Excellent movies in the most difficult sub genre

[Nighthawk]

... but a Holocaust comedy by Jerry Lewis never got beyond the planning stage.

.

Actually, a rough cut of the film was shot.

More info (scroll down to #19):

http://www.avclub.com/articles/vaporware-no-more-31-lost-projects-were-hoping-to,2543/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_day_the_clown_cried

NH

 

[Carlisle Blues]

Masterpiece of war/comedy it wasn't , but it had its moments! "To Be Or Not To Be" (1983) with Mel Brooks.


quote from the movie:

"Vat do you mean you haven't got proof? Dat is not excuse! Arrezt zem! Vat? Vere? Vy? VEN ??? From now on ven in doubt Arrezt them! Arrezt them! Arrezt them! Zen shoot zem and interrogate zem! Oh, you are right! Just shoot zem!" lol

^^^
lol That was a remake of this:


To Be or Not to Be is a 1942 American comedy directed by Ernst Lubitsch, about a troupe of actors in Nazi-occupied Warsaw who use their abilities at disguise and acting to fool the occupying troops. It was adapted by Lubitsch and Edwin Justus Mayer from the story by Melchior Lengyel. The film stars Carole Lombard, Jack Benny, Robert Stack, Felix Bressart, Lionel Atwill, Stanley Ridges and Sig Ruman.



Apparently, your views of the Brooks vehicle were shared of the 1942 picture as well. "To Be or Not To Be, now regarded as one of the best films of Lubitsch's, Benny's and Lombard's careers, was initially not generally welcomed by the public, many of whom could not accept the notion of making fun out of such a real threat as the Nazis. It was said that, during the premiere, Benny's own father walked out of the theater early in the film, disgusted that his son was in a Nazi uniform, and vowed not to set foot in the theater again. Benny convinced him otherwise and his father ended up loving the film."

 

[Naphtali]

HadleyH:

Rod Serling must be a close friend of yours. . . . I just watched the original Ernst Lubitsch "To Be, or Not To Be" with Carole Lombard and Jack Benny. If you have an opportunity, see it soon. I think you will agree, the 1942 version is more fun. Mel Brooks uses a 15-pound sledge while Lubitsch uses a rapier in terms of humor.

Masterpiece of war/comedy it wasn't , but it had its moments! "To Be Or Not To Be" (1983) with Mel Brooks.


quote from the movie:

"Vat do you mean you haven't got proof? Dat is not excuse! Arrezt zem! Vat? Vere? Vy? VEN ??? From now on ven in doubt Arrezt them! Arrezt them! Arrezt them! Zen shoot zem and interrogate zem! Oh, you are right! Just shoot zem!" lol

 

[MisterCairo]

Operation Petticoat (film, and to a lesser extent, the tv series).

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

The Great Dictator (1940) Charlie Chaplin, Paulette Goddard,Jack Oakie.

"First released in October 1940, it was Chaplin's first true talking picture, and more important was the only major feature film of its period to bitterly satirize Nazism and Adolf Hitler.

The film is unusual for its period, as the United States was still formally at peace with Nazi Germany. Chaplin's film advanced a stirring, controversial condemnation of Hitler, fascism, antisemitism, and the Nazis, the latter of whom he excoriates in the film as "machine men, with machine minds and machine hearts".

One of the sub plots of The Great Dictator was based on actual events -- namely the"Anschluss", Hitler's annexation of Austria in 1938.

In The Great Dictator the fictional nation of Tomania (Germany), led by Adenoid Hynkel (three guesses who that is!), the "Great Dictator" of the film's title, plans to invade neighboring Osterlich (Austria) and is initially opposed by his rival Benzino Napoloni, the dictator of Bacteria (Italy). Many people today don't know this but In 1938 Germany and Italy almost went to war over Austria as Mussolini had originally pledged to aid Austria against aggression.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Actually, a rough cut of the film was shot.

How I wish you were wrong. :eusa_doh:


Thanks for the correction, though! I'll show your info here:

THE DAY THE CLOWN CRIED (1972)
​

"For lovers of kitsch and bad taste, the 1972 Jerry Lewis Holocaust comedy The Day The Clown Cried represents the Holy Grail, a fabled, oft-whispered-about pop-culture legend that cast director Lewis as a disgraced circus clown who runs afoul of the Third Reich and ends up leading children into the gas chambers of Auschwitz. Alas, litigation rather than taste kept the film from shocking and offending moviegoers the world over. Lewis initially bristled at the prospect of playing the lead role.


In his autobiography, Lewis writes of asking producer Nathan Wachsbeger, 'Why don't you try to get Sir Laurence Olivier? I mean, he doesn't find it too difficult to choke to death playing Hamlet. My bag is comedy, Mr. Wachsberger, and you're asking me if I'm prepared to deliver helpless kids into a gas chamber? Ho-ho. Some laugh—how do I pull it off?'


Legal and financial battles between Lewis, the producers, and the screenwriters led to the film being shelved, perhaps permanently. Lewis is rumored to possess the only existing copy of the film, and he refuses to discuss it publicly, though veteran comedy writer/actor Harry Shearer has seen it and insists it's just as mind-bogglingly offensive and tasteless as its reputation suggests."

.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

In the genre of "Homefront" comedies circa 1940s:

"The More The Merrier" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036172/

"Without Reservations" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039110/

"Hail the Conquering Hero" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036891/

"Mr. Winkle Goes To War" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037095/

"Hollywood Canteen" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036922/

Don't forget one of the most delightful of them all: "A Letter for Evie" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037870/


.

 

[HadleyH]

HadleyH:

Rod Serling must be a close friend of yours. . . . I just watched the original Ernst Lubitsch "To Be, or Not To Be" with Carole Lombard and Jack Benny

Rod Serling ? from the Twilight Zone? VAT????? VY????????



but seriously, I agree, Lubitsch is Lubitsch :eusa_clap i will keep my eyes open and if i see it on cable TV i will certainly watch it!