Lost Comedy Classics, Volume 1 (Silent) (DVD)

The Stage Hand (1933): The little town of Oskaloosa is presenting a community play to raise money for a new fire engine but, as a title card indicates: "They didn't realize what they were in for..." Despite a series of missteps and escalating calamities both on and off-stage, the show must go on ? but it's a certainty that Oskaloosa's going to need a new fire engine before the final curtain! Legendary screen funnyman Harry Langdon co-wrote, directed and stars in the title role of this side-splitting comedy short.

Dangerous Females (1929): Stars Marie Dressler (in her only sound short) and Polly Moran as best friends convinced that an escaped criminal is stalking them. The next year, Dressler would star opposite Wallace Beery in Min and Bill and win the Academy Award as Best Actress.

Our Dare-Devil Chief (1915): This early Keystone Comedies short stars Ford Sterling as a bumbling police chief trying to nab The Triple Gang. Starring Ford Sterling, Al St. John.

• comedy