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Something Funny
Looking for a different kind of comedy? Take in these mirthly pleasures; left-field laughs from outside the comedy canon.
Humour is subjective, so they say, and the films here might not top your typical rib-ticklers’ league tables. But for our money these are amusements supreme; comedy at its most subtle, sophisticated and surreal.
La Grande Bouffe La Grande Bouffe
Comedy 1973 130 mins Director: Marco Ferreri
Marco Ferreri's provocative and controversial satire about four friends who retreat to a country mansion with the intention of eating themselves to death.
Computer Chess Computer Chess
Comedy 2013 91 mins Director: Andrew Bujalski
Andrew Bujalski’s hilarious and surreal comedy about the birth of computer culture, set in an early 1980s conference where primitive programmers take on chess masters.
Whisky Galore! Whisky Galore!
Comedy 1949 83 mins Director: Alexander Mackendrick
Ealing's thirstiest comedy: "the longest unsponsored advertisement ever to reach cinema screens"?
Dogtooth Dogtooth
Drama 2009 93 mins Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
Yorgos Lanthimos' scary, witty tale of a dysfunctional Greek family is original, ingenious and sadly relevant as a study of parent-child relationships
Unrelated Unrelated
Drama 2008 96 mins Director: Joanna Hogg
On a Tuscan break a fortysomething woman finds herself drawn to the company of a group of partying teens, including a young Tom Hiddleston.
Amour Fou Amour Fou
Period drama 2014 92 mins Director: Jessica Hausner
Jessica Hausner’s long-awaited follow-up to Lourdes is a devilish anti-Rom-Com in which a German poet seeks mates for a suicide pact.
The Gigolos The Gigolos
Comedy 2007 94 mins Director: Richard Bracewell
A highly original comedy following a pair of professional male escorts and their interactions with their lonely, over-50s 'regulars'.
Delicatessen Delicatessen
Comedy 1990 100 mins Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Jeunet and Caro's endlessly inventive and wildly enjoyable post-apocalyptic black comedy, about a sinister butcher and the circus clown who becomes his nemesis.
King of Escape King of Escape
Comedy 2009 90 mins Director: Alain Guiraudie
A film about tractors, aphrodisiacs and forbidden love from Alain Guiraudie, the Cannes award-winning director of Stranger by the Lake.
Straight to Hell Straight to Hell
Comedy 1987 86 mins Director: Alex Cox
Alex Cox’s anarchic homage to the spaghetti western.
The Falls The Falls
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1980 195 mins Director: Peter Greenaway
Following a series of inventive shorts, Peter Greenaway arrived fully formed as a feature filmmaker with this highly confident, audacious epic.
La Règle du jeu La Règle du jeu
Drama 1939 102 mins Director: Jean Renoir
Renoir's depiction of an intransigent society teetering towards disaster was derided upon release and only later acclaimed as one of cinema’s most vital films.
Penny Points to Paradise Penny Points to Paradise
Comedy 1951 72 mins Director: Tony Young
The first screen outing for Goon Show stars Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan and Harry Secombe in a cheerful comic escapade set in Brighton.
Let's Go Crazy Let's Go Crazy
Comedy 1951 33 mins Director: Alan J. Cullimore
Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan shine in a series of sketches and multiple roles, in this madcap mixture of music-hall and anarchic comedy.
Fun at St. Fanny's Fun at St. Fanny's
Comedy 1955 80 mins Director: Maurice Elvey
Ronnie Corbett features in this quick-fire vintage classroom caper, featuring enough old jokes to fill a Christmas cracker factory.
The Slappiest Days of Our Lives The Slappiest Days of Our Lives
Comedy 1953 73 mins
A young Peter Sellers voices this compilation film of silent slapstick footage, featuring Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd and Laurel and Hardy.
The Master of the House The Master of the House
Drama 1925 107 mins Silent Director: Carl Th. Dreyer
Carl Theodor Dreyer’s richly detailed tragicomedy of domestic manners is by turns funny, intensely emotional and deeply affecting.
The Machine that Kills Bad People The Machine that Kills Bad People
Comedy 1952 84 mins Director: Roberto Rossellini and Luciano Emmer
Roberto Rossellini's film about a photographer who is given the power to rid the Earth of 'evil-doers'.
The Immigrant The Immigrant
Comedy 1917 24 mins Silent Director: Charles Chaplin
One of Chaplin’s most famous early shorts finds the Little Tramp aboard a ship bound for America, mistakenly accused of being a pickpocket.
Behind the Screen Behind the Screen
Comedy 1916 24 mins Silent Director: Charles Chaplin
Chaplin sends up the movie business itself, playing a scene-stealing actor, David, in constant conflict with a tyrannical studio boss called Goliath.
The Count The Count
Comedy 1916 24 mins Silent Director: Charles Chaplin
In Charlie Chaplin’s classic short he plays a tailor who impersonates a nobleman at a society ball, only to discover his boss is practicing the same ruse.
Easy Street Easy Street
Comedy 1917 26 mins Silent Director: Charles Chaplin
The Little Tramp decides to start anew and train as a police officer; what could possibly go wrong when he’s posted on the beat in ‘Easy Street’.
The Vagabond The Vagabond
Comedy 1916 26 mins Silent Director: Charles Chaplin
One of Chaplin’s most accomplished films for Mutual, in which the Tramp rescues a girl from a band of gypsies only for her to fall for a rival.
The Pawnshop The Pawnshop
Comedy 1916 26 mins Silent Director: Charles Chaplin
One of the most popular shorts Charlie Chaplin made for Mutual, The Pawnshop features a famous sequence in which he dissects an alarm clock, prefiguring the mechanics-inspired humour of Modern Times.
The Fireman The Fireman
Comedy 1916 25 mins Silent Director: Charles Chaplin
In this classic Chaplin short, he comedy great plays a bumbling fireman who gets caught up in an insurance scam.
The Floorwalker The Floorwalker
Comedy 1916 28 mins Silent Director: Charles Chaplin
Chaplin’s first comedy for Mutual Films features the first film use of an elevator as a source for slapstick.
One A.M. One A.M.
Comedy 1916 26 mins Silent Director: Charles Chaplin
One of Chaplin’s most ingenious shorts, this stunning showcase for his solo comic talents sees him playing a drunken man returning home to navigate his apartment.
The Adventurer The Adventurer
Comedy 1917 26 mins Silent Director: Charles Chaplin
In his final film for Mutual, Chaplin plays a convict who escapes from prison only to become an unlikely member of high society.
The Cure The Cure
Comedy 1917 25 mins Silent Director: Charles Chaplin
In one of his essential shorts for Mutual, Chaplin plays a drunkard who checks into a health spa – with a case full of booze.
The Rink The Rink
Comedy 1916 25 mins Silent Director: Charles Chaplin
Formidable physical comedy is the order of the day in this dynamic Chaplin short, in which he plays a waiter running rings around an angry customer.