German Film: German Comedy an Oxymoron?

Cafe Society
1

I’ve been trying to think of the best German (film) comedies of all time and have had trouble coming up with more than 3 or 4 examples. Any German film experts out there?

2

I have a video of Viktor und Viktoria (1933), with Renate Müller, that is delightful—just as light and funny as any pre-Code Hollywood comedy.

3

I’m not sure about film, but German sitcoms are just painful.

4

Wasn’t Ernst Lubitsch German? Never seen his German films though but I would imagine they are good.

5

What are other examples of German comic films? I thought of:

“Sonnenallee”
“Der Stand der Dinge”
“Maenner”
“Heisse Sommer”
“Der Untertan”

6

Heinz Erhardt would qualify. The rest of German film comedians is IMHO not funny.
Diester Hallervorden, Otto Waalkens, Bully Herbiger or erkan und Stefan also come to my mind. But as I stated, they are not funny…

7

There are a whole bunch of “Porky’s” type of junk films that pop up every once in awhile, and some of the old films from the 50’s and 60’s with Heinz Ruhman were pretty funny. A few years ago there was a “is he gay or isn’t he” film (title escapes me at the moment) that was kind of funny. Many years ago there was the gay classic “Taxi Zum Klo” that was a big hit in the US as well. But to be honest, there aren’t a whole lot of comedy films.
Although, from the crap that has been released in the US of late, there ain’t a whole lot here either.

I always thought it would be funny to have a question on Jeopardy or the Family Feud Show be “Famous German Comedians”…just to see the faces on the contestants.

8

How about the Max Davidson series?

Although that was more “Jewish humor” than “German humor.”

9

Max Davidson? All his films were made in the US, weren’t they? Hilarious stuff—saw some at a film festival and fell out of my chair.

10

One of the best films I’ve seen this year remains In July, a highly entertaining and original romantic comedy road movie. I also saw this year What to Do in Case of Fire? which, despite some serious moments, is mostly a comedy (and a pretty good one, too).

According to the IMDB, the highest rated (by IMDB voters) German comedies (feature length) are:

Professor Columbus (1968)
Detective Lovelorn und die Rache des Pharao (2002)
The Case of Mr. Spalt (1988)
The Ballad of Berlin (1948)