A South London derelict (Chaplin) inspired to reform becomes a police officer in "Easy Street." Bumbling salesmen Stan (Laurel) and Ollie (Hardy) have a devil of a time selling Christmas trees in "Big Business." In "One Week," Buster Keaton and his new bride (Sybil Seely) try to assemble a do-it-yourself kit house, and dapper dimwit Monty Banks attempts to rescue an heiress from kidnappers in "Chasing Choo-Choos."

An exemplary, laugh-out-loud collection of exceptional two-reelers from the silent era, "Slapstick Masters" gathers some of the finest, funniest early work by Chaplin, Keaton, Laurel and Hardy, and the lesser-known but equally brilliant Banks. Each of these films has at least one justifiably famous sequence — the runaway train in "Choo-Choos," Chaplin's electrifying tussle with a Bully in "Easy Street" — that highlights the early genius of these goof-prone funnymen. Comedy for the ages.