Saul Austerlitz, author, Another Fine Mess: A History of American Film Comedy

This is Another Fine Mess an author has gotten Mr. Media in!

Charlie Chaplin. Buster Keaton. The Marx Brothers. Billy Wilder. Woody Allen. The Coen brothers. Where would the American film be without them? Yet the cinematic genre these artists represent -- comedy -- has perennially received short shrift from critics, film buffs, and the Academy Awards.

Saul Austerlitz’s Another Fine Mess is an attempt to right that wrong. Running the gamut of film history from City Lights to Knocked Up, Another Fine Mess retells the story of American film from the perspective of its unwanted stepbrother -- the comedy. In 30 long chapters and 100 shorter entries, each devoted primarily to a single performer or director, Another Fine Mess retraces the steps of the American comedy film, filling in the gaps and following the connections that link Mae West to Doris Day, or W. C. Fields to Will Ferrell.

Austerlitz's work has been published in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Slate,and other publications.

Learn more about Saul Austerlitz

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