Brilliant! I laughed out loud watching this silent movie many more times than I have watching any recent film with sound. Buster Keaton was a genius. Apart from his wonderful acting and mastery of visual humor, it’s amazing how in the world he convinced a studio 80 years ago to finance the demolition of a bridge and a locomotive and the staging of scenes with hundreds of extras. An amazing production from beginning to end. The DVD comes with two additional shorts, The Playhouse and Cops, which further demonstrate his creativity as a writer and versatility as an actor.

Why did the female lead throw out the piece of wood with the hole in it? Was there a point to that or was it just to illustrate that she didn’t really know what she was doing?

Made in 1928 and I have yet to see another film that comes close to matching its humor.