Comedy is a tricky subject; one man's Porky's is another man's Philadelphia Story. So we accept challenges to these masterpieces.
1. Airplane! (1980)
Before they moved on to the Police Squad series, the Zucker brothers and Jim Abrahams shot this masterpiece.
Plundering the late-1970s disaster genre, the concept of a 'drink problem' was never the same afterwards.
2. The General (1927)
If you thought the performances in Scary Movie 3 were deadpan, you ain't seen nothing. Buster Keaton risks life and limb without a word uttered or a flicker of expression on his gaunt face as he tries to recapture a stolen train during the American Civil War.
3. The Music Box (1932)
Reliving the myth of Sisyphus, Stan and Ollie try, try and try again to hoist a piano up a flight of steps. It may sound simple but we're glad they make
4. Mouse Hunt (1997)
A modern gem with one eye firmly on the classic knockabout comedies. Pirates Of The Caribbean director Gore Verbinski's first film is this madcap battle of wills between the inheritors of a tumbledown property and its mouse. Boasting Lee Evans (pictured) at his physical best, and watch out for Christopher Walken's comedy turn.
5. Duck Soup (1933)
No list of slapstick would be complete without Groucho, Harpo, Chico and Zeppo, and where better than their masterpiece? Combining political satire with a kind of slapstick that transcends the tag to become a form of artful general anarchy.
