'Some Like It Hot' voted best comedy film ever made in poll

Billy Wilder's 1959 hit "Some Like It Hot", about two musicians who after witnessing a murder dress up in drag to hide from gangsters, has topped the list of the greatest comedies ever made in a critics' poll by BBC.

The black and white film featured Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon in the lead roles.

More than 250 film critics from over 50 countries participated in the poll conducted by BBC Culture.

Each critic ranked their top 10 favourite comedies with films from across the world including Hollywood, Bollywood, Nollywood (Nigerian film industry) being nominated. No Indian film made the cut though.

"Some Like It Hot" pushed Stanley Kubrick's 1964 film "Dr Strangelove" to the second position.

Woody Allen's 1977 romantic comedy "Annie Hall", Harold Ramis's 1993 drama "Groundhog Day" starring Bill Murray and Leo McCarey's "Duck Soup" (1933) came in third, fourth and fifth respectively.

BBC Culture film critic, Nicholas Barber, said Wilder's film won because it is not only a romantic comedy but "a buddy movie, a crime caper, and a musical. 'Some Like It Hot' is an anthem in praise of tolerance, acceptance, and the possibility of transformation. It's an anthem that we need to hear now more than ever."

Terry Jones's "Life of Brian" (1979), "Airplane!" (1980), "Playtime" (1967), "This is Spinal Tap" (1984) and "The General" (1926) complete the top-10 list.

Charlie Chaplin, the master of comedy, may not have made it to the top-10 list but his films appear four times in the top 100 with "Modern Times" (1936) at number 12; "The Great Dictator" (1940) at number 16; "City Lights" (1931) at 21 and "The Gold Rush" (1925) at 25.