Best Comedy Movies of 1951

Jerry Mulligan is an exuberant American expatriate in Paris trying to make a reputation as a painter. His friend Adam is a struggling concert pianist who's a long time associate of a famous French singer, Henri Baurel. A lonely society woman, Milo Roberts, takes Jerry under her wing and supports him, but is interested in more than his art.

The unassuming, nebbishy inventor Sidney Stratton creates a miraculous fabric that will never be dirty or worn out. Clearly he can make a fortune selling clothes made of the material, but may cause a crisis in the process. After all, once someone buys one of his suits they won't ever have to fix them or buy another one, and the clothing industry will collapse overnight. Nevertheless, Sidney is determined to put his invention on the market, forcing the clothing factory bigwigs to resort to more desperate measures...

Daffy Duck and Bugs argue back and forth whether it is duck season or rabbit season. The object of their arguments is hunter Elmer Fudd.

Tom has been out late carousing with his chums. When he gets home, Mammy won't take any excuses, and insists he stay awake; Jerry, overhearing, thus tries a number of schemes to get Tom to sleep.

Bugs gets involved in a wrestling match to save Ravishing Ronald from the Crusher.

Successful and well-liked, Dr. Noah Praetorius becomes the victim of a witchhunt at the hands of Professor Elwell, who disdains Praetorius's unorthodox medical views and also questions his relationship with the mysterious, ever-present Mr. Shunderson.

Sylvester Cat finds that his people have gone on vacation and left him alone in a locked house with a large stash of canned food in a cupboard. Sylvester needs a can opener, or he'll starve. And a pesky mouse has the only can opener in the house and torments Sylvester into trying more and more desperate measures to obtain it.

When an eccentric practical joker dies, he divides his fortune among four heirs. But before they can collect the cash they must each do something which goes completely against their nature. NB: This is the film which introduced Audrey Hepburn.

Ellen McNulty leaves her New Jersey hamburger stand and heads west to pay a surprise visit to her son and his new bride. When Ellen arrives, her daughter-in-law mistakes her for the maid she has hired for a big party they are throwing. Rather than cause any embarrassment, Ellen goes along with the charade, which leads to many complications.

When the Lemon Drop Kid accidentally cheats gangster Moose Moran out of his track winnings, the Kid promises to repay Moose the money by Christmas. Creating a fake charity for "Apple Annie" Nellie Thursday, the Kid tricks his gang into donning Santa suits and "collecting dough for old dolls" like Nellie who have nowhere to live.

Paul Douglas stars, with Janet Leigh, as the hot-tempered Pittsburgh Pirates manager whose hard-luck team goes on a winning streak thanks to some heavenly intervention.

The Winfield family moves into a new house in a small town in Indiana. Tomboy Marjorie Winfield begins a romance with William Sherman who lives across the street. Marjorie has to learn how to dance and act like a proper young lady. Unfortunately William Sherman has unconventional ideas for the time. His ideas include not believing in marriage or money, which causes friction with Marjorie's father, who is the local bank vice president

Boxer Tommy Nelson is accused of killing his manager. While detectives Bud and Lou investigate they come across an invisibility formula with which Tommy injects himself rather than face the police. This sparks an idea for trapping gangster Morgan by having Lou fight champ Rocky Hanlon, with Tommy's invisible help.

Tom and Ellen are asked to perform as a dance team in England at the time of Princess Elizabeth's wedding. As brother and sister, each develops a British love interest, Ellen with Lord John Brindale and Tom with dancer Anne Ashmond.

Slip, Sach and the gang (Bowery Boys) think an air-raid test is for real and join the Army.

Sixty-five-year-old John Hodges must retire from Acme Printing. He later impersonates the president of the parent company and arrives at his old plant on an inspection tour. Acme president McKinley is so nervous not even his beautiful secretary Harriet can calm him. McKinley's wife Lucille becomes infatuated with Hodges. Many further complications ensue.

In this sequel to Father of the Bride, newly married Kay Dunstan announces that she and her husband are going to have a baby, leaving her father having to come to grips with the fact that he will soon be a granddad.

Shemp is a sick man, suffering from hallucinations. His worst vision is that his ugly nurse Nora is actually beautiful. When Moe and Larry come to take him home from the sanitarium, they discover he's become engaged to Nora. On the way to Nora's apartment for the wedding, the boys get in a fight with a stranger who promises to get even with them if he ever sees them again. They arrive to finding Nora waiting for her father, who, when he arrives, turns out to be the man they just fought with.

In this fast-paced remake of the Muarice Chavlier vehicle Folies Bergere, talented Danny Kaye plays both a performer and a heroic French military pilot.

Pretty Melinda Howard has been abroad singing with a musical troupe. She decides to return home to surprise her mother whom she thinks is a successful Broadway star with a mansion in Manhattan. She doesn't know that her mother is actually a burnt-out cabaret singer with a love for whiskey. When she arrives at the mansion, she is taken in by the two servants who are friends of her mother's. The house actually belongs to Adolph Hubbell, a kind-hearted Broadway producer who also gets drawn into the charade. Hubbell takes a shine to Melinda and agrees to star her in his next show. Melinda also finds romance with a handsome hoofer who's also in the show. All is going well for Melinda except that she wants to see her mother who keeps putting off their reunion.

Al Stewart and Wilbert are magicians doing a stage act when they run into Wilbert's cousin, Dorothy McCoy. They find out that Wilbert's grandfather, Squeeze-box McCoy, had treasure hidden in the hills of Kentucky, which they go to find.

A burlesque comic doubles for a spy in Tangier and meets the spy's girlfriend, who is also a spy.

Sgt. Mike Kincaid of the French Foreign Legion learns, from a Riff prisoner, that an attack will soon be made by the villainous Hussin on the Legion's outpost of Tarfa. Kincaid volunteers to lead nine other Legionnaires on a mission to delay Hussin's attack till reinforcements arrive. When he discovers that Hussin plans to marry Mahla, a girl from a rival tribe, in order to build a coalition against the French, Kincaid kidnaps Mahla. Hussin forcefully takes her back, but by now his planned attack on Tarfa is crumbling and Mahla has begun to fall in love with Kincaid.

Jim and Connie's postwar New York building troubles keep Jim from working on his novel. Ex-WAC from Jim's army days Roberta moves in, further upsetting Connie but pleasing Jim's friend Ed. Tenant Charley, who marries tenant Eadie, loans money to Jim to help him keep the building, money which this Casanova obtains from rich widows.

Jack Jackson, the greatest football player in Ridgefield College history, is disappointed that his only son Junior is an uncoordinated, allergy-ridden bookworm. He uses his athletic reputation and standing as #1 alumni contributor to pressure the coach to take Junior onto the team. In addition, he pays the tuition of Junior's financially needy classmate Bill Baker, a potential all-American, with the understanding that he will room with Junior and mentor him athletically and socially. Junior's initial efforts as quarterback prove disastrous and further complications arise when the room mates both fall in love with the same co-ed.

A woman divorces her husband of 20 years because he gambles too much.

The stooges are delivering some Arabian antiques, which include a magic lamp complete with genie. Three Arabian bad guys are after the magic lamp, but the stooges defeat them once they get the "genius", (as Shemp calls the genie) on their side.

At the gates of Heaven, the admitting officials have a hard time understanding a newcomer's life story with all his contemporary slang.

After eating their fill at a cheese factory, Hubie and Bertie decide there is nothing left to live for, and try to get Claude Cat to eat them.

College prof Peter Boyd tries to salvage his professional and personal reputation by using a lab chimp to prove that environment trumps heredity in behavioral development.

Songwriter Gus Kahn fights to make his name, then has to fight again to survive the Depression.

Foreign correspondent Pete Garvey has 5 days to win back his former fiancée, or he'll lose the orphans he adopted.

A muscular dog exploits a cat and a mouse for food, but they keep forgetting to bring him gravy!

Yosemite Sam hunts Bugs Bunny. Bugs covers Sam's gun with bubble gum, causing Sam to blast himself inside a big bubble. Sam next forces Bugs into his cabin, where Bugs fools Sam into thinking there is a party going on in his oven.

Tom has amnesia and believes he's a mouse. Jerry, finding him more obnoxious as a fellow rodent than as a cat, seeks to cure him with a blow to the head.

Butler Droopy gets his twin brother Drippy a job as assistant butler, causing trouble for Butch, who is trying to mooch an easy meal but can't tell the difference between the kind Droopy and the violence-prone Drippy.

Tom has plans to take a nice long nap in a hammock, but Jerry has gotten there first and is snoozing happily, so the two fight it out to see who gets to sleep there.

The naive Evelyn Warren, elected school teacher of the year by Time Magazine, goes to Las Vegas, where she loses a lot of money. In order to pay her debts, casino manager Matt Braddock asks her to take care of his sad little daughter Diana.

In 1492, Bugs Bunny sails the ocean blue, as mascot for Christopher Columbus.

A marriage broker can't resist meddling in the life of a model, with disastrous results.

A hungry cat disguises herself as a skunk to get in on feeding time at the zoo, but amorous Pepe thinks she's the real thing and pours on his Maurice Chevalier impression to win her over.

Yosemite Sam and Bugs battle it out over property rights above Bugs' rabbit hole.

The Kettles leave their ultra-modern home and return to the country looking for uranium. Ma and Tom's mother-in-law, Mrs. Parker, fight over whether their grandchild will be raised "hygiencially."

Droopy and Spike are applying for the job of Dare Devil Dog at the Circus, and the one who give the best performance in a variety of "feats of strength and daring" will get it.

Stan and Ollie are marooned on an atoll. This was their last film together.

Christy Sloane is sent on a business trip to inform radio personality Peter Lockwood that his uncle has died and left him $2 million. Christy, who's in financial straits, decides to try to snag Peter. Zany hijinks ensue and romantic sparks fly.

Joe, inventor in an American Small town of 1895 has problems with his new invention, a car, driven with a gasoline motor. Everybody is making fun about his "crazy invention", only his girl friend believes in him. When he's halfway successful, another woman tries to win his heart, and his girl-friend thinks he has quit with her. But on a race for those new horse-less vehicles, he gets in trouble and only his former girl friend is able to help him.

Encore is a 1951 anthology film composed of adaptations of three short stories by W. Somerset Maugham: "The Ant and the Grasshopper", directed by Pat Jackson and adapted by T. E. B. Clarke; "Winter Cruise", helmed by Anthony Pelissier, screenplay by Arthur Macrae; "Gigolo and Gigolette", directed by Harold French, written by Eric Ambler. It is the last film in a Maugham trilogy, preceded by Quartet and Trio.

Collection of classic Tex Avery visual gags, set up as a battle between a sleep-deprived bulldog who just wants some shut-eye and a rooster driven by his natural instincts to crow all night long.