Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy: Early Silent Classics, Volume 3

Starring:Laurel & Hardy Classics
Studio: Alpha Video
Product Type: DVD

Laurel & Hardy (Sons of the Desert/The Music Box/Another Fine Mess/Busy Bodies/County Hospital)

Average customer rating:

Great Movie
Laurel & Hardy
the best of laurel and hardy
Laurel & Hardy DVD
Funny, Funny Stuff!

Laurel & Hardy (Sons of the Desert/The Music Box/Another Fine Mess/Busy Bodies/County Hospital)
Starring: Stan Laurel , Oliver Hardy , Charley Chase , Mae Busch , and Dorothy Christy
Director: William A. Seiter , and James Parrott
Manufacturer: Lions Gate
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Similar Items:

Laurel & Hardy II (Way Out West / Block-Heads / Chickens Come Home)
The Laurel & Hardy Collection
March of the Wooden Soldiers
TCM Archives - The Laurel and Hardy Collection (The Devil's Brother / Bonnie Scotland)
The Best of Abbott & Costello, Vol. 1 (Buck Privates / Hold That Ghost / In the Navy / Keep 'Em Flying / One Night in the Tropics / Pardon My Sarong / Ride 'Em Cowboy / Who Done It?)

ASIN: B00009YXEW
Release Date: 2003-08-19

Product Description

Sons of the Desert
The boys sneak off to a convention, telling their wives that Ollie requires a restful cruise to Hawaii to recuperate...but all is not peaceful when the suspicious wives discover the ship sank.
The Music Box
The Laurel & Hardy Moving Company struggles to deliver a piano to a house at the top of an insurmountable staircase. Winner of a 1932 Oscar for Best Comedy Short.
Another Fine Mess

Stand and Ollie hide from the police in the seemingly safe confines of a deserted mansion, that is until some tenants show up! Ollie must pretend to be the owner while Stan becomes both the butler and the maid!
Busy Bodies
Being employed as carpenters, Stanley and Oliver stumble through a hilarious parade of self-inflicted mishaps, only to retreat hastily...and drive their car into a band saw.
County Hospital
Oliver is peacefully recovering from a broken leg, when Stan decides to bring him a present of hard-boiled eggs and nuts. That's not all he delivers, however, and proceeds to almost destroy the place and the people in it.

SPECIAL FEATURES :

Hal Roach Tribute

Laurel and Hardy Biographies

Tent Society

Photo Montage

Location Tour: Then and Now

Hal Roach Movie Mogul

King of Laughter Tribute

Scene Selects

System Requirements:
Running Time: 159 Minutes

Format: DVD MOVIE

Amazon.com

For one-stop convenience, you can't beat this handy compilation of Laurel & Hardy classics. Although it's modestly priced and packaged, this DVD packs plenty of extras along with Stan & Ollie's finest feature and several of the comedy duo's best-loved "talkie" shorts. Sons of the Desert (1933) is the crown jewel in any L&H collection, and with Charley Chase as their stellar comedy costar, the boys reached the pinnacle of their unique partnership, playing a pair of Fez-wearing "Sons of the Desert" sneaking off to a convention in Chicago, but their wives discover the ruse with hilarious results. For L&H fans, it simply doesn't get any better than this, although 1932's "The Music Box" shares equal status--and a 1932 Oscar® for Best Comedy Short--in the L&H pantheon. The remaining shorts on the disc ("Another Fine Mess," "Busy Bodies," and "County Hospital") were produced during the prime of Stan & Ollie's sound-era success (1930-33), each boasting their own timeless bits and flawless routines. Abundant laughs are virtually guaranteed.

Most of the bonus material pays tribute to legendary comedy producer Hal Roach, who first partnered Stan & Ollie in 1926. A film-clip tribute includes interviews with comedy greats like Mel Brooks and Steve Allen, and on-screen articles explore Roach's career in greater detail. A "then and now" photo tour provides an historic tour of Roach Studio locations in Culver City, California, and text biographies are provided for Roach, Laurel, and Hardy. In addition to the films themselves (which never looked or sounded better), these extras make this Laurel & Hardy DVD a perfect choice for old and new fans alike. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews:

Great Movie.......2007-07-04

A classic fun show to watch!Laurel & Hardy (Sons of the Desert/The Music Box/Another Fine Mess/Busy Bodies/County Hospital)

Laurel & Hardy.......2007-05-15

Being an avid fan of Mr. Laurel and Mr. Hardy down through the years, I really appreciated the Digitally Remastered versions of "Sons Of The Desert", "The Music Box", "Another Fine Mess", "Busy Bodies" and "County Hospital." The feature film "Sons Of The Desert" is one of my absolute favorites of their collected full length works. It is only rarely that one views a modern comedy of the quality these two portrayed.

the best of laurel and hardy.......2007-03-20

perfect dvd for laurel and hardy fans filled with some of the best films they made.

Laurel & Hardy DVD.......2007-02-22

Great buy. I already had these on VHS and am glad to have them now on DVD. Good quality as well.

Funny, Funny Stuff!.......2007-02-14

I had forgotten just how good this comedy team was. It's been years since I've seen their films and this DVD brought back some warm memories. 'The Music Box' is my all time favorite. This DVD was a very worthwhile purchase!

Laurel & Hardy II (Way Out West / Block-Heads / Chickens Come Home)

Average customer rating:

"Two Gloriously Funny Men"
Funny
Two Classic Comic Actors in Three Classic Comedies
Block - Heads
Laurel & Hardy Review

Laurel & Hardy II (Way Out West / Block-Heads / Chickens Come Home)
Starring: Stan Laurel , Oliver Hardy , Elizabeth Forrester , James Finlayson , and Gordon Douglas
Director: James W. Horne , and John G. Blystone
Manufacturer: Lions Gate
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

Classic Comedies | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $9.99 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( L ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

Laurel & Hardy (Sons of the Desert/The Music Box/Another Fine Mess/Busy Bodies/County Hospital)
The Laurel & Hardy Collection
TCM Archives - The Laurel and Hardy Collection (The Devil's Brother / Bonnie Scotland)
Laurel and Hardy Collection, Vol. 2 (A Haunting we Will Go / Dancing Masters / Bullfighters)
March of the Wooden Soldiers

ASIN: B00079I006
Release Date: 2005-03-15

Product Description

Way out west (1937)
while trying to deliver the deed for valuable gold mine to the daughter of a dead prospector, stand and Ollie run into her evil guardian, who wants to keep the gold mine for himself. One of Laurel & Hardy s funniest full- length feature film and their only western spoof!

Block-Heads(1938)
Stan and Ollie are first seen as soldiers with the AEF in France in 1917. Stan receives orders to stay in the trench and guard his post while the rest of the company makes a sweeping attack. Time passes indeed, 20 years go by and Stan is seen still faithful to his charge. Stan is finally told that the war is over; he returns home and is reunited with Ollie. It is immediately evident that Stan has not changed, and he is still as big a blockhead as he used to be.

Chickens Come home
Ollie, running for mayor, is blackmailed by an old flame. Illie agrees to meet both his old girlfriend and his wife at the same time. Stan gets cough in the middle and unbridled commotion results.

Critical Acclaim

Way out west 1938, Nominated for an Oscar®

Best music, Score

Block-heads 1939, Nominated for Oscar®

Best Music, Original Score

System Requirements:

Running Time 150 Min

Format: DVD MOVIE

Amazon.com

The combination of choleric, combustible Oliver Hardy and mild, perpetually helpful Stan Laurel sustained dozens upon dozens of comedies, including the popular Way Out West. What makes this hour-long feature stand out is not just the physical hijinks (of which there are plenty), but the moments of surprising elegance, like a supple soft-shoe duet accompanied by what can only be called cowboy doo-wop. The plot concerns keeping the deed to a gold mine out of the hands of a greedy saloonkeeper (frequent comic foil James Finlayson), but it's just a pretext for gleeful slapstick orchestrations. Laurel & Hardy II also includes the underrated Block-Heads, another hour-long feature which starts out in the trenches of World War I and ends in a 13th floor apartment in New York; domestic strife and even lost limbs become fodder for jokes, yet the movie never feels cruel or ghoulish. It's the lightheartedness of their brutal mishaps that marks their success. Both features are from the late 1930s. An additional short from 1931, Chickens Come Home, features Hardy running for mayor and trying to squelch his past indiscretions, with Laurel as his right-hand man. No matter the circumstances, they wear bowler hats; wherever they go, madcap devastation follows. --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews:

"Two Gloriously Funny Men".......2007-06-01

Laurel & Hardy still remain the greatest comedy team of all time . Their material stands the ' test of time" hmdodd/ highland twp, mich

Funny.......2007-04-14

I liked the whole DVD but I was hooked after watching Stan Laurel getting tickled in one of the scenes in Way out West, say no more, just watching Stan in that scene had me in stitches. I have always liked Laurel & Hardy and I would like to own more of these DVD's.

Two Classic Comic Actors in Three Classic Comedies .......2007-03-10

Not much more than the three titles here - the "extras" aren't much - but here we have very fine DVD pressings of top drawer L & H. Some lesser known Stan & Ollie flicks from the non-independent, large-scale studios in the following decade have been released recently, and though they have historical significant and some sporadic fun (if you can supress your "couda-shoulda" button), they only emphasize the often brilliant and heartwarming stuff which really made them famous. We have three examples here: a 1937 trip out West, about one hour long, yet absolutely loaded with inventive gags (though a midnight attempt to hoist Ollie to the second floor of Finlayson's Saloon is badly dragged out) and clever dialogue. Ofcourse, the performances are great, and in Way Out West have the added dimension of music and "magic". While Hardy tries to plot out the rescue of a young lady and her deed to a goldmine, Laurel constantly befuddles his partner with all kinds of reality manipulations - like using his thumb as a lighter!
The next year, they produced a partial remake of their very first "talkie" - it's fun to compare Unaccustomed As We Are from '29 to Blockheads. The later film is far better and contains much pathos. Hardy's wife, who starts off her day reminding her husband that he forgot their anniversary, then returns to find old buddy Stan lounging about, delivers an incredible, drammaticly schizophrenic display - one of the great moments in comedy history. Ultimately, it is typical L & H - Ollie's new found respectability is torn asunder by the well-meaning but completely incompetent Stan, who wrecks his car, his apartment...and his marriage. By the end of the film he flees with his friend from his home and a violent neighbor who believes he is a filanderer.
The 1931 short-subject is an hilarious work - again Ollie is on the threshold of true acceptance in high society, until Mae Busch shows up to upset his political plans, his marriage, and Stan himself in a wild wrestling match outside of her hotel suite. This is perhaps her sexiest performance - and her attitude is all business - she wants her share of the success. Her acting is bit more nuanced than usual - she projects admiration and revulsion of Hardy at the same time.
Side note: I've read of the Spanish-language version of this film and hope that it can become available through this company.

Block - Heads.......2007-02-19

I (Jim McCutcheon) saw this film way back in the 50's and it cracked me up. I have hankered for it for some time and althouh I have matured somewhat (68years) still found if highly amusing, and thanks to Amazon, now have a copy for myself.

I would class it as one of Laurel and Hardy's better efforts.

Cheers,
Jim.

Laurel & Hardy Review.......2007-01-17

Received item in a timely manner. The only reason for 4 out of 5 was my fault in not researching the titles closer. The item was in excellent condition. I will return to this site in the future.

Laurel & Hardy - Air Raid Wardens / Nothing but Trouble

Average customer rating:

Great B&W flicks with very good DVD quality.
GOOD FOR SOME LAUGHS
U.K. buyers - this L & H DVD plays on R.2 coded machines!
Five stars for releasing these to DVD: this pre-release review just mentions the content
one great movie and one o.k. movie(also a message toHALLMARK)

Laurel & Hardy - Air Raid Wardens / Nothing but Trouble
Starring: Stan Laurel , Oliver Hardy , Edgar Kennedy , Jacqueline White , and Stephen McNally
Director: Edward Sedgwick , and Sam Taylor
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

Classic Comedies | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $9.99 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( L ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

Laurel and Hardy Collection, Vol. 2 (A Haunting we Will Go / Dancing Masters / Bullfighters)
Laurel and Hardy Collection, Vol. 1 (Great Guns / Jitterbugs / The Big Noise)
Laurel & Hardy II (Way Out West / Block-Heads / Chickens Come Home)
TCM Archives - The Laurel and Hardy Collection (The Devil's Brother / Bonnie Scotland)
Laurel & Hardy (Sons of the Desert/The Music Box/Another Fine Mess/Busy Bodies/County Hospital)

ASIN: B000HWZ4CU
Release Date: 2006-11-21

Description

Whether serving their country in wartime or serving multicourse mealtime mayhem, Laurel and Hardy serve up laughs in this classic twofer. First, the nation calls out in its hour of need, Stan and Ollie answer...and Uncle Sam changes his mind. Rejected by the military, our heroes become Air Raid Wardens. Lights-out laughs include a donnybrook with slow-burn comic Edgar Kennedy and a run-in with a nest of spies. In Nothing but Trouble, the boys fuss and finagle as World War II-era domestics who rally 'round an exiled boy king when danger arises. Sam Taylor, co-director of Harold Lloyd's famed hanging-from-the-clock-high-above-city-traffic movie Safety Last!, guides this romp that includes a gem of a ledge-hanging sequence. Hold tight for fall-down funny fun.

Customer Reviews:

Great B&W flicks with very good DVD quality........2007-01-23

Both movies on DVD are fine showings of Laurel's and Hardy's talents. As always there is plenty of laughs and stants. Even my 7-year old daughter was laughing to tears. The quality of DVD - audio and video - is excellent, and maybe there are not too many extras, the movie itself is very satissfying. Highly recommended for Olie and Stan buffs and new-comers.

GOOD FOR SOME LAUGHS .......2006-12-17

This is a pretty good effort for a Warner home video dvd release.You get two Laurel & Hardy feature films on one single sided disc with nice artwork.Considering that these films are over 60 years old the audio & video quality is surprisingly good.If you're a fan of Laurel & Hardy, this dvd is definitely for you.This is good clean fun from one of the best comedy teams ever.

U.K. buyers - this L & H DVD plays on R.2 coded machines!.......2006-12-15

The most important information for U.K. buyers here is that this Air Raid Wardens / Nothing But Trouble Laurel and Hardy DVD plays on region 2 coded machines without any problems whatsoever.

The picture quality is fantastic and movie trailers are also included - so buy with confidence from Amazon.com!

Five stars for releasing these to DVD: this pre-release review just mentions the content.......2006-09-18

Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy made two feature films for M-G-M in the 1940s, which were overlooked when the rest of the team's M-G-M output was released to DVD earlier this year. These two films are often missing pieces in a Laurel & Hardy fan's collection, and having them both on one disc is a convenient and economical way to enjoy them.

AIR RAID WARDENS and NOTHING BUT TROUBLE have more heart than usual for wartime L & H comedies, and the scripts paint the "Stan and Ollie" characters as being conscientious underdogs instead of oblivious idiots, for a welcome change. Most fans' basic complaint is that both films use M-G-M's inflexible formula for comedy, as repeatedly applied to Buster Keaton and the Marx Brothers: the comedians reach a humiliating "low point," when things can't get any worse, only to bounce back to triumph and vindication. Be prepared for some scenes where Stan and Ollie are greatly humbled by a depressing turn of events. Good, straight acting by the leads, but not typically found in a Laurel & Hardy comedy.

AIR RAID WARDENS (1943) has our heroes trying to help their community in wartime by putting up posters (messily), attending a town meeting (distractingly), administering first aid (disastrously), asking Edgar Kennedy to please turn off his house lights (unsuccessfully), and finally foiling an enemy sabotage plot (and very successfully). A huge box-office hit in 1943 and a real "audience" picture: for best results watch this one with some friends.

NOTHING BUT TROUBLE (1944) has Stan and Ollie as the world's worst butler and chef, from a long line of bad butlers and chefs, who steal a lion's lunch, preside over Mary Boland's important dinner party with their usual aptitude, try to protect an exiled boy king from political assassins, and wind up being forced onto a window ledge high above the city streets (very well staged).

The "serious" plots weigh these films down at times, so try not to pay too much attention to them and concentrate on the L & H gags instead. The team's timing and comic skills are most of the show here, overcoming M-G-M's relentlessly stately pacing. Print quality should be outstanding, based on the usually impeccable M-G-M vault elements.

one great movie and one o.k. movie(also a message toHALLMARK).......2006-08-31

I want to say that with this dvd (along with the new 2 part box sets) we now have the complete post hal roach movies,except for a remastered officially released first generation unedited version of "atoll k" which is commonly known s "utopia" which I hope sees the light of day soon,so listen up HALLMARK get on the ball with the hal roach movies,we've seen more laurel and hardy releases in the last year than what HALLMARK has released in the last 6 years,since HALLMARK owns the rights to all the hal roach films and shorts I think two dvds in 6 years is just pitiful...now for the reviews of these two movies....."air raid wardens" is an o.k. movie but seems to be more like abbott and costello then l&h,but the movie that makes this disc is "Nothing but trouble"-which is in my opinion the best post hal roach movie PERIOD!!!!!

Average customer rating:

Very good, maybe neccessary
March of the Wooden Soldiers
Good Experience
A great Holiday Movie Classic
A perfect restoration and colorization

March of the Wooden Soldiers
Starring: Richard Alexander , Frank Austin , Billy Bletcher , Henry Brandon , and Baldwin Cooke
Director: Charley Rogers , and Meins, Gus
Manufacturer: Good Times Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Classic Comedies | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Kids & Family | Genres | DVD | Video

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Babes in Toyland
Laurel & Hardy (Sons of the Desert/The Music Box/Another Fine Mess/Busy Bodies/County Hospital)
Laurel & Hardy II (Way Out West / Block-Heads / Chickens Come Home)
A Christmas Carol (Original B&W Version)
The Best of Abbott & Costello, Vol. 3 (Abbott & Costello Go to Mars / Abbott & Costello in the Foreign Legion / Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein / Abbott & Costello Meet the Invisible Man / Abbott & Costello Meet the Killer / Comin' Round the Mountain / Lost in Alaska / Mexican Hayride)

ASIN: B00000JZHK
Release Date: 2001-05-15

Amazon.com

The most lavish feature built around Laurel and Hardy, 1934's March of the Wooden Soldiers is also the most bizarre. Opening unpromisingly with one of several mawkish numbers derived from Victor Herbert's musical Babes in Toyland, the antics of toyshop laborers Stannie Dum and Ollie Dee are worked into a scenario midway between Lewis Carroll and the Brothers Grimm. Nursery-rhyme characters come and go in a surreal fantasy, with the evil Mr. Barnaby threatening to evict Widow Peep from her shoe unless he receives her daughter Bo in marriage. The movie culminates in a full-scale invasion of Toyland by the yeti-ish Bogeymen and their defeat by the 100 six-foot wooden soldiers which Stan and Ollie have built by mistake. Henry Brandon gives a characterful performance, while 1930s child star Charlotte Henry is an appealing heroine. Directors Gus Meins and Charles R. Rogers milk the slapstick to an increasingly unnerving degree. Reputedly Hardy's favorite among the double act's features, March of the Wooden Soldiers emerges now as their most audacious screen appearance. --Richard Whitehouse

Customer Reviews:

Very good, maybe neccessary.......2007-06-08

Laurel and Hardy DON'T need to be in colour, they are perfect in B&W, however this is the one film that might be the exception. Even in B&W you can tell how glorious the film would be if the backgrounds and characters were in colour - and it works. It won't change your life but will make a brilliant film that bit better, and different.

March of the Wooden Soldiers.......2007-03-21

Just as I expected it would be. Great find!

Good Experience.......2007-03-09

The delivery of the merchandise was timely the picture clarity and product is excellent for a classic DVD. The overall experience was great!!!

A great Holiday Movie Classic.......2007-02-27

I remember this movie on TV every Thanksgiving when I was a kid. For some reason they stopped showing it in the mid 80's - to early 90's it has become a forgotten classic. Though I am not a fan of colorization for old B/W movies, I really like this version. It is very well done the colors do not look fake and bring out the details of the film which one could not always see in B and W. This movie color or Black and White is a true wonder to see. It is a gift from the not so distant past. The back drops and props bring in memories of the grand old amusement parks like Coney Island, or roadside America and The late Great Danbury Fair in CT. Full of fantasy and bewitching fun. Laurel and Hardy bring a magic to this film that should be seen by all. Buy it it is great for the kids and for the whole family

A perfect restoration and colorization.......2007-01-25

It wasn't until I saw this DVD that I finally had a chance to see the entire original opening title sequence. The restoration was done with great care and the "paint job" is properly cheerful considering the content and story. Of course, the movie is a holiday classic and a must for your kids. You need to teach them that there was a time when a set of wooden soldiers was a big deal!

TCM Archives - The Laurel and Hardy Collection (The Devil's Brother / Bonnie Scotland)

Average customer rating:

Hey Hallmark, this is how you do it....
Give us more, TCM...
THE DUO AT THEIR BEST
On Yonder Rock Reclining......
Laurel, Hardy, and MGM ==Possible Spoilers in this review==

TCM Archives - The Laurel and Hardy Collection (The Devil's Brother / Bonnie Scotland)
Starring: Stan Laurel , Oliver Hardy , Dennis King , Thelma Todd , and James Finlayson
Director: Hal Roach , Charley Rogers , and James W. Horne
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

Classic Comedies | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

( T ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

Laurel and Hardy Collection, Vol. 1 (Great Guns / Jitterbugs / The Big Noise)
Laurel and Hardy Collection, Vol. 2 (A Haunting we Will Go / Dancing Masters / Bullfighters)
Laurel & Hardy (Sons of the Desert/The Music Box/Another Fine Mess/Busy Bodies/County Hospital)
Laurel & Hardy II (Way Out West / Block-Heads / Chickens Come Home)
Laurel & Hardy - Air Raid Wardens / Nothing but Trouble

ASIN: B000E1MXTQ
Release Date: 2006-04-18

Product Description

They were one of the movies' most successful and best-loved comic duos, probably because their irresistible slapstick antics were underscored by an indomitable optimism. Beginning with shorts made at the Hal Roach Studios, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy struck a universal chord by sharing a contentious yet benign friendship that always survived whatever indignities their mutual bumbling brought upon them.

This TCM Archives two-disc collection focuses on the team at their zenith during the sound era and spotlights two features produced by Roach for MGM. The Devil's Brother (1933) (also known as Fra Diavolo) is a laugh-filled adaptation of the Auber operetta in which "Stanlio" and "Ollio" tangle with a notorious robber baron. The delightful Bonnie Scotland (1935) is a misadventure that takes the boys to Scotland and India.

Format: DVD MOVIE

Amazon.com

Unlike many silent screen comedians, Laurel & Hardy made a seamless transition to talkies, and this TCM Archives double-feature showcases some of their funniest work from the early 1930s. As always, TCM/Warner has packaged this must-have set for true film buffs: The prints are pristine, image quality is crisp and clean, sound quality is the best available (allowing for some hiss and minor drop-offs due to the age of the soundtracks), and bonus features have been chosen with care and authority, including several highlight excerpts from Laurel & Hardy short subjects. While continuing to enjoy their priceless partnership with producer Hal Roach, Stan & Ollie were at their sound-era peak in The Devil's Brother (1933), a hilarious adaptation of the Auber operetta Fra Diavolo (also the film's alternate European title), in which "Stanlio" and "Ollio" find themselves entangled in the exploits of the Marquis de San Marco, a notorious singing bandit named "Fra Diavolo" (played with adequate panache by Dennis King) who's set his sights on the lovely Lady Pamela (played by '30s screen queen Thelma Todd). Plots in Laurel & Hardy films are almost always perfunctory, but this is one of the better ones, lending Stan & Ollie ample opportunity to cut loose with Roach-invented gags and trademark slapstick. The highlight has to be Stan's drunken laughing fit, a miraculously sustained bit of hilarity (with Ollie eventually joining in) that's absolutely infectious and irresistible--it's impossible to watch without laughing right along with Stan.

Bonnie Scotland (1935) finds L&H in Gunga Din territory (or if you prefer, The Lives of a Bengal Lancer) as they arrive in Scotland hoping to collect "MacLaurel's" inheritance, only to end up recruited into a Scottish infantry regiment in the Indian desert. The comedy is mildly compromised by a standard-issue romance plot involving costars June Lang and William Janney, but whenever Stan and Ollie are onscreen, the laughs are consistently plentiful and timelessly entertaining. Adding expert context to the comedy, audio commentaries by film historians and lifelong L&H fans Leonard Maltin and Richard W. Bann are packed with knowledgeable information out each film, the careers of the cast members, working methods at Hal Roach studios, shooting locations, and fascinating anecdotal details (such as the fact that long-time L&H supporting player James Finlayson was the direct inspiration for Homer Simpson's beloved exclamation, "D'Oh!" on TV's long-running animated sitcom The Simpsons. The package is rounded out by "Added Attractions: The Hollywood Shorts Story," an excellent TCM feature-length documentary, narrated by Chevy Chase, that extensively chronicles the many varieties of short subjects produced during the 1930's and '40s--essentially an extension of Vaudeville and newsreels that gave rise to many of Hollywood's finest performers during the golden age of the studio system. All in all, this is a perfect DVD set for longtime Laurel & Hardy fans, or newcomers to their classic brand of comedy. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews:

Hey Hallmark, this is how you do it...........2007-07-03

Turner did an excellent job with this. The prints are beautiful, and the second disc contains clips that would be difficult to find otherwise. lnstead of sticking us(L&H's loyal and knowledgeable fanbase)with a careless,sub-par product, they have put together an outstanding collection. lf you're on the fence or don't know about L&H, then don't be afraid to start here. Well worth it.

Give us more, TCM..........2007-06-25

These are perfect, gorgeous prints. Excellent indexing, too! Although amazon.co.uk offers a 21-DVD set of "remastered" L&H films (almost their complete Hal Roach oeuvre), the prints are not at all good like the ones on these DVDs. So we are all still waiting for a truly decent set of "The Complete L&H" to come out. I do highly recommend this release.

Devil's Brother is self-recommending, and if you've ever been a little embarassed by HOW dopey Stan can be, here he shows how clever and physically deft he is.

There is more controversy over Bonnie Scotland. This much-criticized film is actually filled with good things: it has an absolutely darling June Lang in the subplot; it has L&H stepping blithely into the picture to the tune of a village blacksmith inadvertently pinging away the Koo Koo theme on his anvil(!); Ollie sneezing the water out of a stream; L&H setting their bed on fire (and Ollie as well); a warm and memorable shot of L&H and William Janney jaunting off to a big adventure; a "musical mirage" (with Marvin Hatley!); Stanley readjusting the march-step of an entire regiment; a delightful and satisfying L&H dance, complete with a good comic ending; one of the most heart-tugging goodbyes ever committed to film, but which is so funny you can't cry; and a spectacular ending with pandemonium overtaking all.

Critics write that the romantic subplot is left unresolved, but the resolution is so obvious that I never questioned it as a kid, and still don't. My only criticism is that the secondary story is not happy, and I wish its scenes were shorter. But it does add to the continuity and dramatic arch of the movie. A little editing could make this a classic.

The second DVD has hard-to-find L&H excerpts from 3 non-L&H films of the 1930s, and they're all good. My only gripe here is that the very last and important few seconds of the Banditos clip from Pick A Star is cut out. I also wish that instead of a boring documentary, they had included the Stolen Jools, and the entire re-edited version of Pick A Star, which was released in the 1950s as A Day at the Studio, and which is supposed to be a pretty good tightened-up version. But this second DVD is a bonus, anyway, so it doesn't reduce my star-rating.

THE DUO AT THEIR BEST.......2007-04-02

THIS IS LAUREL AND HARDY AT THEIR BEST,THE DANCING IN BONNIE SCOTLAND IS BY FAR THE FUNNIEST THING I HAVE SEEN. IF YOU WANT TO LAUGH GET THIS DVD.

On Yonder Rock Reclining.............2007-01-19

Laurel & Hardy are at their best in these two Hal Roach comedies. Behind teh subplots, and inconsistent plot lines of lovers, devils brothers, and thieves, Laurel & Hardy are at their magical best. Their scenes in both "The Devil's Brother" and "Bonnie Scotland" are filled with the charm and wit that made these comedians the best in their business.

Warner Brothers has definitely scored high for me. The extras filled in this DVD include scenes from the various cameos they were in, as well as the only color extract known from "The Rogue Song." Truly a treat for all Laurel & Hardy fans.

My only with is that Halmark would get on the bandwagon and release the rest of the films that they own. Even Fox and MGM have now released their Laurel & Hardy movies (which were post-1940, and not the team's best films either).

Laurel, Hardy, and MGM ==Possible Spoilers in this review==.......2006-11-19

Way back in the 80's there were only two Laurel & Hardy movies to be found on video tape; "Utopia" and "Flying Deuces", both released by a multitude of cheapy video companies. And then finally MGM/UA home video released a third, "Bonnie Scotland". This would be followed by CBS/FOX's Playhouse Video released a couple of their 20th Century Fox movies, and Nostalgia Merchant did us all a favor and released 9 volumes of their sound shorts ( one volume more and they would have completed the task ) as well as several of the Hal Roach L&H feature films.

It wasn't long before MGM /UA realized that L&H sold well on video. And it was just their luck that they had the video rights to 2 of their movies. So in the 90's "Bonnie Scotland" was re-released marked down from $70 to $20, an "The Devils Brother" was also given a release at the same price. These movies made such a profit that MGM/UA continued to release any L&H movies they could get their hands on.

As it turned out, Laurel & Hardy had made two movies for MGM studios after they split with Hal Roach studios. "Air Raid Wardens" and "Nothing But Trouble", while the stronger of their post Roach movies, were still regarded to be substandard. Ultimately that did not stop MGM/UA from releasing them, or putting such phrases as "..hilarious..." and "...laughed packed 1944 film".

MGM/UA continued to try to milk the L&H cash cow dry with two more video releases; "Laurel & Hardy's Laughing 20's" and "Hollywood Party". The former was another Robert Youngson composite movie released by MGM that is best remembered for preserving most of the pie fight from "Battle of the Century". The later was a 1934 MGM all-star disaster that featured Laurel & Hardy in only a few segments. But that did not stop MGM/UA from prominently featuring Laurel & Hardy on the videos box.

It would have been nice if MGM had continued and paid for the rights to release several other L&H movies, but at the time they were only interested in releasing the movies they already owned the rights to. Now nearly 15 years later Warner Home Video is once again re-releasing the MGM owned Laurel & Hardy movies on DVD. While this set only contains their two Roach features, good sales could see the re-release of all the MGM owned material. ( I would actually like to see a DVD release of "Hollywood Review of 1929" as I am also a Buster Keaton fan. The only other release of this movie on home video was part of an expensive Laser disc set with a lot of other early musicals I was not interested in. )Hopefully this could also result in a release of other Laurel & Hardy movies through Warner & TCM.

As for the movies in this set, they are not the best that Laurel & hardy had to offer. At the time "The Devils Brother" was made Hal Roach felt that they had to beef up the feature films with what was selling tickets at the time, namely romance and music. As in movies like "Swiss Miss",
"Bohemian Girl", and even "Babes in Toyland", a sub plot revolving around a romance between two characters tends to take over the movie. As do singing numbers that do not involve Laurel or Hardy. They are by no means marginalized as Abbot & Costello were in many of their films, but the padding is still obvious. However, since Stan and Babe had less to do with the film it gave them more time to work out the gags in their individual scenes. And The Devils Brother does offer up a few comedy gems such as the "Earsy-Kneesy-Nosey" game ( which, by the way, quickly became a fad shortly after this film was released )

The plot is simple. L&H play Stanlio and Ollio, two failed bandit's in Europe around the 1700's. They are forced into service with Fra Diavalo, a notorious leader of a gang of bandits, after Stanlio and Ollio attempt to rob them. Disguising himself as a nobleman, Fra Diavalo infiltrates the home of Lord Rocburg and woos his wife in order to locate his money. A second sub plot is introduced where if Captain Lorenzo cannot capture the bandit Fra Diavalo he will never be able to marry his true love. Throughout the movie Laurel & Hardy are forced to help Fra Diavalo in his plot, but at the same time are interested in turning him in for the reward. Eventually they end up getting both Fra Diavalo and themselves caught and nearly shot by a firing squad. That is until Stanlio causes a distraction that allows them all to escape.

Bonnie Scotland, besides its name, barely takes place in that country. Stan & Olly travel to Scotland for a reading of a will where they are only left a snuff box. They end up enlisting in the Scottish army and for the bulk of the movie are in India. The sub plot here is one of Laurels relatives, Laurena MacLaurel, is brought to India by her guardian, and her boyfriend enlists in the same regiment as Stanly & Olly to be with her. In the end of the movie the subplot is abandoned without resolution as Stanly, Olly, and the boyfriend are all sent on a mission to infiltrate some insurgents. As they are about to be killed Stanly knocks over some bee hives which aids in their escape, but also sends swarms of bees to sting everyone. It is there the movie ends abruptly, leaving i=us to assume that somehow the romantic subplot was resolved, and at the same time not caring if it was or not. As in all the Roach movies, strong material from Laurel & Hardy, but ruined by dull padding with the lame subplot. And the second most misleading title in comedy history ( the first being "Abbot & Costello go to Mars ).

The disks also include some good extras, including their segment from "Hollywood Review of 1929" as well as their segments from "Hollywood Party" and their scenes from "Pick A Star". I suppose this is MGM's way of saying they are not going to be releasing those films, but here is all the L&H footage so you are not missing anything. And I agree, it will now be hard for them to sell those movies at a latter date. ( then again, Hollywood Party also has segments by Walt Disney and The Three Stooges, so perhaps they could afford to still release it.)There is also the existing fragment of Laurel & Hardy footage from the otherwise lost "Rouge Song". But one puzzler is a documentary on short subject films. One would think that this is just included as filler. But since the extras also boasts the scenes from the other films mentioned, throwing this documentary in does not seem necessary. It is almost as if it was tossed in by accident and was meant for another DVD set. And who knows, maybe in the near future a box set of random short movies released by Warner Brothers will include a documentary on Laurel & Hardy as an extra.

Laurel and Hardy Collection, Vol. 1 (Great Guns / Jitterbugs / The Big Noise)

Average customer rating:

Fives stars for entire disk content!
A MUST SEE FOR LAUREL & HARDY FANS
The Legends of Comedy are Back with New Material!
crumbs from the laurel and hardy table
These films are not that bad!

Laurel and Hardy Collection, Vol. 1 (Great Guns / Jitterbugs / The Big Noise)
Starring: Stan Laurel , Oliver Hardy , Doris Merrick , Arthur Space , and Veda Ann Borg
Director: Malcolm St. Clair , and Monty Banks
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Laurel & Hardy II (Way Out West / Block-Heads / Chickens Come Home)
Laurel & Hardy (Sons of the Desert/The Music Box/Another Fine Mess/Busy Bodies/County Hospital)

ASIN: B000E6ESF8
Release Date: 2006-04-11

Amazon.com

Though Laurel and Hardy fans will attest to the relative weakness of the three films included in this Gift set, Great Guns, Jitterbugs, and The Big Noise, the films still brim with classic Stan and Ollie antics, and more intriguingly, serve as historical markers of American Wartime Cinema. These post-Hal Roach, Twentieth Century Fox releases offer, even in the liner notes, information about how the film industry was influenced by World War II. Great Guns' plot most directly refers to the war, showing what happens when the Army recruits two clowns. Gunpowder gags, planes dropping flour bombs, and physical comedy inside the barracks, involving cots, dangling light bulbs, and mess kits abound in this film that hopefully entertained soldiers. Jitterbugs, the funniest film in the set, provides comedic escape from hardship by constructing a plot based on a dislike for gas rationing. In Jitterbugs, Stan and Ollie, stars of the Zoot Suit Band, encounter a scam artist who allegedly can turn water into gasoline with an invented pill. Together, the three men swindle their ways into absurd situations, culminating in hilarious scenes of Stan disguised as a wealthy elderly lady who at one point declares, to a bunch of gangsters, that she's feeling "quite gay." Clever double-entendres, subtle wordplay, and co-star Vivian Blaine make this film wonderful. A documentary entitled "Revenge of the Sons of the Desert," about Laurel and Hardy fan clubs and conventions, shows how the wacky spirits of Stan and Ollie live on into the present day. True, these three films may not be their strongest, but they defined comedy during some of America's grimmest times. --Trinie Dalton

Description

Episode Description: Disc 1 "Big Noise": Rating: NR Audio: English: Mono & Stereo Subtitled: English and Spanish Special Features: Commentary by Randy Skredvedt, Photo Gallery, Theatrical Trailer, Laurel and Hardy Theatre: Bullfighters Theatrical Trailer, Great Guns Theatrical Trailer, & The Dancing Master Theatrical Trailer

Disc 2 "Great Guns": Rating: NR Audio: English: Mono & Stereo Subtitled: English & Spanish Special Features: Commentary by Randy Skretvedt, Photo Gallery, Opening the Freemont Theatre Movietone News, Theatrical Trailer, Laurel and Hardy Theatre: Big Noise Theatrical Trailer, Bullfighters Theatrical Trailer, & Jitterbugs Theatrical Trailer

Disc 3 "Jitterbugs": Rating: NR Audio: English: Mono & Stereo Subtitled: English & Spanish Special Features: Commentary by Randy Skretvedt, Photo Gallery, Inauguration of the Railway Movietone News, Theatrical Trailer, Laurel and Hardy Theatre: Big Noise Theatrical Trailer, Bullfighters Theatrical Trailer, & Great Guns Theatrical Trailer

Customer Reviews:

Fives stars for entire disk content!.......2007-05-25

These are not the very best Laurel and Hardy movies but they are not really bad either. They are different. If they had started as a team making these movies we would never have known about all their best work and we'd be satisfied with these films as they are.

Each of these three movies I enjoyed watching. The picture and sound quality are superior to many of the other Laurel and Hardy videos available.

The extra features are a bonus too. I especially liked the audio commentaries by expert film historians.

I highly recommend this collection to ture Laurel and Hardy fans!

A MUST SEE FOR LAUREL & HARDY FANS.......2007-03-16

Many of these post Hal Roach films I'd never seen before.That's why I just had to get this DVD set.I'm always fascinated to see anything from Stan and Ollie that I've never seen before.
Great Guns and Jitterbugs are the only two I haven't seen before in this set.I especially like Jitterbugs.Definetly one of their better 40s films.Vivia Blane is a beautiful singer.Plus Stan and Ollie themselves are seen a lot more in this film than in most of their much later features.

The Legends of Comedy are Back with New Material!.......2006-11-09

I'm a very enthusiastic fun of the great comedy team Laurel&Hardy. I search any release that come out of the legendary team of the silver screen. When I purchased the 21 dvd box set "Laurel&Hardy Collection" two years ago, I thought that almost all of the movies were included in this collection. Eventually, I realized that most of the movies from 1940s and some of the 1930s movies were not considered in this collection. Fortunately, I came across this new collection of their films which were missing in the 21 dvd collection. The three movies in "Laurel&Hardy Giftset Volume 1" are the movies made in 1940s. Though they seem a bit aged(Laurel) in some particular scenes, they still do a fantastic job. I think every Laurel&Hardy fun or simply the fun of classical comedies should get this "Laurel&Hardy giftset". "Laurel&Hardy Giftset Volume 2" has already come out and I also recommend you to get that one too. Great! I've collected almost every film of the great comedy team by purchasing these two new giftset releases.

crumbs from the laurel and hardy table.......2006-11-04

As a life-long fan of Stan and Ollie, I continue to be depressed at the relative absence of the availability of their classic works on DVD. Except for the thrown-together Hallmark volumes which , for the most part, use poor dupes of 35mm material and for Turner's L&H "collection" with FRA DIAVOLO and BONNIE SCOTLAND, two of their weakest Roach films, their is nothing readily available to show the genius of these two timeless performers. The continued release of the weak - and frequently execrable - films for Fox and MGM in the 40s will only cause the unititiated to think L&H are nothing beyond two aging, unfunny knockabouts.
Although the Fox/MGM films might have a place on the shelf of a completist, they are really just depressing. Why does not UNIVERSAL, who releases the ENTIRE body of their Roach work from 1927 -1940 release this massive and impressive set state-side?

These films are not that bad!.......2006-10-13

It seems like so many people have said that L&H's post-1940 films are awful for so long that even people who don't have any familiarity with them believe it, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. Sure they'll never compare to their earlier glories like 'Pack Up Your Troubles' or 'Way Out West,' nor to any of their short subjects, but they really shouldn't be compared because they're in two very different categories. People should see them as what they are, not what they're not. And wouldn't one rather see L&H in a less brilliant vehicle than see the kind of stuff that passes for comedy today?

'Great Guns' (1941) can feel like a big let-down, since this was their first Fox film after so many wonderful years at Hal Roach, and the drop-off in quality is stunning. However, it does manage to deliver enough funny lines and gags to make this picture worthwhile. It may not be as funny or as classic as their earlier glories, but it's still entertaining regardless. Great scenes include Stan and Ollie's attempts to serve themselves lunch at the dining hall, Stan stuffing their pet crow down the back of Ollie's pants when they're in formation, and the neverending plank of wood Stan carries during one of their military exercises. Though this film was made somewhat prior to the U.S. entering WWII, it does seem to be anticipating that possibility, what with the "Isn't the Army great and fun?" theme, kind of making it into a subtle propaganda picture in case the U.S. really did join the war. And it's painful to see how Fox just didn't understand Stan and Ollie's characters, making them aware of their dumbness, servile, not wanting to better themselves and rise above being servants, people who know their place and don't mind it. Stan's stupidity and Ollie's weight are made into cruel needless joke after cruel needless joke as well. Before, part of the joke was that Ollie was quite a big boy, but that he was so graceful in spite of it, and that Stan was in a special childlike world of his own, which Ollie often brought him out of with a choice word or look. They're also kind of pushed into the background in favor of the boring would-be couple, more like supporting characters. There's also a badly dated scene where Sgt. Hippo (whom I thought looked like Bob Hope) has his face blackened by exploding tobacco, and Stan and Ollie pretend to not recognise him, with lines like "Look, they've assigned us a porter." Then their commanding officer comes in and yells at Hippo, asking him, "What are you trying to do, put on a minstrel show?" They never would have used this kind of cheap racial humor at Hal Roach!

'Jitterbugs' (1943) also has secondary characters assuming more importance in the plotline, though Stan and Ollie seem more their old selves in this picture, getting to have more of the main action instead of being pushed to the sideline in favor of some boring young couple and the villains, coupled with superfluous musical numbers (rather like what happened to the Marx Brothers in their MGM films). It's also a lot funnier than 'Great Guns.' Added bonuses are the scene where Ollie has to pretend to be a Southern colonel (he does it so well and convincingly, doubtlessly because he was a Southerner himself) and the scenes where Stan pretends to be Emily Cartwright. It's always a riot to see Stan in drag, and he also gets to use his real British accent, which is an added bonus. Probably one of their best Fox films, even though it might not be quite up to their old snuff.

'The Big Noise' (1944) suffers from being uneven. A lot of the best scenes and gags are remakes of things from earlier shorts and features (such as 'Oliver the Eighth,' 'Berth Marks,' 'Habeas Corpus,' and 'Wrong Again!'), but they never really go anywhere. The plot had a lot of potential, but just wasn't executed very well. It also suffers from, once again, secondary characters assuming too much importance. And the ending just occurs out of nowhere and leaves more questions than answers; additionally, Stan and Ollie would have never dropped a bomb on anyone on purpose, even in wartime, back at Hal Roach. They just weren't that type of people. Of their WWII-themed films, I actually much prefer the also-reviled 'Air Raid Wardens.' However, I don't think this film is as awful as its reputation; it's certainly not what I'd consider their worst feature.

Extras include trailers, audio commentaries, photo galleries and press materials, newsreels about Fox Movietone News, and a short documentary on the Sons of the Desert, the worldwide L&H fan society. Overall, this isn't something I'd recommend to a new or casual fan, but it's a must-have for more seasoned fans. These films are better than their reputation (one should form one's own opinion about them instead of just parroting the popular wisdom; that's like letting other people do your thinking for you), and it's great to see that they've been given the deluxe treatment, restored, and released on DVD. Hopefully people with open minds will be able to make up their own minds about their merit and worth, even to consider a critical re-evaluation of them.

Average customer rating:

Glad it is available, but this is not restored

The Further Perils of Laurel and Hardy
Starring: Charley Chase , Max Davidson , James Finlayson , Oliver Hardy , and Stan Laurel
Director: Robert Youngson
Manufacturer: Telavista
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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DVDs Under $14.99 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video
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ASIN: B000O75GDU
Release Date: 2007-06-05

Description

THE FURTHER PERILS OF LAUREL & HARDY is a career retrospective of one of the world's greatest comedy duos. This compilation by Robert Youngson charts every stage of Laurel & Hardy's rise to fame. Featuring examples of the comedy duo's solo work with clips from an early Stan Laurel one-reeler JUST RAMBLING ALONG (1918), and clips from three Billy West shorts from 1917 and 1918 that Oliver Hardy appeared in. These are THE VILLAIN, THE HOBO and HIS DAY OUT.

Customer Reviews:

Glad it is available, but this is not restored.......2007-06-12

It is great to have this Youngson compilation available on DVD in America, but the print quality is only fair. The images are occasionally a bit washed out, and the print is not as sharp as what can usually be found on DVD. It is perfectly watchable, about as good as broadcast TV once was, but it is not at the level of restored DVD quality. The film itself is great, with clips from many great Laurel and Hardy silent classics, and material on their solo material as well. I would have to recommended it to Laurel and Hardy fans, but with reservations in that it is not typical DVD quality, but closer to typical broacast TV quality. I guess five stars for the movie and three for the quality would average a four star rating.

The Lost Films of Laurel & Hardy: The Complete Collection, Vol. 2

Average customer rating:

More rare and mostly wonderful Laurel and Hardy silents
Interesting mishmash
STUNNING!
More Laurel & Hardy silent shorts from the late 1920's
SOME CORRECTIONS REGARDING THIS DVD

The Lost Films of Laurel & Hardy: The Complete Collection, Vol. 2
Starring: Stan Laurel , Katherine Grant , James Finlayson , George Rowe , and Oliver Hardy
Director: Ralph Ceder , Fred Guiol , and Leo McCarey
Manufacturer: Image Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Classics | Genres | DVD | Video

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The Lost Films of Laurel & Hardy: The Complete Collection, Vol. 9

ASIN: B00000FE37
Release Date: 1998-12-12

Amazon.com

More rare silents on DVD capturing Laurel and Hardy at their physical best. In Early to Bed, the Boys are totally out of character, as Ollie inherits a fortune and Stanley becomes his butler; in Double Whoopee, they're in perfect form, ripping the dress off teenager Jean Harlow (it's all harmless fun, of course); in Sugar Daddies, an early teaming, they wind up in a historic Long Beach Fun House to get out of a jam; and in Angora Love, their last silent, a goat follows Stanley home with disastrous results. The volume features two more early Laurel solo efforts. In Oranges and Lemons, for instance, he's still in search of a persona, borrowing a little from Chaplin in destroying an orange processing plant. --Bill Desowitz

Description

Mastered from the original 35mm material, this second volume of lost films from the great comedy team of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy includes: "Double Whoopee" (1929, 20 min., silent) featuring Jean Harlow, "Early to Bed" (1928, 20 min., silent), "Angora Love" (1929, 20 min.) and "Sugar Daddies" (1927, 19 min., silent), plus the Stan Laurel solo shorts: "Roughest Africa" (1923, 24 min., silent) and "Oranges & Lemons" (1923, 15 min., silent).

Customer Reviews:

More rare and mostly wonderful Laurel and Hardy silents.......2007-03-26

THE LOST FILMS OF LAUREL & HARDY: VOLUME TWO is part of a ten volume DVD series that presents the silent slapstick comedy work of Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, and friends like Charley Chase and Jimmy Finlayson in magnificent 35mm original nitrate negatives and with playful Jazz Age scores.

The crown jewel of Volume Two is a restored nitrate camera negative of DOUBLE WHOOPEE (1929). It is hilarious, with Stan and Ollie as hotel bellboys, Erich von Stroheim's stunt double constantly falling into a greasy elevator shaft, and a teenage Jean Harlow losing her dress as she gets out of a taxi and non-chalantly walking across the lobby. It is a single set comedy and very funny.

My least favorite of this set is EARLY TO BED (1928). Hardy may or may not have inherited a fortune and pretends he is a millionaire, with poor Laurel as his put-upon butler. The action takes place all night all over an empty mansion and is definitely a product of the late Jazz Age. As such, it is worth seeing as a curio. It is shocking how poorly Babe treats Stan throughout.

ANGORA LOVE (1929) has an amiable goat befriending Stan and Babe. With the goat following them back to their rooming house room, the boys constantly need to hide him from landlord Jimmy Finlayson.

SUGAR DADDIES (1927) is another gem with Jimmy Finlayson top-billed and learning one morning that he got drunk and married the night before. The bride and her brother are both comic grotesques. Stan is Finlayson's lawyer and Ollie is his butler, and the nostalgic climax takes place all over the wonderful, long-gone Long Beach Amusement Park. This one is a real treat, especially the climax.

ROUGHEST AFRICA and ORANGES AND LEMONS (both 1923) are both uproarious shorts with just Laurel before he teamed with Hardy. AFRICA is a devastating and witty parody of Frank Buck true-life wild animal adventures. ORANGES has Stan working at an orange picking and packing company, and getting into all kinds of hilarious mischief.

These films run about 20 minutes each, were photographed by legendary later director George Stevens, are in gorgeous studio vault print editions with some restored footage, and have unusually fun new Jazz Age music and sound effects. Total running time is about 125 minutes a volume. I recommend this whole series highly to lovers of silent slapstick comedy and also to younger viewers who are not sure if they like Jazz Age comedy.

Interesting mishmash.......2005-08-02

This disc contains a little of everything, the typical makeup of these discs. Here in particular we have three L&H shorts proper, two of Stan's solo shorts, and one short where they're together but not yet a team. Two of the shorts they made as a team, 'Angora Love' and 'Double Whoopee,' are very funny, showing how quickly they became a real team after finally being officially paired, although it still feels as though something is missing, not being able to hear their voices, since that's a large part of what makes them so funny, how their voices match their onscreen personas and everything that's going on onscreen to a tee. The other team short, 'Early to Bed,' is unusual in that they're a team but have a somewhat different relationship than they usually have, where they're largely at odds with one another, one of the few times Stan actually stands up for, asserts, and defends himself, pretty much coming across as the smarter superior one. The short in which they're together but not yet a team, 'Sugar Daddies,' is very funny, one of their best pre-teaming efforts, since they're acting more and more like a team instead of just happening to be in the same film, sometimes not even in any scenes together. It's also very nice to see Jimmy Finlayson as their friend and equal instead of their foil, and though the repeated gag in this film, of Stan sitting on top of the hunched-over Jimmy as they're disguised as Ollie's wife, is also used in 'Love 'Em and Leave 'Em' and 'Chickens Come Home,' it's so funny and brilliant it doesn't seem old or tired. It's also nice to see the now-largely-forgotten Noah Young as the heavy (i.e., villain) in this film. We just don't make character actors like that anymore.

The two Stan solo shorts included, 'Oranges and Lemons' and 'Roughest Africa' (which also co-stars Jimmy), are two of my favorite of his solo shorts, though they're also both included on 'The Stan Laurel Slapstick Symposium,' and a lot of people might not like the idea of having to purchase two copies of two of the same films. It's an interesting change of pace to see what Stan did in his solo days, and how positively young he looks, how different his hair was before it was shaved for the 1927 L&H short 'The Second Hundred Years,' after which it grew back in a very comic way. Still, it's clear he hadn't yet fully developed a comic persona, had more of an edge (even a meanness, sometimes) to him than his sweet innocent overgrown man-child character we know and love did. He's funny in his solo work, just not very distinct from any number of aspiring comic hopefuls of the era.

STUNNING!.......2005-03-16

I will not go into a synopsis of the material as that is readily available but will comment on the series itself having viewed them all.

This is a stunning collection of the early work of the `boys` and is presented from restored 35mm material much of which is taken from the original surviving negatives. Several of the titles in the series, have until fairly recently, been considered lost forever.

Each disc has detailed information on the titles and every film is presented with either the original vitaphone sound on disc (again recently discovered) synchronised with the picture or with a composite vitaphone soundtrack.

Even for those who don`t normally view `silent` movies these are astounding prints of what is now the historic formation of one the most inventive and forever lasting comedy teams ever to grace the silver screen.

Each disc deserves five stars for content, quality and value.

More Laurel & Hardy silent shorts from the late 1920's.......2001-05-11

Volume 2 of this series includes four silent two-reelers for Hal Roach-MGM in the late 1920s. "Double Whoopee" was directed by Lewis Foster in 1929, with a story by Leo McCarey and a notable "appearance" by screen siren Jean Harlow (she loses the back half of her dress in a cab door). Laurel & Hardy arrive at a swank New York hotel and are mistaken for visiting royalty until they are revealed to be just doormen. Once they set to work they offend all of the guests, the local cop and a visiting prince. Hardy gets most of the good gags although the best is when Laurel is stripped to his underwear and starts ripping off everybody else's clothes. "Early to Bed," directed by Emmett Flynn in 1928, is an atypical Laurel & Hardy outing because this time the boys go after each other. Hardy inherits a fortune, gets himself a nice new mansion and hires Laurel as his butler. For once, Stan is conscientious about his job, but Ollie decides the best way to enjoy his new wealth and power is to torment his friend, especially when Stan is asleep. Finally fed up, Stan proceeds to destroy everything in the house while Ollie tries to protect his huge vases and other breakables. This is not a great Laurel & Hardy film, but the final routine certainly ranks as one of their best: Hardy takes refuge in an elaborately decorated garden fountain, pretending to be one of the little cherub heads spewing forth water.

The other two shorts are notable simply for the fact George Stevens was the cameraman, on his way to be a celebrated Hollywood director. "Angora Love." aptly enough, involves a stray goat that has attached itself to the boys who take it back to their room despite the "No Pets" rule. This 1929 comedy directed by Lewis Foster from a story by Leo McCarey has the distinction of being the last complete silent film by Laurel & Hardy. The best sequence is when Ollie gives the goat a bath. "Sugar Daddies" is the oldest of the two-reelers, directed in 1927 by Fred Guiol. James Finlayson is a newly-rich oil tycoon who wakes up one morning and is casually told by his butler (Hardy) that he was married last night. Finlayson calls his lawyer (Laurel) and then things get a tad confusing (somehow a blackmailing ring gets involved in this mess). There are two chase sequences, involving a dance hall and an amusement park. Finlayson is really the star of this comedy and the most interesting parts take place in the amusement park, where the routines involve various types of rides that have long ago disappeared. This volume also includes a pair of Stan Laurel solo shorts from 1923, "Roughest Africa" and "Oranges & Lemons" that are interesting curiosities. "The Lost Films of Laurel & Hardy" series is apparently committed to bringing us all of the boys' silent work for Hal Roach-MGM, so we can expect the great, the good and the better luck next time with each disc.

SOME CORRECTIONS REGARDING THIS DVD.......2000-01-15

Just to correct some information regarding Laurel and Hardy Volume Two: The Production Company is Hal Roach Studios, not Image Entertainment. (That's why they had access to the original 35mm camera negatives and sound discs.) The DVD is NOT REGIONALLY ENCODED and will play on any DVD machine (as it states on the package).

Average customer rating:

Gee that's swell photograpghy
Two Laughs is Not Enough
Deuces review
One of their best non-Roach films
Hardy Reincarnated

The Flying Deuces (Restored Edition)
Starring: Stan Laurel , Oliver Hardy , Jean Parker , Reginald Gardiner , and Bonnie Bannon
Director: A. Edward Sutherland
Manufacturer: Kino Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Laurel & Hardy (Sons of the Desert/The Music Box/Another Fine Mess/Busy Bodies/County Hospital)
Laurel & Hardy II (Way Out West / Block-Heads / Chickens Come Home)
TCM Archives - The Laurel and Hardy Collection (The Devil's Brother / Bonnie Scotland)
Laurel and Hardy Collection, Vol. 1 (Great Guns / Jitterbugs / The Big Noise)
March of the Wooden Soldiers

ASIN: B0002CHIFG
Release Date: 2004-08-03

Customer Reviews:

Gee that's swell photograpghy.......2007-05-20

Ah life does imitate art. Almost 60 years after this film was made, a suicidal young man joined the US Marines to forget his girl troubles. This film will always have a special place in my heart.

Ollie falls in love while in Paris, to an inn keepers daughter. His proposal is turned down amidst laughter at his expense. Stan thinks that the best thing to do is to go back to the fish market where they work, but Ollie had nobler ideas, he must drown himself along with his broken heart. Of course Ollie convinces Stan that he must die too, after all what would Stan do without Ollie, aside from having a wonderful and rewarding life at the fish market. But thanks to some friendly advice and a man-eating shark, the boys decide to live again and join the French Foreign Legion.

What a Legion it is, work and march from sunup until sundown for 2 cents a day. Ollie tells the commandant that they refuse to do that much work for 2 cents, so they are put on laundry detail. I have never in my life seen a pile of clothes that large. Well Ollie has a revelation and forgets about his heartache and decides it is time to go home. After all why clean a mountain of dirty drawers if you don't have too.

Well the boys do not understand the terms desertion, UA, or AWOL, so off they go, but not without wrting a nice letter to the Commandant and stealing his cigars. Well the letter was pretty insulting and maybe it is a good thing that Ollie cannot spell raspberries. So after a little chase and a nice rendition of 'Shine on Harvest Moon', the boys are captured and thrown into a cell to await the firing squad. However, an eternal mysterious hand throws them a letter through the bars. There is an escape hatch. Stan is not sure why they are crawling through an underground tunnel.

Ollie "We're making our escape"
Stan "Are we allowed to do that?"

Anyway they make their way to an airplane and get away from the chasing legionaires, only to crash. Ollie becomes a horse through the magic of movie reincarnation and Stan is doomed to walk the earth with people 'staring at him and wondering what he is'.

It's a good flick, I like it

Two Laughs is Not Enough.......2007-05-17

I tried to hard to love this movie, but in all honesty, I thought it was painfully unfunny. I laughed twice - first when Ollie tells Stan that without him "people would stare at you and wonder what you are - and I wouldn't be here to tell them" and last at the very end when Ollie is reincarnated as a horse with a mustache and a hat. To be fair, I admit that I also smiled once to see Ollie's coy flirtation with the innkeeper's daughter.

Apart from that, the film was only interesting for its surprising bleakness at the beginning - there was something compelling about watching Ollie, suicidally depressed, decide that Stan too must die.

All in all, I was bored. The boys try hard to be funny but the material just isn't up to it. Two laughs is not enough.

Deuces review.......2007-04-20

Most L & H fans are by now familiar with this classic tale of Stan & Ollie in the French Foreign Legion so I will not discuss the merits of the plot line and focus instead upon the quality of this restored edition. On the whole, the images are crisp and the sound is consistently clear. There are occassional scratch and dirt marks but these are so infrequent and occur so quickly that they do not detract in any way from the viewing of this film. These elements, combined with some of the extras included on the CD make it an excellent value and a worthwhile addition to any collection of classic Laurel and Hardy films.

One of their best non-Roach films.......2006-10-10

While everyone seems to agree that L&H did their greatest most representative work for Hal Roach Studios, there are some films here and there from other studios which are just as strong, great, and funny. This is one of them, and in spite of a mixed reputation among fans, is often cited as the best non-Roach film, period. The plot starts out simply enough; Stan and Ollie are vacationing in France, about to return to the United States, but Ollie is in love with Georgette. He is heartbroken when he finds out she loves another man (later he finds out she's actually married, and to his Foreign Legion commanding officer no less), and decides to bump himself off. Naturally he makes Stan commit suicide too, but after a number of typical false starts, they're finally saved when Georgette's husband comes by (he overheard them arguing) and recommends joining the Foreign Legion as a surefire way of forgetting all about women. The boys take him up on his advice, but after causing a lot of trouble and a quick discovery that they're just not cut out for the service, they pack up their things and leave. Their superiors are furious to discover the note they left, and have them arrested when they finally catch up to them. When they tunnel their way out, there's an avalanche and they're forced to start digging up instead, right into the wine cellar in Georgette's house. More comedic mayhem ensues as they start running away again, and they end up in a plane they can't even fly properly, culminating in one of their strangest endings ever.

Also included are a bunch of interesting rarities--two short silent newsreels showcasing their 1932 visit to Edinburgh, Scotland and Tynemouth, England, a brief 1943 PSA short narrated by Pete Smith, 'Tree in a Test Tube' (their only appearance in color besides the short surviving fragment of the 1930 feature 'The Rogue Song'), a gallery of posters, stills, and PR materials, an introduction by Serge Bromberg (director and co-founder of Lobster Films), a star-studded (but not very good) 1931 short they made a brief cameo in, 'The Stolen Jools' (just about everyone under contract to MGM at the time makes an appearance here, along with some guest stars from other studios!), and their 1954 appearance on 'This Is Your Life.' It's well-known in the fan community that they weren't really pleased about appearing on the program, and it really shows in how quiet they are and how ill at ease and embarrassed they look. Stan in particular wasn't happy about being surprised like this, since he always liked to have material prepared before giving a performance. Additionally, most of the guests who came on didn't really have much of a connection to them; it was nice to see people like Ollie's first sweetheart, the woman who was in his performance troupe when he was living in Florida, and director Leo McCarey, but most of them didn't have a big connection to them like, say, Charley Hall, Billy Gilbert, Hal Roach, Sr., Anita Garvin, or Tiny Sanford, all people who were still alive at the time. It could have been a great loving tribute to them, but instead falls really flat.

Although fan reaction to 'The Flying Deuces' is mixed, I really like it, though perhaps wouldn't rate it quite as high as a feature like 'A Chump at Oxford' or 'Pack Up Your Troubles.' And even though they weren't at Hal Roach for this picture, their longtime foil Jimmy Finlayson also appears here, and he's as great and funny as always. Unlike most of their other non-Roach films, here they still have control over their characters, aren't relegated to lesser roles, and had a great script. As for picture quality, I'm reviewing the Kino release, which has very good image quality. It's too bad the reviews for all of the releases of this are being mixed together. I didn't see anything wrong with the prints, certainly not enough to give this a lower rating. Whatever happened to the days when fans didn't throw a fit just because something didn't always have crystal-clear picture-perfect image quality? It seems as though the invention of the DVD has really raised people's expectations, and now we hear complaints about less than 100% perfect or remastered images when such prints would have been considered just fine instead of horrid or unwatchable in the era of the VHS.

Hardy Reincarnated.......2006-08-07

Quite a bit of stuff happens in this short 70-minute film. Hardy falls in love with a girl who is already married, and Laurel keeps bumping his head into a ceiling by accident. When Hardy's girl tells him she's not available, he contemplates suicide. Naturally, Laurel is dragged into the suicide attempt as well. They go to a river where Hardy ties one end of a rope to a heavy object, and ties the other end to himself. Then he ties Laurel to the rope too. Laurel says he has no reason to follow Hardy into going through with such a dreadful act, but Hardy says Laurel is incapable of making it in life alone, so he has no choice. In Hardy's own words, "People would stare at you and wonder what you are...and I wouldn't be there to tell them."

Just as they're about to end it all, a man recommends the two men join the foreign legion to forget about their girl troubles and they take his advice.

Hardy plans to only be a part of the legion for a few days, until he forgets about women completely. He and Laurel refuse to work for less than 25 cents a day, yet they end up working for 3 cents a day washing and ironing clothes. After Hardy sees the mountain of work he's asked to do, he says, "A miracle has happened. I've completely forgotten what I'm supposed to forget. Let's go home." Unfortunately his iron sets fire to a giant pile of clothing, and he and Laurel are both arrested. They tunnel out of their jail cell, and try their hand at flying a plane to escape. This is where the "Flying Deuces" title comes into play. Both steering wheels of the plane break off at the same time, leaving its two occupants helpless. They crash into the ground at full speed, and Laurel miraculously survives. Hardy isn't so lucky, and is reincarnated into a mustached horse with a derby. A very unusual ending I must say. Great plot though, and a great film.

Average customer rating:

Very good, maybe neccessary
March of the Wooden Soldiers
Good Experience
A great Holiday Movie Classic
A perfect restoration and colorization

March of the Wooden Soldiers
Starring: Richard Alexander , Frank Austin , Billy Bletcher , Henry Brandon , and Baldwin Cooke
Director: Rogers, Charley , and Meins, Gus
Manufacturer: PASSPORT VIDEO
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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