The Keystone Cut Ups

During the first decades of the 20th Century - prior to the advent of "talkies" - silent screen comedy grew overwhelmingly popular; at about the same time, surrealism and dadaism blossomed in painting, scultpure and photography, manifested most strongly in the work of painters such as Man Ray and Salvador Dali. This documentary investigates the stylistic connections between the work done by legends such as Charles Chaplin and Buster Keaton, and that of the early avant-garde pioneers. It begins by reflecting on slapstick's influence on the surrealists, then uses a combination of musical score and video collage technique to look concurrently at the evolution of two different "modes" of cinema - silent comedy and "art" film - over time.