Forties Film Funnymen: The Decade’s Great Comedians at Work in the Shadow of War

'The twelve comedy films examined are distinguished by an equal number of defining comic performances. Each film focuses on the central theme of 'clown comedy': Resilience, the encouragement or hope that one can survive the most daunting of life's dilemmas. Each film can be regarded as a microcosm of the antiheroic world of its central clown (or clowns)'--Provided by publisher.