Thanks to the pleasant narration of Jay Jackson, those who love comedy but hate silent films will find enjoyment in this collection of scenes featuring four of the great comics of the silent era. Oliver Hardy, Stan Laurel, Charley Chase and buster Keaton are the legends given focus in this loving tribute during a time in American culture when nostalgia was king. This starts off with a view of New York's Broadway in the 1920's, and a view of American culture during this time is a view of history. The film then segues to the separate careers of Oliver Hardy and Stan Laurel, then shows the two together as their legendary status change direction. It's very interesting to see Oliver Hardy as a lecherous villain, and Rex the Wonder horse basically steals the scene knocking down the house where Hardy is trying to have his way with the unlucky heroin. Views of Stan Laurel separately show him moving towards his teaming with Oliver, and when the two boys get together, it is instant magic.
The Charley Chase sequence is a lot funnier than I expected it to be because I am not a fan of his talking shorts, but his silent films are quite amusing. if Laurel and Hardy were the king of getting into trouble because of their stepping out on their wives, Chase was the king of getting into trouble for being innocent of stepping out on his wife, and the sequence where it appears he is beating a woman while his house is being robbed is very funny.
The film concludes with unabridged look at the Buster Keaton masterpiece "Seven Chances" which has stood the test of time thanks to its hysterical Chase sequence involving huge boulders. Watching this film with teenagers in a film college class years ago, I was surprised by the laughter that these young people had which shows that comedy when done well does not change. Certainly, there could have been segments on Chaplin, Lloyd, Langdon and others, but other than a Chaplin lookalike in the Oliver Hardy segment, none are mentioned. One segment involving a prissy customer in a hair salon may raise eyebrows, especially as to how they are referred to in the narration, but once you get past that, everything else is great.
The Charley Chase sequence is a lot funnier than I expected it to be because I am not a fan of his talking shorts, but his silent films are quite amusing. if Laurel and Hardy were the king of getting into trouble because of their stepping out on their wives, Chase was the king of getting into trouble for being innocent of stepping out on his wife, and the sequence where it appears he is beating a woman while his house is being robbed is very funny.
The film concludes with unabridged look at the Buster Keaton masterpiece "Seven Chances" which has stood the test of time thanks to its hysterical Chase sequence involving huge boulders. Watching this film with teenagers in a film college class years ago, I was surprised by the laughter that these young people had which shows that comedy when done well does not change. Certainly, there could have been segments on Chaplin, Lloyd, Langdon and others, but other than a Chaplin lookalike in the Oliver Hardy segment, none are mentioned. One segment involving a prissy customer in a hair salon may raise eyebrows, especially as to how they are referred to in the narration, but once you get past that, everything else is great.