When people think of WWII movies, they think of Dunkirk and Saving Private Ryan. How many name a comedy? Okay, we all know Jojo Rabbit, but the point still stands. WWII comedies aren’t something you show your kids (though you wouldn’t show them Schindler’s List either, to be honest), because you want to teach them to denounce, not laugh at cruelty. But the truth is that the film industry made many movies about the war during the war, satirizing the situation, riling public sentiment, and lightening the mood. They teach empathy, hope and best of all, rapid-fire wit in the face of danger. 

Here is a list of the funniest black and white World War II comedies: 

The RAF Pilots episodes (2007-2010) – The Armstrong and Miller Show

In this carefree satire, two British RAF pilots (Alexander Armstrong and Ben Miller) who are very aware of their rights – but not the law – complain and accuse their way through WWII. The two men are invincible, surviving interrogation by Nazi officers, air combat, court martials and firing squads with nothing but their upper-crust accents and 80s teenage attitudes, marked by phrases such as “blud”, “isn’t it”, “standard”, “whatever” and “this and that”.

Despite playing romanticized WWII pilots, the main characters are marked by their utter lack of professionalism and irreverent materialism. The result is absolute hilarity when Armstrong turns off a radio announcement about the invasion of Greece to deadpan “I bought some really nice trousers in Camden”. 

To Be or Not to Be (1942) – Ernst Lubitsch

Set in 1939 Poland, this is a movie for all you theater kids out there – the Shakespeare ones. Lubitsch chronicles the wild adventures of a Polish theater troupe performing Hamlet. Joseph Tura (Jack Benny) and his flighty wife Maria (Carole Lombard) are the lead actors, facing some problems with Maria’s wandering eye. When the Tura’s latest problem, Subinski, a Polish pilot, discovers a Nazi spy in the military, the theater troupe must find a way to thwart the Nazi occupation of Poland (and their theater). The madcap shenanigans that ensue are nothing short of splendid.

Characterized by 1930s humor, the dialogue is rapid and full of subtle, savage comebacks. 

After Maria accuses Joseph of always upstaging her, even potentially as a future mother, he replies:

“I’m satisfied to be the father.”

The Great Dictator (1940) – Charlie Chaplin

If a plot is a straight road, The Great Dictator is a moving object zig-zagging all over it. Starting in an upside down WWI plane, the movie continues on to a food fight between the Phooey (Hitler) and Napaloni (Mussolini), a malfunctioning red carpet and a floating waltz with the world. Chaplin plays the two leads, the Jewish barber and Hynkel, Hitler’s ridiculous counterpart. He takes delight in both roles, switching between shy romantic and nonsensical dictator. Chaplin’s fake German is reason enough to watch the movie. He blends gibberish (“dan big booben”) with the names of foods such as sauerkraut and “da banana”. Illumination’s Minions would be proud.

But despite being the silliest of the three movies on this list, it is the only one to treat the horrors of WWII with genuine care. The movie’s heroine, after standing up to storm troopers looting a shop, is pelted with tomatoes until she collapses. Chaplin doesn’t skim over the pain to squeeze in an extra laugh. And in his magnificent speech at the end (one of the best in cinema), our bumbling Tramp strives to make social commentary through what Daniel Taradash called the “abiding elements of Chaplin’s artistic conscience”: “humor and humanity.”