If "Laughter is the best medicine," this year's lineup of feature films is bound to be good for you. And as a bonus, each screening will be accompanied by a classic cartoon. Appetizers for our feast of humor!

THE ESSAYS for each film are linked from the title. And because of some last minute chnages in our program, there are excellent bonus essays for the cult sensation Peking Opera Blues (1986) and Chaplin's classic The Gold Rush (1925).

	Duck Soup (1933) Screenplay by Bert Kalmar & Harry Ruby (story). Arthur Sheekman & Nat Perrin (additional dialogue). Directed by Leo McCarey. The Marx Brothers. Need we say more? OK, Groucho becomes president of Freedonia. Need we say more?
	Annie Hall (1977) Written by Woody Allen & Marshall Brickman. Directed by Woody Allen. A love affair between a Jewish comedian and a midwestern girl becomes a ripe opportunity for one-liners and hilarious moments from New York to LA. This Woody Allen classic won best picture, screenplay, director, and actress (Diane Keaton) in 1977.
	The General (1927) Based on William Pittenger's memoir "The Great Locomotive Chase" adapted by Al Boasberg, Clyde Bruckman, Buster Keaton, Charles Henry Smith, Paul Girard Smith (uncredited). Directed by Clyde Bruckman, Buster Keaton. Johnnie loves his train ("The General") and Annabelle Lee. When he's turned down for service in the Civil War because he's more valuable as an engineer, Annabelle thinks it's because he's a coward. Union spies capture The General with Annabelle on board. Keaton's brilliant physical and deadpan comedy skills to the rescue...
	The Lady Eve (1941) Written by Monckton Hoffe (story), Preston Sturges. Directed by Preston Sturges. A Preston Sturges take on the screwball comedy. Barbara Stanwyck plays the title trickster opposite Henry Fonda as the straight millionaire simpleton. A bewitching performance from Stanwyck under the direction of one of Hollywood's best satirists.
	Delicatessen (1991) Screenplay by Gilles Adrien, Marc Caro, Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Directed by Marc Caro, Jean-Pierre Jeunet. An inventive stylish and darkly amusing tale of a post apocalyptic world where meat is scarce. Get it where ya can find it... Oh yes, there's a love story. Did I mention it was French?
	The Big Lebowski (1998) Written by Ethan Coen & Joel Coen. Directed by Joel Coen. Jeff Bridges is The Dude, an LA hippie with a penchant for White Russians, who gets confused with a millionaire from Pasadena. Throw in a porn producer, German nihilists, and a bowler named Jesus - it must be from the Coen Brothers.
	Blazing Saddles (1974) Story by Andrew Bergman. Screenplay by Mel Brooks & Norman Steinberg & Andrew Bergman & Richard Pryor & Alan Uger. Directed by Mel Brooks. Every genre eventually moves to parody, and westerns have been targets since the silents. But Mel Brooks took it so far out of the box and beyond genre... well, it's a gas. A satire of race, prejudice, and bigotry of all kinds.
	One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) Based on the novel by Ken Kesey. Screenplay by Bo Goldman, Lawrence Hauben. Directed by Milos Foreman. It's difficult to look at Jack Nicholson without smiling back at his mischievous grin. Here he goes up against Nurse Ratched in what many see as a darkly humorous satire of a society bent on oppression and conformity. Winner of five Oscars in 1975.
	Rushmore (1998) Written by Wes Anderson & Owen Wilson. Directed by Wes Anderson. Jason Schwartaman plays the extra-curricular king on academic probation at the prep school of Rushmore. Going up against a teacher played by dead-pan Bill Murray, the boy pursues the love of an elementary school teacher. A classic combination of melancholy and humor from Wes Anderson.
	La Vita e Bella (Life Is Beautiful) (1997) Written by Vincenzo Cerami & Roberto Benigni. Directed by Roberto Benigni. Can the Holocaust be funny? For Guido (Roberto Benigni) this is a matter of life and death. Caught up in the horrors of Fascism and a Nazi death camp, he tries to protect his family through love and laughter.