76 articles
Nothing but the Best
Nothing but the Best (1964) is a British black comedy directed by Clive Donner, written by Frederic Raphael from Stanley Ellin's story, starring Alan Bates and Denholm Elliott as social-climbing tutor and pupil, restored in 4K in 2024.
One Plus One
One Plus One (1 + 1), aka Sympathy for the Devil, is Jean-Luc Godard's 1968 British film mixing Rolling Stones studio rehearsals with Black Power and revolutionary vignettes; producer Iain Quarrier re-edited it, sparking Godard's on-stage attack.
Pasqualino Seven Beasts
Pasqualino Settebellezze (Seven Beauties), 1975 Italian film by Lina Wertmüller starring Giancarlo Giannini; four 1977 Oscar nominations and the first Best Director nomination for a woman.
Patrimonio Nacional
Patrimonio nacional (National Heritage) is a 1981 Spanish comedy by Luis García Berlanga and Rafael Azcona, the second Leguineche-family film, in which the marquis returns from exile to Franco-era Madrid; it competed at Cannes 1981.
Perdita Durango (1997 film)
Perdita Durango (Dance with the Devil) is Álex de la Iglesia's 1997 Spain-Mexico-US crime film starring Rosie Perez and Javier Bardem, adapted from Barry Gifford's novel, a Goya-winning Spanish box-office hit.
Pink Flamingos
Pink Flamingos (1972) is John Waters's black comedy starring Divine as Babs Johnson, defending her 'Filthiest Person Alive' title. Made for about $12,000 in Baltimore, it became a midnight-movie landmark, was censored worldwide, and joined the National Film Registry in 2021.
Rossini
Rossini (full title Rossini – oder die mörderische Frage, wer mit wem schlief) is a 1997 German satire comedy by Helmut Dietl and Patrick Süskind set in a Munich restaurant, drawing 3.2 million admissions and winning the 1997 German Film Prize for Best Film; distinct from Monicelli's 1991 Rossini! Rossini! and the composer Rossini.
Simón del Desierto
Simón del Desierto (Simon of the Desert) is Luis Buñuel's unfinished 1965 Mexican medium-length film about the ascetic Simeon Stylites, starring Claudio Brook and Silvia Pinal as the Devil, his last Mexican film.
Simon of the Desert
Simon of the Desert (Simón del desierto) is Luis Buñuel's 1965 Mexican satirical short feature about the pillar ascetic Simeon Stylites, starring Claudio Brook and Silvia Pinal as the Devil; his last Mexican film, a Venice prize winner.
Su Excelencia
Su Excelencia (1966, released 1967) is a Mexican satirical comedy directed by Miguel M. Delgado starring Cantinflas as Lopitos, an embassy clerk of Los Cocos who becomes ambassador in Pepeslavia and holds the deciding vote between two Cold War blocs.
Tango (1993 film)
Tango (1993) is a French black comedy directed by Patrice Leconte, written with Patrick Dewolf, starring Philippe Noiret, Richard Bohringer, and Thierry Lhermitte; a judge blackmails an acquitted wife-killer into murdering his nephew's estranged wife.
Tatie Danielle
Tatie Danielle (Auntie Danielle) is a 1990 French black comedy by Étienne Chatiliez starring Tsilla Chelton as a cruel elderly widow who tyrannizes her family; three César nominations, over 2 million French admissions.
The Bed Sitting Room
The Bed Sitting Room (1969) is Richard Lester's surreal British post-nuclear-war comedy, adapted from Spike Milligan and John Antrobus's play, starring Ralph Richardson and Rita Tushingham, a 1969 Berlin festival film and 1970 UK box-office failure.
The Butcher Boy
The Butcher Boy: 1997 Neil Jordan film, adapted with Patrick McCabe from McCabe's Booker-shortlisted 1992 novel, about Francie Brady, a boy in 1960s Ireland whose family collapses into madness and murder.
The Death of a Bureaucrat
Death of a Bureaucrat (La muerte de un burócrata) is Tomás Gutiérrez Alea's 1966 Cuban black comedy, produced by ICAIC, about a nephew exhuming his uncle to recover a labor card needed for a pension; Karlovy Vary Special Jury Prize winner.
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (Le Charme discret de la bourgeoisie) is Luis Buñuel's 1972 French-Italian-Spanish surrealist comedy, co-written with Jean-Claude Carrière, in which six bourgeois friends repeatedly fail to share a dinner; it won the 1973 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.
The End (1978 film)
The End (1978) is an American black comedy directed by and starring Burt Reynolds as a terminally ill man whose suicide attempts keep failing; written by Jerry Belson, with Dom DeLuise and Sally Field, released by United Artists.
The Executioner
The Executioner (El verdugo, 1963) is a Spanish-Italian black comedy by Luis García Berlanga in which undertaker José Luis (Nino Manfredi) marries executioner Amadeo's daughter and inherits the state executioner's post; Venice FIPRESCI winner, Franco-era satire of capital punishment.
The Exterminating Angel
The Exterminating Angel (El ángel exterminador) is Luis Buñuel's 1962 Mexican surrealist satire in which dinner guests cannot leave a mansion salon; Cannes FIPRESCI winner, first NYFF opener, basis of Adès's opera and Sondheim's Here We Are.
The Family Game (家族ゲーム)
The Family Game (家族ゲーム, Kazoku gēmu) is Yoshimitsu Morita's 1983 Japanese black comedy, adapted from Honma Yohei's Subaru Prize novel, in which eccentric tutor Yoshimoto (Matsuda Yusaku) disrupts the exam-obsessed Numata family; it topped the 1983 Kinema Junpo Best Ten.
The Garage (Гараж)
The Garage (Гараж) is a 1979 Mosfilm satirical comedy by Eldar Ryazanov and Emil Braginsky about a garage co-op meeting where members must choose who loses a garage, based on a real Mosfilm co-op meeting; 28.5 million Soviet viewers saw it after its 10 March 1980 premiere.
The Gazebo
The Gazebo (1959) is an MGM black comedy directed by George Marshall, starring Glenn Ford, Debbie Reynolds, and Carl Reiner, adapted from Alec Coppel's 1958 Broadway play about a TV writer burying a blackmailer under a garden gazebo; Oscar-nominated for costume design.
The Hospital
The Hospital is a 1971 American black comedy satire directed by Arthur Hiller, written by Paddy Chayefsky, starring George C. Scott and Diana Rigg; it won the 1972 Oscar for Best Screenplay and the Golden Berlin Bear.
The House of Yes
The House of Yes is a 1997 Miramax black comedy, Mark Waters's directorial debut adapted from Wendy MacLeod's 1990 play, starring Parker Posey as the Kennedy-obsessed Jackie-O in an incestuous twin relationship at Thanksgiving; Sundance Grand Jury Prize nominee.
The Magician (1958 film)
The Magician (Ansiktet, "The Face") is Ingmar Bergman's 1958 Swedish black-and-white comedy-drama about mesmerist Dr. Vogler (Max von Sydow) and his troupe tested by skeptical officials in 1846 Stockholm; it won the 1959 Venice jury special prize.
The Mouse That Roared
The Mouse That Roared: 1959 satirical comedy directed by Jack Arnold, adapted from Leonard Wibberley's 1955 novel, starring Peter Sellers in three roles as tiny Grand Fenwick declares war on the US to lose, accidentally wins, and captures the Q-Bomb.
The Naked Truth
The Naked Truth (1957), aka Your Past Is Showing, is a British black comedy directed by Mario Zampi, written by Michael Pertwee, starring Terry-Thomas, Peter Sellers, Peggy Mount, Shirley Eaton, and Dennis Price as a blackmailer.
The National Health
The National Health, or Nurse Norton's Affair, is a 1973 Jack Gold film adapted by Peter Nichols from his 1969 National Theatre play, satirizing the NHS by contrasting a rundown London hospital with the soap opera Nurse Norton's Affair, starring Lynn Redgrave and Jim Dale.
The Phantom of Liberty
The Phantom of Liberty (Le Fantôme de la liberté) is a 1974 surrealist comedy directed by Luis Buñuel, built as loosely connected episodes without a protagonist.
The Ref
The Ref is a 1994 American black comedy directed by Ted Demme, starring Denis Leary as a burglar who takes a quarreling couple hostage on Christmas Eve.