The Big Parade of Comedy (1964)

Wow. This collection of clips was disjointed, not funny at all and edited extremely poorly.Carole Lombard was only shown in one brief clip. She was an extremely talented comedienne and this film did not do her justice at all.The Jean Harlow clips shown were adequate and they did show one of her funniest scenes (with Marie Dressler in Dinner At Eight).Cary Grant was shown only briefly. The man was much funnier than the clips led us to believe.I could go on and on, but my point would remain the same: don't waste your time on this movie. Not only is it poorly made, it is also insanely boring.

A better title would have been "Our Big Stars and Some Special Effects "... Much of it is just film run backward and sight gags... ie the train scenes at the beginning... smoke going back into the stack, and when the handcart gets out of the way at the last second at the bottom of the mountainside, watch for the big puff of sand right BEFORE the cart moves.. not after. This review would probably be more interesting for those who haven't seen the specific films highlighted here. It's a whole bunch of short clips from their big films. Written, directed, produced by Robert Youngson, who even wrote the lyrics to a lot of the accompanying (bad) songs to the clips. Melodies by Bernard Green... must have taken them about eight minutes during the lunch hour to come up with those songs. Gotta mark this one down... you can skip it if you've seen most of the films involved.

This uneven documentary by Robert Youngson, basically showcases MGM's comic talented stars in films produced at the studio. Some performers fare better than others, as we keep hoping for more. One can guess because the limitations of the format, it could only include just so much when there were so many stars from where to choose from.There is a wonderful sequence of Oliver Hardy and Stan Laurel with Lupe Velez. The comedy team of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello are seen in scenes from "Rio Rita". The Marx Brothers classic "Going West" train routine is shown. Best of all, in our humble opinion, Greta Garbo laughing and having a good time in "Ninotchka" and "Two Faced Woman". The wonderful Dave O'Brien is also showcased doing his Pete Smith character.William Powell, Jean Harlow, Marie Dressler, Wallace Beery, and the others in the film are seen at some of the funniest moments of their MGM's heyday.

Many clips from the silent era through MGM's heyday. The editing could have been tighter--some sequences went on too long and others way too short--but I suspect the filmmakers wanted to make sure they didn't leave out any of the stars. Nevertheless, this is overall a funny stroll down memory lane.