Classic Comedies From Hollywoods Golden Age

"[Godfrey] ...a Depression-era gem that, after 70 years, is still potently topical.  Bill Schwartz, Reel.com
"[General] Keaton is a wonderful treasure no matter the movie...  Marjorie Baurngarten, Austin Chronicle
"[Friday] ...some of the snappiest dialogue and the most crackling chemistry of the era...  Sarah Chauncey, Reel.com

Editor's Note This collection of vintage comedy films is packed full of laughs. Among the titles included are THE GOLD RUSH, MY MAN GODFREY, THE GENERAL, LIFE WITH FATHER, HIS GIRL FRIDAY, NOTHING SACRED, and THE INSPECTOR GENERAL. Please see individual titles for synopsis information.

	Buster Keaton
	Carole Lombard
	Cary Grant
	Charles Chaplin
	Danny Kaye
	Georgia Hale
	Harold Lloyd
	William Powell
	Charles Chaplin - Director
	Clyde Bruckman - Director
	Gregory La Cava - Director
	Howard Hawks - Director

Ozus' World Movie Reviews 8 of 10
[Godfrey] A Depression-era sophisticated screwball comedy directed by Gregory La Cava ("Stage Door") that age has taken some toll on, though its whimsical winning nature still comes through...There's some social commentary, but it's mostly an escapist feel-good fantasy pic tailor-made for the time. What still holds up are the zippy performances by the ensemble cast and the overall energy. But in telling about the different classes, its depiction is as empty headed as the usual Hollywood generalizations of the idle rich and the noble poor. - Dennis Schwartz

DVD Town 8 of 10
[Gold] Produced, written, and directed by as well as starring Chaplin, his inspirations were the Klondike gold strikes of the late nineteenth century and the Donner Party a half century earlier. The anticipation of finding easy money in the Yukon and Alaska sent thousands of men scurrying north, while the unrelated Donner Party of Western settlers met with tragic results and reports of cannibalism. Chaplin would sew elements of these two situations together into the fabric of tragicomedy. It's what he did best: combining pathos and humor, and his Little Tramp was the perfect vehicle for the job. - John J. Puccio

Chicago Sun-Times 9 of 10
[General] Today I look at Keaton's works more often than any other silent films. They have such a graceful perfection, such a meshing of story, character and episode, that they unfold like music. Although they're filled with gags, you can rarely catch Keaton writing a scene around a gag; instead, the laughs emerge from the situation; he was "the still, small, suffering center of the hysteria of slapstick,'' wrote the critic Karen Jaehne. And in an age when special effects were in their infancy, and a ``stunt'' often meant actually doing on the screen what you appeared to be doing, Keaton was ambitious and fearless. - Roger Ebert