Reeling with Laughter: American Film Comedies: From Anarchy to MockumentaryScarecrow Press, 2012 M05 3 - 228 pages Film comedy has been around as long as cinema itself. Over the years, particular forms of the genre have emerged, evolved, and spawned other branches of comedy. While these subgenres may vary in their approach to humor, all of them have the same goal: amusing audiences. In Reeling with Laughter: American Film Comedies—From Anarchy to Mockumentary, Michael V. Tueth examines some of the most enjoyable comic movies of all time. Beginning with the anarchic romp Duck Soup (1933), each chapter explores a specific subgenre through a representative film. Along with the Marx Brothers’ classic, other subgenres discussed in this volume include romantic comedy (It Happened One Night), screwball comedy (Bringing Up Baby and What’s Up, Doc?), musical comedy (Singin’ in the Rain), sex farce (Some Like It Hot), satire (Dr. Strangelove), parody (Young Frankenstein), neurotic comedy (Annie Hall), Dionysian comedy (Animal House), mockumentary (Waiting for Guffman), and animated comedy (South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut). In this volume, Tueth provides the background of each film’s production and discusses their audience reception, critical appraisal, and the qualities that have characterized these enduring works. Reeling with Laughter will appeal to film students, as well as the general public eager to revisit these great American films. |
Contents
1 | |
IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT 1934 | 19 |
BRINGING UP BABY 1938 AND WHATS UP DOC? 1972 | 39 |
SINGIN IN THE RAIN 1952 | 63 |
SOME LIKE IT HOT 1959 | 83 |
DR STRANGELOVE OR HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB 1964 | 99 |
YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN 1974 | 117 |
ANNIE HALL 1977 | 135 |
Other editions - View all
Reeling with Laughter: American Film Comedies--from Anarchy to Mockumentary Michael Tueth Limited preview - 2012 |
Reeling with Laughter: American Film Comedies--from Anarchy to Mockumentary Michael V. Tueth No preview available - 2012 |
Common terms and phrases
Alvy Alvy’s American Animal House Annie Hall Annie’s attempts audience Award behavior Blaine Bluto boys Bringing Up Bahy Broadway Brooks Brooks’s Cary Grant characters Chicolini Cinema comedians Comic Mind conflict Corky critical dance David Delta House describes Dionysian documentary Don’s Ellie Ellie’s Eunice Faber College film comedy film’s finally Firefly Frederick Gehring genre girl Groucho Happened One Night Harpo Hollywood Howard humor Joe and Jerry Judy Judy’s Kathy Kelly Kubrick Larrabee Lina Lina’s Mandrake Marx Brothers Mast military mockumentary monster movie musical number narrative nuclear offers ofthe parody performance Peter Pinky play president Press Rain Ripper role romantic comedy satire saying scene screen screwball comedy sequence sexual shot Singin Singin’in singing song South Park Spinal Tap spoof star story Strangelove studio Sugar Susan Teasdale television theater Trentino Turgidson turns viewers What’s woman Woody Allen Young Frankenstein