The Comic (1969)

This story starts at the end with the funeral of silent movie star Billy Bright (Dick Van Dyke). We then are brought back to the 1920s and the beginning of Billy's career as a silent comedy star in the vein of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. We see him meet, marry and then divorce his co-star (Michele Lee).  And when he refuses to make sound films we are suddenly fast-forwarded back to the present day.

There's nothing else much to this film directed by Carl Reiner except the excerpts of the fictional films that Billy made which are actually very entertaining. It also co-stars Mickey Rooney as "Cockeye".

Available: Classic Collections, iOffer