#LAUREL AND HARDY COLLECTION DVD REVIEW FULL#
#LAUREL AND HARDY COLLECTION DVD REVIEW SERIES#

#LAUREL AND HARDY COLLECTION DVD REVIEW SERIES#

These are, for the most part, magisterially slow films, comedies in which an individual sight gag - Ollie falling into a water fountain, for example - is only the point of departure for a series of slow-burn reactions: OllieвЂ™s baleful look directly into the camera, in which he seems to be soliciting the viewerвЂ™s sympathy, punctuated with a barely audible sigh of resignation StanвЂ™s gradations of surprise, incomprehension (was he really responsible for that?) and withdrawal into a state of blank-eyed obliviousness, as if the world and all its troubles had suddenly become too much for him, and heвЂ™s regressed into a perfectly serene, fetal state.

#LAUREL AND HARDY COLLECTION DVD REVIEW FULL#

But perhaps those days have passed: itвЂ™s hard to imagine a child of the 21st century sitting still for these black-and-white images, so full of unfamiliar objects - from Stan and OllieвЂ™s trademark derby hats to exotic items like radios the size of refrigerators, automobiles with exposed radiators and trolley cars running through the streets of Los Angeles.ДЄnd then there is the matter of pace. ThatвЂ™s a pretty good deal for a list price of $99.98, but вЂњThe Essential CollectionвЂќ remains a purchase for the committed fan, unlikely to attract many new converts.

ItвЂ™s a pleasure to see them with the original opening titles restored, the images unscratched and unspeckled, and the soundtracks cleaned up to the point where the delightful original scores by Leroy Shield and Marvin Hatley can be appreciated in all their chipper elegance. If anything, these were movies that were loved too much, copied so frequently that the original negatives for many of the early shorts were worn out and either lost or junked. Most important, these are new transfers, scanned from restored copies of the original release versions - no small thing for these films, which were so often sliced, diced, rescored and retitled over the years, as they were reissued by various companies for various markets. (For example, вЂњPolitiquerГas,вЂќ the Spanish version of the 1931 вЂњChickens Come Home,вЂќ contains a complete performance by the Egyptian vaudeville star Hadji Ali, whose specialty - swallowing water, gasoline and small objects and regurgitating them in spectacular fashion - has sadly gone out of style.) (There were a few German versions as well, though none are included here.) The alternate versions often include different gags and interpolated variety numbers to bring them up to feature length for foreign release. The set also contains several foreign-language versions of the shorts, which were made in the days before dubbing was perfected and feature Stan and Ollie speaking phonetic Spanish and French. This superbly assembled collection contains over 32 hours of material, including all of the sound shorts - 40, made between 19, as well as the feature-length вЂњPardon UsвЂќ (1931), вЂњPack Up Your TroublesвЂќ (1932), вЂњSons of the DesertвЂќ (1933), вЂњThe Bohemian GirlвЂќ (1936), вЂњOur RelationsвЂќ (1936), вЂњWay Out WestвЂќ (1937), вЂњSwiss MissвЂќ (1938), вЂњBlock-HeadsвЂќ (1938), вЂњA Chump at OxfordвЂќ (1940) and вЂњSaps at SeaвЂќ (1940).Д«ut wait, thereвЂ™s more.

ItвЂ™s been a long wait, but now the Roach films have returned in high style, as a 10-disc box set, вЂњLaurel and Hardy: The Essential Collection,вЂќ produced by RHI Entertainment, the company that currently owns the Roach library, and distributed by Vivendi. The films of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, or at least that central group of sound shorts and several features that remained under the copyright control of the Hal Roach studios, largely dropped out of circulation, except for questionable bootleg videos that would surface here and there, or arrive as expensive European imports. The two-reel shorts, with their 20-minute running times, fit nicely into half-hour slots, with time left over for introductions by the local kiddie host and plenty of commercials for toys and candy.Д«ut television changed, and that exposure seemed to dwindle in the вЂ™70s and вЂ™80s, and fade out almost entirely in the вЂ™90s. For my generation, that meant the extensive exposure their short films and features received on television in the вЂ™50s and вЂ™60s, when they were a staple of Saturday-morning and after-school programming. MOST of us who love Laurel and Hardy, IвЂ™ve found, came across them first as children.

Laurel and hardy collection dvd review