by Ted Sherman

Created on: September 12, 2008

Choosing the ten funniest movie scenes ever was a fun task, because it brought back cherished memories of laughing at some of my favorite comedians when they were at their prime. Some, like Chaplin, have become immortals, while other superbly talented ones, like Danny Kaye and Donald O'Connor, seem to have been totally forgotten. This was my opportunity to bring their names back up to where they belong, among the most talented in Hollywood history.

1. The Gold Rush (1925) was probably Charlie Chaplin's best film of the silent era, maybe of all his films. The starving prospectors scene is an unmatched classic. The familiar Little Tramp character boils his high-top shoe, and then grandly sits at the table as if he were a gourmet diner. He slices off several pieces and seems to enjoy them, delicately winds the laces on his fork as if they were spaghetti and ends by nibbling on each shoe nail as if it were a piece of chicken bone.

2. The Court Jester (1955) is a Medieval tale of a lowly jester (Danny Kaye) who's chosen by a princess (Angela Lansbury) to be her bridegroom. To earn enough rank to wed her, he must go through the rituals of knighthood. This includes a joust to the death, and as he's about to mount his horse, he's told by court lady Griselda (Mildred Natwick) his life is in danger. She says he will be given a choice of wines, and one cup will be poisoned. Then the hilarious scene evolves with the great Danny Kaye fast patter of misunderstanding. "The pellet with the poison is in the vessel with the pestle. The chalice from the palace has the brew that is true". When her instructions change, Kaye goes to his horse totally confused, with variations of "the pellet with the poison's in the flagon with the dragon. The vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true"

3. Duck Soup (1933) is one of the many Marx Brothers classics of the 1930s. Among many hilarious scenes is the famed mirror routine. Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho) looks at himself in what he thinks is a full-length mirror. He makes some gestures and dance routines as the mirror image at first does the same. Then, Groucho, in a nighcap and nightgown, gets more animated, and we realize that the other figure is obviously a live Harpo, also in a nightgown and wearing a Groucho moustache. Eventually the scene crumbles into shambles as Chico, in yet another Groucho nightgown, adds to the mayhem.

4. Some Like It Hot (1959) is a great movie in many ways, and full of funny scenes. However, the best of all

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