Robert Youngson's The Golden Age of Comedy (1957), a compilation of great slapstick scenes from the silent era, began as a short subject featuring vintage clips from the Mack Sennett vaults. After writer/producer/director Youngson acquired high-quality prints of other silent comedies from the studios of Hal Roach, he was able to expand his movie into feature-film length.

Many comedy stars from the silent era are highlighted in the film, with special emphasis on Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy in lengthy sequences from several of their two-reel classics. Among the funniest scenes from this inimitable duo is the one in The Second Hundred Years (1927) where Stan and Ollie escape from jail dressed as painters and try to fool a suspicious cop by painting everything in sight.

Youngson was given credit for rescuing the famous Laurel/Hardy pie-fight scene from The Battle of the Century (1927) from extinction by recovering it for inclusion in his compilation. There's more outrageous fun from Two Tars (1928), with the boys as sailors on shore leave who create an outrageous traffic jam. Among other L&H two-reelers excerpted are You're Darn Tootin' (1928) and Double Whoopee (1929).

Will Rogers is also prominently featured in parodies of Hollywood movies taken from both Uncensored Movies (1923) and Big Moments from Little Pictures (1924), including take-offs of Douglas Fairbanks as Robin Hood and Tom Mix (a personal friend of Rogers) as a cowboy with an oversized hat and a horse that outruns automobiles. Other comics contributing hilarious bits are Billy Bevan, Charley Chase, Harry Langdon and Ben Turpin, with appearances by up-and-coming screen beauties Jean Harlow and Carole Lombard.

Despite his film's entertainment and historic value, Youngson failed to find a distributor for The Golden Age of Comedy among the major studios, who considered the material outdated and of little interest. He finally struck a deal with the Distributor's Corporation of America, an independent company that handled such threadbare projects as Ed Wood's notorious Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959).

Through great word-of-mouth, The Golden Age of Comedy drew crowds, created a sensation and was picked up by 20th Century Fox. It has been credited as a major cause in the revival of interest in silent films that began in the 1960s, and Youngson continued to display his talent as an outstanding archivist of silent comedy.

The Brooklyn-born filmmaker's future compilations would include When Comedy Was King (1960), Days of Thrills and Laughter (1961), The Big Parade of Comedy (1964) and Laurel and Hardy's Laughing '20s (1965). He had earlier received eight Oscar nominations for his short subjects of the 1950s and won the award itself for two of them: World of Kids (1951) and This Mechanical Age (1954). Youngson died in 1974.

Producer/Director: Robert Youngson
Associate Producer: Herbert R. Gelbspan
Screenplay: Robert Youngson, René Clair (French commentary)
Film Editing: Albert Helmes
Original Music: George Steiner
Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Will Rogers, Carole Lombard, Jean Harlow, Ben Turpin, Harry Langdon, Charley Chase, Billy Bevan, Edgar Kennedy, Andy Clyde, Charles Murray, Harry Gribbon (all in archival footage); Dwight Weist, Ward Wilson (Narrators).
BW-79m.

by Roger Fristoe