I was surprised to learn this compilation was put together in 1964, by that time MGM should have been able to put together a more coherent and cohesive product. It's got plenty of comedy stars as the title implies, but it's put together rather randomly and with no expressed central idea. Beginning with the silent films of the 1920's, the picture wends it's way through the Thirties right up to a Red Skelton picture made in 1948 - "A Southern Yankee". Whereas the early film clips presented were short and to the point, the longer this went on it seemed like the segments got longer and longer for each picture selected as representative for their respective stars. This wasn't what I was expecting, and actually thought it would be more like another picture I just recently watched called "Hollywood My Home Town" (1965) which featured a lot more candid clips of celebrities of the era 1927 through the early Sixties. If you're a major movie fan you've probably caught many of the movies on display here, but at least in my case the picture provided the inspiration to record a film offered on Turner Classics that I'll get to in due course. I've seen Marie Dressler's name pop up more and more on my radar lately, so I'll be looking forward to her team up with Wallace Beery in 1930's "Min and Bill".
Review of The Big Parade of Comedy
