The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming! (1966)

Zany comedy about a group of Russian sailors - led by Alan Arkin -  who find themselves stranded on a small, tight-knit New England island town. Not able to speak the language, they try to steal a boat to get off of the island hoping not to encounter any of the locals. Eventually rumors spread all over the island about invaders and everyone panics ("It's all over!" predicts one paranoid resident).

The Russians disguise themselves as as locals

There are some funny sight gags and comedic bits involving the paranoid townsfolk. One bit has Jonathan Winters at the kitchen table with his 8 little children prepping the family about a possible attack. There's a town drunk that's funny, and an old woman who gets tied to a chair while her near-sighted husband hardly notices.

But there are some softer moments, too, especially the scenes involving one of the Russians falling in love with a young woman.  Carl Reiner and Eva Marie Saint are the only two people who know why the Russians are there and try to explain it to everyone else. Another voice of reason is Brian Keith, who plays the police chief. Also starring Theodore Bikel.

It's an enjoyable satire about paranoia in the days before cable news, the internet, smart phones phones, and Twitter.

Hellzapoppin (1941)

This is a really funny movie. It's a zany, madcap musical-comedy that was unlike other films at the time. The style is similar to Airplane movies of the 1980s. In fact, some of the jokes in this film were used again in that movie 40 years later, such as a scene where a guy says, "I want to take some pictures" and then removes some framed photos from the wall.

In another funny gag, my favorite in the film, two actors are forced to pause in the middle of their scene when a surprise "announcement" summons a delinquent kid from the movie theater audience to get up, leave, and go home. I saw this in a theater screening with a crowd of people including some children, so this scene worked well.

The film is based on an interactive theatrical comedy show of the same name.

So in the movie, characters talk directly to the camera, and they are always acknowledging that they are in a motion picture.

The brainchildren of this show are a team know as Olsen and Johnson, who are best remembered for this play and film version. Also starring Martha Raye, Mischa Auer, and Shemp Howard, who plays the bumbling projectionist of the film, which explains why some scenes are out of focus at times. Very funny - you have to see it to believe it.

I don't think this is officially on DVD yet, but it really should be.

Another blog post about this movie from For It Is A Man's Number here.