Frantically wild comedies that observed no physical reality while the characters descended into chaos in improvised story lines and situations. Many of the films featured the antics of a group of wildly incompetent policemen known as the
Keystone Kops, who would arrive in overloaded cars that they would often leave destroyed while they contributed to the mess they were sent to stop. This group has come to be regarded as the trademark of Keystone Studios and one of the key images of silent comedy. Many of the Kops later became respected comedy directors themselves, such as
Del Lord,
Malcolm St. Clair,
Edward F. Cline,
A. Edward Sutherland and
Erle C. Kenton.
