri Danglard, proprietor of the fashionable (but bankrupt) cafe 'Le Paravent Chinois' featuring his mistress, belly-dancer Lola, goes slumming in Montmarte, circa 1890, where the then-old-fashioned cancan is still danced. There he conceives the idea of reviving the cancan as the feature of a new, more popular establishment...and meets Nini, a laundress and natural dancer whom he hopes will be the star of his new show. But a tangled maze of jealousies intervenes.

Wallace Shawn and Andre Gregory, apparently playing themselves, share their lives over the course of an evening meal at a restaurant. Gregory, a theater director from New York, is the more talkative of the pair. He relates to Shawn his tales of dropping out, traveling around the world, and experiencing the variety of ways people live, such as a monk who could balance his entire weight on his fingertips. Shawn listens avidly, but questions the value of Gregory's seeming abandonment of the pragmatic aspects of life.

Hoping to improve his life, the temperamental Rodolfo Cano enlists in the Army. But when another Rodolfo Cano receives his sign-up orders, the two Rodolfos' lives collide - with the first Rodolfo's girlfriend adding to the confusion.

Documentary on the life and works of comic genius Buster Keaton, directed by Peter Bogdanovich.

Gerry and Tom Jeffers are finding married life hard. Tom is an inventor/ architect and there is little money for them to live on. They are about to be thrown out of their apartment when Gerry meets rich businessman being shown around as a prospective tenant. He gives Gerry $700 to start life afresh but Tom refuses to believe her story and they quarrel. Gerry decides the marriage is over and heads to Palm Beach for a quick divorce but Tom has plans to stop her.

A group of suburban teenagers try to support each other through the difficult task of becoming adults.

Lisette and husband Chino face marital difficulties. She is fed up with the kids, while he has job troubles. His mother Rosaria hates Lisette and the neighborhood tramp has designs on Chino. Things get even worse when Chino goes to jail and Lisette gets a good job uptown. Can this marriage be saved?

Chaplin's final American film tells the story of a fading music hall comedian's effort to help a despondent ballet dancer learn both to walk and feel confident about life again. The highlight of the film is the classic duet with Chaplin's only real artistic film comedy rival, Buster Keaton.

It's World War II and there is a severe housing shortage everywhere - especially in Washington, D.C. where Connie Milligan rents an apartment. Believing it to be her patriotic duty, Connie offers to sublet half of her apartment, fully expecting a suitable female tenent. What she gets instead is mischievous, middle-aged Benjamin Dingle. Dingle talks her into subletting to him and then promptly sublets half of his half to young, irreverent Joe Carter - creating a situation tailor-made for comedy and romance.

In downtown Manhattan, a twenty-something boy ('Chris Parker')whose Father is not around and whose Mother is institutionalized, is a big Charlie Parker fan. He almost subconsciously searches for more meaning in his life and meets a few characters along the way.

A story within a story. In Australia's Northern Territory, a man tells us one of the stories of his people and his land. It's a story of an older man, Minygululu, who has three wives and realizes that his younger brother Dayindi may try to steal away the youngest wife. So, over a few days and several trips to hunt and gather, Minygululu tells Dayindi a story set in the time of their ancestors when a stranger came to the village and disrupted the lives of a serious man named Ridjimiraril, his three wives, and his younger brother Yeeralparil who had no wife and liked to visit his youngest sister-in-law. Through stories, can values be taught and balance achieved?

Agnese, a 15-year-old Sicilian girl is seduced and impregnated by Peppino, her sister Matilde's fiancé. Soon Vincenzo, Agnese's father, discovers everything. He wants to force Peppino to marry the dishonored Agnese, but Peppino runs away and Vincenzo sends his son Antonio to kill him. At this point, Agnese goes to the police to try to stop events. They're all taken to court. But events can't be stopped, there's still time for a fake kidnapping. A happy end is still possible.

The lives and tribulations of staff of an independent newspaper in Boston who're struggling financially. Unbeknownst to them, they are about to be taken over by a big publisher; an idea they despise.

"Speedy" loses his job as a soda-jerk, then spends the day with his girl at Coney Island. He then becomes a cab driver and delivers Babe Ruth to Yankee Stadium, where he stays to see the game. When the railroad tries to run the last horse-drawn trolley (operated by his girl's grandfather) out of business, "Speedy" organizes the neighborhood oldtimers to thwart their scheme.

Linda and George live in a small town where he is the school principal and they are about to celebrate their 16th anniversary. When she catches him with her daughter's young teacher, she must deal with the kids, the town, and her love for him.

Monsieur Hulot's brother-in-law is the manager of a factory where plastics are manufactured. His nephew grows up in a house where everything is fully automated and the boy is raised in a similar fashion. To take away the influence of the uncle on his son, his brother-in-law gets Hulot a job in his factory.

Charlie is a farm laborer who’ll try anything to win over his pretty neighbor, but ends up spending a lot of time in dreamland.

Having escaped from prison, Charlie disguises himself as a pastor. In a village, he’s mistaken for the new curate. Synopsis courtesy of MK2 and Warner Bros.

As an African American family and friends gather in an apartment for a house party, two imps take human form in order to break up the party.

Presents a day in the life in Austin, Texas among its social outcasts and misfits, predominantly the twenty-something set, using a series of linear vignettes. These characters, who in some manner just don't fit into the establishment norms, move seamlessly from one scene to the next, randomly coming and going into one another's lives. Highlights include a UFO buff who adamantly insists that the U.S. has been on the moon since the 1950s, a woman who produces a glass slide purportedly of Madonna's pap smear, and an old anarchist who sympathetically shares his philosophy of life with a robber.

Barbara Undershaft is a woman from an absurdly wealthy family who has found love in Adophus Cusins, an impoverished man of books and ideas. While living in luxury, Barbara is focused on a separate life that is devoid of wealth and centered on the salvation of souls. Meanwhile, Adolphus is doing his best live up to his high ideals and his love for Barbara in the face of the magnificence of the Undershaft family. When the necessities of the working class meet head on with the privileges of aristocracy, the conflict arises: Is salvation better achieved through a charitable organization, or is humankind better served and salvation achieved through the work of industry?