Comedy movies have a long history in Hollywood. Way back in the year 1900, a movie was screened in which people laugh at the continued sneezing of a man. Aptly called Record of Sneeze, the movie is credited to start a trend that has only strengthened and is firmly rooted now. It was during the era of silent movies that most of the classic comedy movies were made. As actors could make audiences laugh with the help of dialogues with their funny acts, it soon caught the fancy of the people and more comedy movies were made before 1930.

Charlie Chaplin is said to be the best comedian till date because of his amazing ability to make people laugh with his funny mannerisms in movies, which were silent. Most of the top comedies of Hollywood are Charlie Chaplin movies no doubt. With the transition from silent to the movies with sounds and dialogues, comedy ruled the roost and many top comedies were made which are still considered classics. Comedy is one genre that is considered to be a formula for success at box office as people wish to see movies that can relieve them of all the stress in life.

Sensing that comedy is one aspect that is necessary to have mass appeal, many top actors, who had a serious image tried their hands at comedy and were greatly appreciated by the audiences. Hollywood is blessed in the sense that there have always been some great comedians such as Dudley Moore, Tom hanks, Eddie Murphy, and of late Jim Carey.

The Proposal comedy is a movie made by Anne Fletcher starring Sandra Bullock, Ryan Reynolds, and Mary Steenburgen. In the genre of comedy and romance, The Proposal comedy portrays the story of a young man who is forced by his boss to marry him to avoid deportation to Canada.

By: John Soyer

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The Gold Rush, the 1925 silent screen comedy, is generally thought to be Charlie Chaplin’s most well known film. Throughout the history of motion pictures, both film critics and viewers have always considered this Chaplin film to be a true Hollywood comedy classic from the silent era.

It tells the story of the equally famous and loved Chaplin character ‘The Little Tramp’ (called The Lone Prospector in this film) as he travels to Alaska hoping to take part in the Great Alaska Gold Rush. Instead, as luck and bad weather would have it, he finds himself stranded in a remote backwoods cabin with another gold prospector and an escaped fugitive for company.

Eventually, when the weather subsides, ‘The Lone Prospector’ again sets out for a nearby gold-rush community. While there he takes the job of tending another prospectors cabin, and finds himself falling in love with Georgia, a saloon girl, whom he mistakenly assumes loves him as well.

While known as a great comedy, this film is also rich in social satire, drama, and emotional tenderness.

The film features a number of famous scenes that include the Chaplin character preparing Thanksgiving dinner for himself and another stranded and starving prospector by boiling and eating a leather shoe (provided by the American Licorice Company), and its laces as if they were noodles. In another, the cabins occupants scramble to exit as the cabin itself balances dangerously on the edge of a cliff before falling into the valley below.

A famous sequence, considered by many to be one of the most memorable in Chaplin’s career, shows The Lone Prospector entertaining his imaginary New Year’s Eve guests at dinner by piercing two bread rolls with forks and having them dance as though they were the legs of a real dancer. This scene was recreated in a 1994 episode of ‘The Simpsons,’ titled ‘Lady Bouvier’s Lover’.

The comedy classic is still being enjoyed by audiences today and ranks as the fifth highest grossing silent film, and the highest grossing silent film comedy of all-time.

The movie was again released by Chaplin in 1942 with sound narration and a musical score that were spoken and arranged by Chaplin. He also tightened the editing to reduce the films running time, changed some minor plot points, and removed the kissing scene at the end eliminating a subplot where the character is tricked into believing the Georgia loved him. This re-release was a huge hit world wide.

In 1992, The Gold Rush was selected to the National Film Registry, Library of Congress. This motion picture is a must see for anyone interested in a Hollywood comedy classic from the silent era.

By: Carl DiNello

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Comedy movies started long back in the 1900s. The first movie to be produced was by Thomas Edison’s Kinetoscope. This could also be considered the first to show the comic aspect of a movie. Comedy films began to appear more during the era of silent films, prior to the 1930s. These comedy movies were originally based on visual humor. The prominent figure that we all know as Charlie Chaplin was one of the famous clown-style actors of the silent era. It was through Charlie Chaplin that Hollywood comedy movies became famous. Soon came Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd.

Then in the 1920s came another trend, of animated cartoons. They were the most popular Hollywood comedy movies of the time. Several popular characters of that era were Felix the cat, Krazy Kat and Betty Boop. However, the popularity of these movies was hindered due to lack of sound and color.

By the end of 1920s, the Hollywood comedy industry showed a change brought about by the introduction of sound into movies. This allowed the industry to create dramatic new film styles and use verbal humor. Those films soon replaced silent movies. They used dialogues by comedians such as W.C. Fields and the Marx Brothers. Charlie Chaplin was the last comedian to have acted in a silent film, and his films during 1930s were without dialogue, although they did employ sound effects.

When the United States entered into World War II, Hollywood movies changed their course to themes related to conflicts and Hollywood comedy movies also inclined to military themes. The war era experienced a boom, when due to the restriction on traveling, nearly a quarter of the money spent was spent on movies.

In the 1950s, interest shifted to social situations or family-oriented comedies. During that period the number of Hollywood comedy films declined. The 1960s saw an increasing number of broad, star-packed comedies. In 1970, Hollywood comedy movies reflected the anti-war sentiment which was prevailing then. Amongst the leading figures of this time were Woody Allen and Mel Brooks. They wrote, directed and appeared in their own movies.

In the 1980s, the *** based comedy Airplane, a spoof of the previous decade disaster film series, was released and Hollywood comedy movies followed suit for more of the same including Top Secret and the ***** Gun films. The popular comedians of that time included Dudley Moore, Tom Hanks, Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd. Jim Carrey, the Canadian actor, came into Hollywood comedy movies in the late 1980s when he won a role in Damian Lee Canadian’s skiing comedy, Copper Mountain.

The most popular Hollywood comedy movies were of John Hughes, which included Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and the Home Alone series of 1990s. The latter focused more on a family audience. That showed a revival in comedy movies. Spoof comedy movies have remained popular till date.

Another development in Hollywood comedy movies was the use of gross humor, which is usually aimed at the younger audience, in films like, There’s Something about Mary, American Pie and many more. This trend of gross movies continued with adult oriented comedies picking up the box office for some time more.

By: Victor Epand

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