Dark Whimsy Favorites #0
Rick Retro’s Realm, Project #3: 51 Dark Whimsy Favorites in 80 Days, 1939, Munchkin Mayor Makes Major Mistake.
Can you say “Oops”? I accidentally left out the oldest film that should have made the list. I guess I’m doing an overview of 40 50 51 of my Dark Whimsy favorites!
#0 (1939) The Wizard of Oz
Kind of an inexcusable omission. I played the Mayor of the Munchkins in a stage musical production of The Wizard of Oz at the La Mirada Theatre in the 1980s.
The remaining 50 are:
#1 (1944) Arsenic and Old Lace
#2 (1959) The Mouse That Roared
#3 (1963) The Pink Panther
#4 (1965) The Sound of Music
#5 (1965) The Great Race
#6 (1968) The Love Bug
#7 (1973) The Sting
#8 (1975) Monty Python and the Holy Grail
#9 (1979) The Muppet Movie
#10 (1979) Being There
#11 (1980) Airplane!
#12 (1980) Oh! Heavenly Dog
#13 (1980) The Gods Must Be Crazy
#14 (1981) Arthur
#15 (1982) E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
#16 (1982) Tootsie
#17 (1983) The Man With Two Brains
#18 (1984) Romancing the Stone
#19 (1984) The Natural
#20 (1984) Electric Dreams
#21 (1985) Re-Animator
#22 (1986) Stand by Me
#23 (1986) Little Shop of Horrors
#24 (1987) Raising Arizona
#25 (1987) Roxanne
#26 (1987) The Princess Bride
#27 (1987) Planes, Trains & Automobiles
#28 (1988) Big
#29 (1988) Who Framed Roger Rabbit
#30 (1988) Moon Over Parador
#31 (1989) Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure
#32 (1989) Honey, I Shrunk the Kids
#33 (1991) Armour of God 2: Operation Condor
#34 (1993) Groundhog Day
#35 (1995) Toy Story
#36 (1996) Fargo
#37 (1997) Life Is Beautiful
#38 (1999) The Castle
#39 (2000) O Brother, Where Art Thou?
#40 (2001) Shrek
#41 (2001) Monsters, Inc.
#42 (2001) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
#43 (2002) Chicago
#44 (2004) Bride and Prejudice
#45 (2004) A Series of Unfortunate Events
#46 (2005) The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
#47 (2007) Stardust
#48 (2013) Epic
#49 (2014) The Grand Budapest Hotel
#50 (2022) A Christmas Story Christmas
I will post a prospective release schedule for the reviews soon!
Originally posted to text group 2025-01-19
Last updated 2025-07-02