If you think you know silent comedy, this movie is probably what you're thinking of. Mack Sennett and Mabel Normand are in love, so villainous Ford Sterling abducts her and ties her to the railroad track, then steals a train to run her over. Fortunately, famed auto racer Barney Oldfield turns up. Mack and he race to save Mabel.
It's typical and atypical, a burlesque of stage melodrama and D. W. Griffith shorts that had a lot of resonance with contemporary audiences, with a great example of Keystone's superior editing -- look at the shot where Sennett and Oldfield drag Mabel from the tracks -- and Sterling, as usual, is hilarious, particularly with his final gag.
It's typical and atypical, a burlesque of stage melodrama and D. W. Griffith shorts that had a lot of resonance with contemporary audiences, with a great example of Keystone's superior editing -- look at the shot where Sennett and Oldfield drag Mabel from the tracks -- and Sterling, as usual, is hilarious, particularly with his final gag.