Musicals & Comedy
Films built to entertain, and the craft in doing it. Singin' in the Rain and the Hollywood musical, Chaplin and Keaton, Some Like It Hot, plus the animation from Snow White through Toy Story to Spirited Away.
Part of Films
40 moments in this segment.
- - The Gold Rush. Charlie Chaplin. The shoe-eating scene, the cabin teetering on the cliff. Chaplin's own pick as the film he'd be remembered for. The Tramp at his most universal.
- - Charlie Chaplin - The Gold Rush (Trailer). ) · 00:01:28
- - The General. Buster Keaton. Civil War chase comedy with his ace deadpan and astonishing real-train stunts. Flopped on release; now routinely on best-of-all-time lists.
- - The General (1926) Trailer #1 | Movieclips Classic Trailers. 00:01:54
- - The Jazz Singer. Alan Crosland. First feature-length film with synchronised dialogue. "You ain't heard nothin' yet." Killed the silent era within three years. Al Jolson's blackface performance is the rest of its legacy.
- - The Jazz Singer Official Trailer (1927). ) · 00:07:09
- - Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Walt Disney. First feature-length animated film. People said no one would sit through 83 minutes of cartoons. It made $8M on a $1.5M budget and built Disney.
- - Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) Trailer #1 | Movieclips Classic Trailers. 00:01:25
- - The Wizard of Oz. Victor Fleming. Sepia Kansas, Technicolor Oz, the shift is still one of the most famous moments in cinema. "Over the Rainbow" was nearly cut for being too slow.
- - The Wizard of Oz (1939) Original Trailer - Judy Garland Movie. 00:02:29
- - Singin' in the Rain. Stanley Donen + Gene Kelly. The transition to sound, satirised by the people who lived through it. Considered by many the greatest movie musical ever made.
- - Singin' in the Rain (1952) Official Trailer - Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds Movie HD. 00:04:03
- - Some Like It Hot. Billy Wilder. Lemmon and Curtis dress as women to escape the mob; Marilyn Monroe. "Nobody's perfect." Routinely voted the greatest American comedy.
- - Some Like It Hot (1959) Trailer | MGM Studios. 00:02:20
- - The Sound of Music. Robert Wise. The Von Trapps singing their way out of the Anschluss. Highest-grossing film of all time when released. Saved 20th Century Fox from Cleopatra-induced bankruptcy.
- - The Sound of Music (1965) Trailer #1 | Movieclips Classic Trailers. 00:04:10
- - The Graduate. Mike Nichols. Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft. Simon and Garfunkel score. The first New Hollywood blockbuster; gave a generation its definition of awkward.
- - The Graduate (1967) Trailer #1 | Movieclips Classic Trailers. 00:03:54
- - Annie Hall. Woody Allen. Broke the fourth wall, used animated sequences and split-screen, won Best Picture over Star Wars. Defined the urban-neurotic romantic comedy for the next 30 years.
- - Annie Hall Official Trailer #1 - Woody Allen Movie (1977) HD. 00:02:09
- - Amadeus. Miloš Forman. Salieri's envy of Mozart in 18th-century Vienna. Won Best Picture; renewed mass interest in Mozart's music single-handedly.
- - Back to the Future. Robert Zemeckis. Highest-grossing film of 1985. Marty McFly is the rare time-traveller hero everyone actually likes. "Roads? Where we're going we don't need roads."
- - Back To The Future (1985) Theatrical Trailer - Michael J. Fox Movie HD. 00:01:43
- - My Neighbor Totoro. Hayao Miyazaki. Studio Ghibli's breakthrough into the world's consciousness. The two sisters in 1950s rural Japan and their forest spirit. Permanently raised the bar for animated children's films.
- - Akira. Katsuhiro Otomo. The film that broke anime in the West. Neo-Tokyo, biker gangs, psychic powers. Influenced everything from The Matrix to Stranger Things.
- - Akira (1988) Trailer. 00:01:16
- - Forrest Gump. Zemeckis. Tom Hanks Zelig-ing through 30 years of US history. Won Best Picture over Pulp Fiction and Shawshank, the platonic example of Academy taste vs critical canon.
- - Forrest Gump - Trailer. Stupid is as stupid does, says Forrest Gump (played by Tom Hanks in an Oscar-winning performance) as he discusses his relative level of intelligence with a stranger while waiting for a bus. Despite his sub-normal IQ, Gump leads a truly charmed life, with a ringside seat for many of the most memorable events of the second half of the 20th century. Entirely without trying, Forrest teaches Elvis Presley to dance, becomes a football star, meets John F. Kennedy, serves with honor in Vietnam, meets Lyndon Johnson,…
- - Toy Story. Pixar. First fully computer-animated feature film. Made $373M on a $30M budget; killed hand-drawn animation as a commercial form within ten years.
- - Toy Story (1995) Trailer #1 | Movieclips Classic Trailers. 00:01:28
- - The Big Lebowski. Coen brothers. Jeff Bridges as The Dude. Modest reception; became one of the most-quoted cult films in history. Lebowski Fest is now an annual thing.
- - Official Trailer | The Big Lebowski | Screen Bites. 00:02:34
- - Spirited Away. Hayao Miyazaki. First non-English-language animated feature to win the Oscar. Highest-grossing Japanese film ever. The bathhouse-of-the-gods imagery remains unsurpassed in animation.
- - Spirited Away - Official Trailer. 00:02:27
- - The Grand Budapest Hotel. Wes Anderson. The film that codified Anderson's aesthetic into a household look (and a million Instagram filters). Ralph Fiennes as M. Gustave.
- - THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL - Official Wolrdwide Trailer HD. 00:02:26
- - My Neighbor Totoro - Official Trailer. 00:00:53
- - Everything Everywhere All at Once. Daniels (Kwan + Scheinert). Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan. Won 7 Oscars including Best Picture. The most successful indie maximalism film since the 2000s.
- - Everything Everywhere All At Once | Official Trailer HD | A24. 00:02:42
- - Amadeus | 4K Ultra HD Trailer | Warner Bros. Entertainment. 00:02:06
