Search - Slapstick Festival - 35 Shorts on DVD

K. K. (GAMER)
Reviewed on 7/9/2023...

Little Rascals - A classic for the whole family!

The heyday of physical comedy

Annie Van Auken | Planet Earth | 03/06/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The majority of MCE's SLAPSTICK FESTIVAL are silent movies by Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, Fatty Arbuckle, Stan Laurel and the Keystone Kops. Also here are the usual public domain two-reelers by WC Fields, Our Gang and the Three Stooges. All but seven of these titles are available on previous MILL CREEK compilations. What's new: "Easy Street," "The Cure" and "The Rink" starring Charlie Chaplin, Fatty Arbuckle's "That Little Band of Gold" and "Mabel and Fatty's Married Life," Our Gang in "Waldo's Last Stand" and a Charley Chase short called "Bad Boy."

SLAPSTICK FESTIVAL is jam-packed with great films. My favorites include WC Fields playing dulcimer and singing (in his fashion) of "The Fatal Glass of Beer," the 3 Stooges destroying the legal system in "Disorder in the Court" (Bailiff: "Do you swear..." Curly: "Nooo! But I know all the woids!"), Stan Laurel's spoof of the great lover as Rhubarb Vaselino in "Mud and Sand," and the peerless Buster Keaton in everything here! Honorable mention to "The Stolen Jools," which features cameos by several dozen prominent stars of the 1930s.


MCE's FAMILY COLLECTION 250 Movie Pack is the ultimate in mid-20th Century family-oriented fare.


Although no sign of film restoration is apparent, transfer quality of MCE's public domain movies is uniformly good. Their dual-side recorded discs are housed in gloss-coated heavy paper sleeves. Easy access storage boxes are sturdy and remarkably compact.

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Parenthetical numbers preceding titles are 1 to 10 viewer poll ratings found at a film resource website.

(6.7) Bad Boy (silent-1925) - Charley Chase
(6.8) The Balloonatic (silent-1923) - Buster Keaton/Phyllis Haver
(5.4) The Bangville Police (silent-1913) - Mabel Normand/Edgar Kennedy/Al St. John
(5.4) Bear Shooters (1930) - Little Rascals
(7.2) The Blacksmith (silent-1922) - Buster Keaton
(7.4) The Boat (silent-1921) - Buster Keaton
(7.1) Brideless Groom (1947) - Three Stooges/Emil Sitka
(7.4) The Cure (silent-1917) - Charles Chaplin/Edna Purviance/Eric Campbell
(7.2) Daydreams (silent-1922) - Buster Keaton/Renée Adorée
(7.1) The Dentist (1932) - W.C. Fields
(7.7) Disorder in the Court (1936) - Three Stooges
(7.8) Easy Street (silent-1917) - Charles Chaplin/Edna Purviance/Eric Campbell
(7.4) The Electric House (silent-1922) - Buster Keaton
(7.2) The Fatal Glass of Beer (1933) - W.C. Fields
(5.8) Fatty's Suitless Day ("Fatty's Magic Pants") (silent-1914) - Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle/Charley Chase
(6.8) Follies of Our Gang ("Our Gang Follies of 1938") (1937) - The Little Rascals
(4.8) Ghost Parade (1931) - Harry Gribbon/Andy Clyde (dir. Mack Sennett)
(6.6) The Golf Specialist (1930) - W.C. Fields
(5.2) Her Painted Hero (silent-1915) - Slim Summerville/Polly Moran
(5.4) Just Ramblin' Along (silent-1918) - Stan Laurel/Clarine Seymour
(5.0) Love, Speed and Thrills (silent-1915) - Mack Swain/Chester Conklin
(5.6) Mabel and Fatty's Married Life (silent-1915) - Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle (uncredited: Mabel Normand/Al St. John/Mae Busch)
(6.9) Malice in the Palace (1949) - Three Stooges/Vernon Dent
(5.6) Mud and Sand (silent-1922) - Stan Laurel
(6.7) My Wife's Relations (silent-1922) - Buster Keaton
(5.5) Oranges and Lemons (silent-1923) - Stan Laurel
(7.1) The Paleface (silent-1922) - Buster Keaton
(8.2) The Play House (silent-1921) - Buster Keaton
(7.2) The Rink (silent-1916) - Charles Chaplin/Edna Purviance/Eric Campbell
(7.0) School's Out (1930) - Little Rascals
(7.0) Sing a Song of Six Pants (1947) - Three Stooges/Vernon Dent
(6.0) The Stolen Jools ("The Slippery Pearls") (1931) - Cameos by dozens of stars!
(5.3) That Little Band of Gold (silent-1915) - Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle/Mabel Normand/Ford Sterling/Al St. John/Edgar Kennedy/Charley Chase/Slim Summerville
(6.2) Waldo's Last Stand (1940) - The Little Rascals
(5.5) Wife and Auto Trouble (silent-1916) - William Collier Sr./Blanche Payson/Mae Busch"