![[box cover]](../../reviewimgs/s/slapstickmasters.jpg)
Slapstick Masters
Here are four black-and-white "two-reelers" from the Golden Age of silent screen comedy. Of the four, two of them — Charlie Chaplin's "Easy Street" and Buster Keaton's "One Week" — have long been recognized as some of their creators' finest, most individually distinctive, work. Also here is "Big Business," arguably the best sampling of Laurel & Hardy's silent career before they made the transition into the sound era (a transition they made with rare success). All but unknown today, Monty Banks is represented here in "Chasing Choo-Choos," a madcap runaway train adventure. Transferred from excellent restored prints and supervised by preservationist David Shepard, the four films also sport terrific new musical scores by the eccentrically brilliant Alloy Orchestra. Keep-case.
—Mark Bourne
