Author: Rainbow Kursk
The National Day holiday is coming to an end, is it to go out and continue to "add blockage" to people's cities and scenic spots? Or stay at home and watch a movie and eat a melon and smirk? In fact, for military houses, staying at home to relive classic war comedy films should be a good choice.
Picture: In the French movie "Tiger's Mouth", the nun and grandmother drive the protagonists on the road.
In fact, according to the specific positioning of the comedy tone, war comedies include light and funny war films, black humor war films, and war films with tears in laughter. Among them, the most popular thing to see should be the first kind - a light and funny war film, which can be said to be a kind of war film that "laughs to the end". This kind of film always maintains a cheerful tone in the plot, the righteous party has no sacrifice or little loss, the whole film is closer to a farce or burlesque, in order to pursue the obvious comedic effect, the shooting method is highly exaggerated, the characters are caricatured, the plot is bizarre, which is very suitable for watching the film in a festive atmosphere such as National Day.
I. Satire - French war comedy film
When it comes to war comedy films, We have to put French cinema first. French comedy films occupy a mainstream position in the world comedy films, which is not only humorous, but also a manifestation of the French people's optimistic and open-minded attitude towards life and the concept of romantic and funny life. This national thinking characteristic also runs through the whole process of film shooting.
After World War II, French filmmakers looked at the performance of the French government during the war, more of a sense of humiliation after surrender and a sense of guilt after collaborating with the enemy, so most of the war films made were war films that depicted the resistance movement to show the indomitability of the French people in the war.
The same is true in war comedies, in 1966, comedy director Gerald Uri successfully filmed the film "Tiger's Mouth", which became the box office champion in the history of French cinema with more than 17 million admissions, and became a classic of French war comedy films.
Image: The classic poster of the French comedy film Tiger's Mouth.
The film tells that during World War II, a British bomber was hit by German artillery fire while performing the "Mandarin Duck Tea" mission, and three pilots were forced to parachute, and the German army immediately launched a city-wide search. The orchestra conductor played by the famous French comedian Louis de Finés and the painter played by André Bourville mistakenly saved the pilot, and under the cover of the enthusiastic French people, embarked on a thrilling and comical adventure with the German army.
Picture: The heroine in "Tiger's Mouth Escape" is very beautiful, gentle and kind, and she was shocked at that time.
Molière said: "The responsibility of comedy is to correct man's shortcomings through entertainment." French comedians prefer self-deprecation and satire more than filmmakers from other countries, so there are no tall heroes in the film, but the faces of the little people in the city.
Image: The band conductor, played by veteran artist Louis de Finés, is the soul of the film, and he also starred in the classic French comedy series Police Story.
For example, the conductor's harsh but righteous image, the "Mandarin Duck Tea" song hummed in the bathroom, the nun pumpkin vs. motorcycle, the cock-eye plane, etc., and the imposing German invaders were often in a state of being blinded and cute. The film's ingenious character design, exaggerated character performances, and classic comedy sections make this film a model for spoofing fascism.
Picture: The classic bridge section in the movie "Tiger's Mouth Escape" is the Turkish bath singing Mandarin duck tea, the pumpkin battle with the German army, playing the German army, and finally the most classic scene - the cockfighting eye hits the plane, and every time you see this cockfighting eye, you can laugh and cramp.
The 1982 war comedy film King of Kings is another work by Gerald Uri, also known as Coach Gold. The film is a German-French co-production, and it still follows the witty comedy path of "Tiger's Mouth".
In the film, the French male film star Jean Paul Belmondo played a French ace pilot during the First World War, Georges Gavalier, who flew a plane to fight with the German pilot Gantt in the air, from the sky to the ground, and then became a good friend.
Image: Poster of the French comedy film King of Kings.
After the war, Gavalier became a boxing coach, and while participating in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, he met the persecuted Jewish children Carl's family, and with the help of Gantt, who was already a senior German air force officer, escaped the Gestapo and fled the country.
Pictured: Jewish children in the movie "King of Kings" who escaped their days.
French humor runs throughout the film and uses pungent, scathing satire to mercilessly mock the Nazis. In the film, Hitler appears as a sergeant in World War I, the persecuted Jewish uncle is actually the sergeant who commanded Hitler, and Gavalier also mixed into wolf castle to meet Hitler's sister, an old woman who looks exactly like Hitler and cannot marry, which makes people laugh.
Picture: The sister of the fictional Hitler who appeared in "The King of Kings", seeing the "moustache" projected by the shadow, the author really couldn't laugh!
The most powerful passage, of course, is the Gestapo's search for banned books in Jewish bookstores. The Gestapo said that he was smooth, and actually said a word about the Fuehrer's masterpiece "Mein Kampf", which is a forbidden book. When I finally woke up, I was suddenly frightened and scattered. Of course, it's comedy.
Picture: The Gestapo banned books this section is also very funny, one by one are banned books, and finally take out "Mein Kampf" also said forbidden books, and when it was found that it was the Fuehrer's book, he was immediately frightened and respectfully put the book back in the bookcase.
The film Glorious Days directed by Jacques Posnard is also a very good war comedy film. Released in 1976, the film tells the story of a German army unit marching into the small French village of St. Lawrence at the end of World War II, where it is mistaken for a U.S. army by a highly myopic priest, only to discover that it was a German army when the villagers beat gongs and drums to welcome them. So the villagers hid food, hid chickens and eggs in the church, and when the Germans came to worship, a chicken ran out, and the godfather kept the Germans bowing their heads and repenting in order to cover the chickens. In the last paragraph, the male protagonist middle-aged postman rides a bicycle to report to the US army, during which he races with German tanks and US reconnaissance vehicles, and laughs a lot.
Photo: The French comedy film "Glorious Days", in which the scene of the German tank racing and firing cannons is very beautiful.
In addition, "Atlantic Barrier" (1970), "Deep Behind enemy lines to cause earthquakes" (1973), "The Adventures of Eros" (1977) and so on are more classic French war comedy films.
Photo: French comedy film Atlantic Wall.
Photo: Poster of the French comedy film "Deep Behind enemy lines to cause a shock".
Photo: The Adventures of the French comedy film Eros.
2. Comic book genre - American war comedy film
If the French war comedy film is an exaggerated and wonderful theatrical performance, then the American war comedy film continues the spirit of Hollywood, and its main theme is still the American hero, using the conflict of the characters in the film and the gunfight and action scenes to create laughter, and the violence and casualties in the war are handled with a cynical attitude, and even reflect or lash out at the war.
Image: The classic American war comedy "Kelly and His Heroes."
Hutton specializes in war, adventure, and thriller films, and in 1968 he directed the famous World War II film "Blood Stained Snow Mountain Fort". "Kelly and His Heroes" is about a team of hanging American soldiers who accidentally learn that the German army is storing 14,000 gold bars waiting to be transferred in a small town bank, so they decide to form a treasure hunting force and venture across the battle line to grab the gold bars.
Photo: Everyone is very energetic for gold, and Clint Eastwood was still very handsome when he was young.
Under the temptation of the yellow brilliant gold bar, the grass-roots non-commissioned officers and soldiers who were already tired of fighting responded to such an adventure and enthusiastically joined in. This wonderful team received weapons replenishment from the quartermaster department, obtained aerial reconnaissance photos on the general's desk, and also received the support of three "Sherman" tanks and the fire cover of the artillery unit, and even said that the engineering unit helped build the pontoon bridge when encountering the river, and finally even directly persuaded the German "Tiger" tank crew guarding the bank to blast open the vault gate with 88 mm tank guns, and the soldiers of the two countries divided the gold bars together and returned with a full load.
Pictured: The Tiger tank in the film was converted from a Yugoslav T-34 tank and finally helped the U.S. army blast open the vault gate.
In the film, the soldiers in various strange costumes, riding on the "Sherman" tank with loudspeakers and American country music, bravely moving forward from their own fronts for the golden dream, easily write whether it is just an outing, and this series of actions makes the bureaucratic American generals finally find that their soldiers have broken through the German defense line.
Picture: The U.S. army tank unit of Hanger Lang Dang.
Behind the comic hero and funny plot, the film has the serious examination that military films should have, especially in the application of weapons and equipment and tactics, which has made a lot of effort, which can be said to be remarkable. In addition to the unique scenery and cities of Europe, in order to reproduce the weapons and equipment of the World War II period, the Yugoslav military dispatched a large number of American aid equipment obtained after the war, including the M4 "Sherman" tank, the M8 "Greyhound" armored reconnaissance vehicle, the T19 half-track self-propelled howitzer, the M5 high-speed armored tractor, and the full set of bridge equipment of the Zhouqiao unit, while the Soviet-made T-34 medium tank reproduced the mighty "Tiger" tank under the careful creation of the stylist. In terms of light weapons, because Yugoslavia was an important battlefield in the War II war against Germany, and after the war, it received joint assistance from the East and the West, so the "Thomson" submachine gun, MG42 general-purpose machine gun and other famous guns naturally have a lot.
Image: Kelly and His Heroes features a rare battle scene in a comedy movie.
Looking back at this old movie, you will find that many new period war movies have the film's figure. For example, the role of the AMERICAN sniper on the town clock tower reappeared in the film "Saving Private Ryan"; the German steel helmet on the headlights of the "Sherman" tank also appeared on the protagonist "Sherman" tank in the "Rage" film; and the "Sherman" tank destroyed the bridge section of the "Tiger" tank that could not turn around in the alley, which was reinterpreted in the Japanese anime "Girl and The Chariot", which shows the influence of some classic films on future generations.
Image: The old drama bone Terry Savaras starred in "Kelly and His Heroes".
World War II was an unavoidable selection of American war comedy films, such as "The Impostor General" (1958), "Pink Submarine" (1959), "Harry Frig's Secret War" (1968), "You Run Away and I Flee" (1983), "Churchill's Hollywood Career" (2004) and other classics.
Picture: Churchill's Hollywood Career is a masterpiece of American war comedy in the new century.
Even a giant like Steven Spielberg once made a war comedy called "1941" in 1979, which told the funny story of the Japanese submarine "I-19" preparing to attack Hollywood in Los Angeles, but the result was a double bad box office review.
Image: Big director Steven Spielberg also made the war comedy "1941" when he was young.
Just as American films are prolific, American war comedy films that reflect postwar stories are also blooming, with a large number of them, including both large productions and small costs, and basically cover all branches of the military. For example, "Gold Medal Soldier" (1994), "Three-legged Cat Force" (2007), "Tropical Thunder" (2008) talk about land warfare, "Anti-Fighting Condor" (1991), "Flying to the Sun" (1992), and "Submarine Story" (1996) that talk about naval warfare, all of which can make moviegoers laugh.
Image: The American naval combat comedy "Submarine Story", don't say anything, just watch this choppy wave.
3. Gentleman's Body - British war comedy film
Compared with the filmmaking environment in the United States, the post-war Britain is indeed out of reach. Americans' shrewd business acumen and generous material conditions, as well as the liberal spirit in their bones, make them dare to "play" movies. British films pay more attention to their cultural temperament, and the same is true for war comedy films, which are always straight military postures, crutches in the hands of officers, and a serious funny book, which have always been the intrinsic elements of British war comedies.
There are not many war comedy films in Britain, and the subject matter of World War II has always been an important part of this film. The 1961 film Wounded Assault Unit (also known as The Four") tells the story of four wounded British officers in a nursing home who could not withstand the bombardment of Nazi long-range artillery in a nursing home, so they sneaked out of the hospital, crossed the English Channel, came to France under German occupation, and blew up the German long-range artillery hidden in the tunnel in a series of laughter and anger.
Image: British war comedy Wounded Commando.
After the end of the war, in order to protect its own films, the British government stipulated that American films must set aside a relative proportion of the profits made in britain to invest in the British production industry, so there were also American-controlled "British films", such as the famous "Bridge on the River Kwai" (1957). There are also examples of this in war comedies. In 1971, director Norman Cohen released the war comedy film Daddy goes to War, about Mayne Walling, the stereotypical bank manager of a British seaside town, who wants to join the local volunteer army, but he is rejected by the recruiting station in his old age. To this end, the old gentleman Main Wallin gathered a group of enthusiastic old men in the town who wanted to join the army to form an old volunteer army, armed himself with his brain, and also dismantled the bathtub at home to develop anti-submarine devices.
Image: 2016 edition of "Daddy on the Battlefield".
The old but handsome old men were brave and fearless, successfully dismantled the destruction of three German spies, and won the respect and love of the townspeople. The film was a great success, with a new version of "Daddy on the Battlefield" remade in 2016.
Photo: At the premiere of the 2016 edition of "Daddy on the Battlefield", Catherine Zeta-Jones was incredibly beautiful.
In 2002, John Henderson's British film Dragon Tiger (aka Dentist on the Battlefield) continued the style of Daddy on the Battlefield. The film tells the story of an old sergeant and a young army dentist who have been in the rear base, and after seeing the documentary on the front line, decide to blow up the German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneschenau to realize their dream of making a contribution.
At the train station, the two sent their pay bags to Churchill and said they would hit France. On the train, the two evaded the inspection of the military police and obtained a fishing boat on the English Channel to reach France. The two British soldiers, who had only 2 pistols and some grenades, stumbled and stumbled upon a Straits radar station, and after some secret infiltration destroyed the radar antenna and equipment station.
On the way back to Britain, the fishing boat ran out of oil and encountered a mine, and finally exploded and was rescued by the British army as a spy and sent to court-martial. The judge did not believe in any nonsense that hit France, and when the verdict was about to be pronounced, Churchill's chief of staff came to the court to confirm the heroic feats of the two men, but the sentence "They did not blow up the control room of the equipment, they blew up the German kitchen" made the audience laugh.
Image: The British comedy film The Dentist Goes to War.
In recent years, there have been few British live-action war comedy films, but more in the animation films. For example, the well-known "War Pigeon Agent" (2005), a masterpiece by director Gary Chapman, tells the anti-fascist war of a group of pigeons. Another example is the director Edward McHenry and Rory McHenry's muppet animated film Boots on Whitehall Street (2010), in which the actors are all 12-inch soldiers and female Barbie dolls, telling the story of Luftwaffe Field Marshal Goering, Propaganda Minister Goebbels, and SS leader Himmler came up with a brilliant plan to dig an undersea tunnel through the English Channel to directly capture London! A group of villagers served as the last line of defense against the Nazis.
Image: The British war comedy Boots on Whitehall Street, an all-character actor.
4. Yanyi Style: Chinese War Comedy Films
Chinese comedy films have a long history, and Bayi Factory has also shot many comedy films depicting military themes or military-related films, such as "Brothers Are Good" in 1962, which left a deep impression on the older generation. But strictly speaking, these films are comedies, but most of them depict the life of military personnel in peacetime, not real war comedy films.
At the same time, in the 1950s and 1960s, a large number of dramas depicting the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, or military teaching films, were also filmed, which instead "laughed" continuously and "laughed" frequently, and vividly expressed the combat methods of the enemy and us in the form of edutainment. The most famous are, of course, Mine Warfare, Tunnel Warfare, Little Soldier Zhang Ga, Plain Guerrilla, etc., fat translators eat watermelons, and mines, Japanese soldiers with guns across... It left us with lingering collective memories. Of course, from the perspective of artistic conception, although these films have comedic elements, they are not comedic thinking, but "lyrical revolutionary dramas" recognized and respected by the mainstream ideology in a specific historical period, which is a kind of "mythical" and "deductive" art.
Picture: "Tunnel Warfare", "Mine Warfare" and other childhood classics have comedic elements, but in general, they are still the main drama.
The real sense of war comedy films in China was born relatively late, the reason is that on the one hand, it is related to national psychology, especially the national hatred left by the eight-year War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, which is difficult to eliminate, and the comedy of anti-Japanese war films needs a process of acceptance, which is similar to the development of post-war French war comedy films. On the other hand, China's literary and art circles have long adhered to the creative principle of "literature to carry the tao", highlighting the slow development of entertainment film varieties.
Image: Many of the lines in films such as Mine Warfare have become classics.
In the 1990s, major changes occurred in the concept of social thought, and a number of war comedy films with comedic thinking, comedic spirit and comedy skills came into being. The first domestic war comedy film to approach the significance of Western comedy was "Sanmao Congjun" (1992), which is also the most outstanding war comedy film so far. In China, most comedic effects rely on the screenwriter's line setting and the actor's line rhyme, which is the triumph of a language, which relies on the heritage of ancient Chinese culture.
Photo: "Sanmao's Military Record" can be said to be a rare excellent war comedy in China.
And "Sanmao From the Army" partially gave up the language advantage, imitated the Western comedy film technique design, and increased the role of performance. For example, when showing the funny military training of the Kuomintang, the picture of a group of ducks running left and right and the footage of the parade performance are edited into a metaphorical montage, and the Kuomintang military training is regarded as the running of a group of ducks. When digging trenches, the commander asked to dig an extra foot, shot at the stool in the battle, took the bench with him when retreating, and fell into a deep ditch when the Japanese army occupied the trench, which showed the wisdom of the commander of the operation at that time.
Pictured: The diminutive Japanese soldiers occupied the trenches dug deep, but they could not reach the upper edge.
In addition, the film also reflects the pursuit of the spirit of Yue Wumu, a Chinese child who grew up watching and listening to The Acting, from the root is full of worship of heroes, "Sanmao feels that he is one of countless Yue Wumu." Facts have also proved that under the current great enemy, everyone in the Chinese nation can become a hero, even if it is a child who does not do anything more.
Image: Sanmao, played by Jia Lin, is as evocative as in the comics.
Similar films include "The Devil Is Coming", "Bullfighting", "Raise Your Hand", "Chasing Awa Maru" and several other films, but overall, there are not many excellent domestic war comedy movies.
Picture: Comedy film "Raise Your Hand" series, to be honest, the development of Chinese war comedy films is slower, which is related to national psychology, especially the national hatred left by the eight-year War of Resistance, the comedy of the War of Resistance Against Japan films needs a process of acceptance, and the same is true of other wars after the founding of the People's Republic of China.
5. Conclusion
In addition to the war comedy films introduced above, there are also many interesting films in other countries, such as the Czech "Good Soldier Shuai ke" (1957), "Don't Force Me to Fire" (1998), Poland's "How I Triggered World War II" (1970), Italy's "Italian War" (1966), South Korea's "Welcome to Dongmo Village" (2005), etc., which can leave a laugh for everyone in the time reserved for National Day!