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Stan Laurel Oliver Hardy - The Essential Collection
The Sound Shorts and Features from the Hal Roach Library (1929-1940) NTSC DVD5 + 9xDVD9
SYNOPSIS: For two decades, most of the famous films of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy have been off the video market, thanks to apathetic handling by the company then holding the rights. Now, finally, the rights have reverted to knowledgeable hands, and that means the boys are back. This 10-disc set includes most of Laurel Hardy ‘s talkie shorts and features produced by Hal Roach between 1929 and 1940. These are among the funniest comedies ever made, as many vintage-film buffs will agree. Laurel Hardy were often capable of carrying the action almost entirely by themselves: BRATS has Stan and Ollie as themselves and their own sons (with giant sets and trick photography); THE MUSIC BOX is the Oscar-winning featurette with the boys as the world ‘s worst piano movers; HELPMATES has Stan helping Ollie to clean house after a wild party; THEIR FIRST MISTAKE has our heroes adopting a baby; TOWED IN A HOLE has them rehabbing a boat; BUSY BODIES turns them loose in a carpentry shop. You ‘ll see dozens of examples of how inventive they were with pantomime and dialogue. Their short subjects were so successful that they branched out into full-length features, including their famous hits WAY OUT WEST and SONS OF THE DESERT, the prison comedy PARDON US, the "gypsy" comedy THE BOHEMIAN GIRL, the hour-of-sight-gags BLOCK-HEADS and SAPS AT SEA, and several others, including both versions of A CHUMP AT OXFORD (the standard 63-minute print of 1940, and the 42-minute, differently edited "streamliner" released in 1943). The supporting casts read like a who ‘s-who of familiar faces: Edgar Kennedy, Billy Gilbert, Charlie Hall, James Finlayson, Mae Busch, Anita Garvin, Walter Long, Harry Bernard, Eddie Dunn, Daphne Pollard, and a host of others. You ‘ll be laughing through 58 L H comedies. The wonderful news about this set is that the DVDs have been remastered in high definition, from the original surviving 35mm film elements. They are NOT taken from RHI ‘s tape transfers that aired on AMC in the 1990s, or the broadcast masters prepared in 1986 for TV ‘s "Laurel Hardy Show" (some of which are still playing on TCM, and often in shortened form). The DVD producers went back to the source materials, meaning that the vintage Laurel Hardy comedies have never looked or sounded better. The DVD producers have taken some pains with the restoration: picture and sound have been cleaned up digitally; most of the subjects feature the attractive, seldom-seen original titles; and even individual shots cut short in current prints have been restored to their original lengths. In the early days of sound films, before the advent of voice dubbing, some American producers made international versions of their films, with the actors speaking each foreign language phonetically. Laurel Hardy made several of these multilingual versions, and seven of them are included in this set. These versions offer some surprises, with many of the "American" gags extended, and even some entirely new scenes unique to the continental prints. This set differs from the European 21-disc set in that the silent films and the colorized TV editions have been omitted, which cuts the disc space down to a manageable and economical 10 discs. The total running time averages out to a little over three hours per disc, perhaps not the ideal compression rate but about par for the "double-feature" DVDs on the market today. The set also includes some two hours of bonus features, of special interest to Laurel Hardy admirers. THE TREE IN A TEST TUBE is gorgeous, in excellent color, and appears to be a first-generation video copy from the U. S. Government source (except for the main title, the source print appears to be uncirculated). The team makes cameo appearances in ON THE LOOSE, ON THE WRONG TREK, and WILD POSES, and all three shorts are included in their entirety. Print quality on the titles I ‘ve seen is superior to any previous video release. For a sample, I went straight to the traditionally battered and bruised titles to check the quality. COME CLEAN, which is usually seen in murky, contrasty prints, is here in much-improved condition, from 35mm with the original main titles. PARDON US, the boys ‘ first feature, is the longer, pre-release preview print, with original main titles and in much better shape than usual (the song "Lazy Moon" has none of the patchwork repairs we ‘re used to seeing). THEIR FIRST MISTAKE is seen at last with the full, original title sequence intact. HOG WILD has usually been seen in slightly soft focus; the video version is an improvement. Keep in mind that some of these 58 comedies won ‘t look like they were photographed yesterday because the negatives have been consulted far more often than is customary. Theatrical reissues, TV revivals, and home-movie reprints have caused the 35mm materials to be run through printing machines again and again over the years, with wear and tear showing in the copies. It is a tribute to the DVD producers that they found and used superior archival materials for this set, and many of the "shopworn" subjects have been upgraded. Collectors will appreciate many new versions of old favorites. PERFECT DAY is seen in its familiar 1936 form, and (surprise!) in its original 1929 form without the music track. BRATS is also seen with alternate music tracks (but curiously, the "1930" version has vintage-1937 reissue titles, even though the original titles are known to exist). PACK UP YOUR TROUBLES is the longer, original-release print; it includes some unpleasant domestic-abuse scenes that were removed for reissue, but it also includes a longer version of the "Three Bears" bedtime-story sequence. Bottom line - this long-awaited release is the best boxed set of comedies offered in years. Ideal for family viewing, and these timeless classics can be enjoyed over and over again. Laurel Hardy are true masters, and you won ‘t be disappointed
DISC 1:
UNACCUSTOMED AS WE ARE 1929 BERTH MARKS 1929 MEN O ‘ WAR 1929 PERFECT DAY 1929 [original 1929 track] PERFECT DAY 1936 [reissue with musical score] THEY GO BOOM 1929 THE HOOSE-GOW 1929 NIGHT OWLS 1930 LADRONES (Night Owls, Spanish) 1930 BLOTTO 1930
DISC 2:
LA VIDA NOCTURNA (Blotto, Spanish) 1930 BRATS 1937 [reissue, new LeRoy Shield musical score] BRATS 1930 [original score of stock jazz-band records] BELOW ZERO 1930 TIEMBLA Y TITUBEA (Below Zero, Spanish) 1930 HOG WILD 1930 THE LAUREL-HARDY MURDER CASE 1930 NOCHE DE DUENDES (The Laurel-Hardy Murder Case Berth Marks, Spanish) 1930 ANOTHER FINE MESS 1930
DISC 3:
BE BIG! 1931 CHICKENS COME HOME 1931 POLITIQUERIAS (Chickens Come Home, Spanish) 1931 LAUGHING GRAVY 1931 LES CAROTTIERS (Feature: Be Big! Laughing Gravy, French) 1931
DISC 4:
LOS CALAVERAS (Feature: Be Big! Laughing Gravy, Spanish) 1931 OUR WIFE 1931 PARDON US (Feature, extended version) 1931 COME CLEAN 1931 ONE GOOD TURN 1931 BEAU HUNKS 1931
DISC 5:
HELPMATES 1932 ANY OLD PORT 1932 THE MUSIC BOX 1932 THE CHIMP 1932 COUNTY HOSPITAL 1932 SCRAM! 1932 PACK UP YOUR TROUBLES (Feature) 1932 THEIR FIRST MISTAKE 1932
DISC 6:
TOWED IN A HOLE 1933 TWICE TWO 1933 ME AND MY PAL 1933 THE MIDNIGHT PATROL 1933 BUSY BODIES 1933 DIRTY WORK 1933 SONS OF THE DESERT (Feature) 1933 OLIVER THE EIGHTH 1934 GOING BYE-BYE! 1934
DISC 7:
THEM THAR HILLS 1934 THE LIVE GHOST 1934 TIT FOR TAT 1935 THE FIXER UPPERS 1935 THICKER THAN WATER 1935 THE BOHEMIAN GIRL (Feature) 1936
DISC 8:
OUR RELATIONS (Feature) 1936 WAY OUT WEST (Feature) 1937 SWISS MISS (Feature) 1938
DISC 9:
BLOCK-HEADS (Feature) 1938 A CHUMP AT OXFORD (42 min.) 1940 A CHUMP AT OXFORD (Feature, 63 min.) 1940 SAPS AT SEA (Feature) 1940
DISC 10:
SPECIAL FEATURES A Tribute to Laurel Hardy On Location with the Boys: tour of set locations and interactive map Laurel Hardy Guest Appearances Laurel Hardy Trailers
IMDb.: Pardon Us IMDb.: Pack Up Your Troubles IMDb.: Pack Up Your Troubles IMDb.: Sons of the Desert IMDb.: The Bohemian Girl IMDb.: Our Relations IMDb.: Way Out West IMDb.: Swiss Miss IMDb.: A Chump at Oxford IMDb.: Saps at Sea
Year.............: 1929-1940 Country..........: USA Runtime..........: 1941 Minutes Audio............: English Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack Subtitles........: none Video Format.....: NTSC Aspect Ratio.....: 1.37:1 DVD Format.......: Non-Anamorphic DVD Source.......: DVD9 DVD Distributor..: RHI Entertainment Program..........: DVD Fab Average Bit Rate.: high/low/average
Menus............: Untouched Video............: Untouched DVD-extras.......: Untouched DVD-Audio........: Untouched
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