I started off this article thinking about crime comedy, and the distinct lack of films in that area, I picked the first two films immediately and was thinking about other films I can put in that I love. I started searching and started putting in all manner of films I had not considered at first films like “The Lady Killers”, “One of our Dinosaurs is Missing”, “Hot Millions”, “Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels” (trust me, though I ping from kids film to adult I am looking at quality and meaning not suitability).

When it occurred to me there are plenty of comedy films in the “Crime” genre, but that is not what I was really going for. I wanted films based around the detectives not the criminals. Alec Guinness alone has some of the best films in “The Lady Killers”, “The Lavender Hill Mob”, and “Kind Hearts and Coronets”.

Then it stuck me, the first two films had come easily. They a films of genius that you may not have heard of (though I hope you will see). The last is a collection of film that screams so obviously that it is in this group, and sets the standard not just of this group of film, but of comedy itself. (more…)