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A very early comedy which relied very much on the use of slapstick and burlesque. Produced by the Lumiere Brothers
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The most prominent comic actors of the silent era were Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd.
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In the 1920's a popular trend of animated characters came into fashion.
Several of the populated animated characters were Felix the Cat, Mickey Mouse, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, and Betty Boop. -
Towards the end of the 20's and into the 30's sound was introduced into movies, with the 'Silence' being replaced by humorous dialogue from film comedians such as the W. C. Fields and the Marx Brothers
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In the 1930's Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy made a number of very popular short silent films, useing sound to deepen their screen characterizations and enhance their visual humour.
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Comedian Charlie Chaplin was one of the last silent films, his films during the 1930s were devoid of dialogue, although they did employ sound effects.
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USA entering World War II caused many comedy films become 'War' related.
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In England, in the late 40's achieved sucess and recived critics for a series of films known as the "Ealing Comedies" from 1947 - 1957.
The cast often included Alec Guinness or Stanley Holloway.
Most famous films were Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), The Lavender Hill Mob (1951) and he Ladykillers (1955). -
The emergence of new stars came through
Judy Holliday, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis were among the best. -
British Film Industry produced a number of succesful comedy films such as Private's Progress (1956) and I'm All Right, Jack (1959)
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Increased number of broad, star packed comedies including It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965) and The Great Race (1965).
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The succesful production of The Pink Panther in 1963.
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The black comedies Catch 22 and M*A*S*H reflected the anti-war sentiment then prevalent, as well as including the topic of suicide.
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British Films were spin off's of TV series including 'Dads Army' and 'On The Buses'
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The 'Monty Python' team produced succesful comedy movies : And Now for Something Completely Different (1971), Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) and Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979)
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Eddie Murphy starred in both 48 HRS (1982) and Beverly Hills Cop series (1984 - 1993) which were famous.
Eddie Murphy would become a world wide name, known for his part in comedy films. -
New upcoming and popular comedy stars were rising, Dudley Moore, Tom Hanks, Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd being several of them.
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In the 1990' the re-emergence of romantic comedies was released, encouraging films such as Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), Sliding Doors (1998) and Notting Hill (1999)
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Using social status of people, films like Brassed Off (1996) and The Full Monty (1997)
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Borat was the re-emergence of serious black comedy, using blended vulgar humour with cultural satire to appeal to the audience, which was succesful.
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The use of 'gross-out' comedies attracted a younger audience. Some of the films that showed the use of 'gross-out' were There's Something About Mary, American Pie and its sequels, and Freddy Got Fingered.
