197 of 210 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not a review, just a list of movies in the set, October 14, 2004
This review is from: Comedy Classics 50 Movie Pack Collection (DVD)
Stan Laurel Festival Stan Laurel
Swing High, Swing Low Carole Lombard
Our Gang Festival Our Gang
Made For Each Other James Stewart
All Star Extravaganza Laurel & Hardy
That Uncertain Feeling Merle Oberon
Fatty Arbuckle Festival Fatty Arbuckle
The Great Rupert Jimmy Durante
Keystone Cops Festival starring Keystone Cops
Something to Sing About starring James Cagney
Buster Keaton Festival starring Buster Keaton
My Man Godfrey starring William Powell
Buster Keaton Classics starring Buster Keaton
One Rainy Afternoon starring Francis Lederer
Steamboat Bill Jr. starring Buster Keaton
The Great Mike starring Stuart Erwin
As You Like It starring Laurence Olivier
Three Guys Named starring Mike Jane Wyman
Speak Easy starring Buster Keaton
The Over The Hill Gang Rides Again starring Walter Brennan
It's a Joke Son starring Kenny Delmar
Angel On My Shoulder starring Paul Muni
Zis Boom Bah starring Grace Hayes
Eternally Yours starring Loretta Young
East Side Kids starring Leon Ames
Happy Go Lovely starring David Niven
Broadway Limited starring Victor McLaglen
The Smallest Show on Earth starring Peter Sellers
The Stork Club starring Betty Hutton
Sandy the Seal starring Heinz Drache
The Amazing Adventure starring Cary Grant
The Front Page starring Adolphe Menjou
My Love For Yours starring Fred MacMurray
Behave Yourself starring Farley Granger
Clancy Street Boys starring East Side Kids
The Sin of Harold Diddlebock starring Harold Lloyd
Pride of the Bowery starring East Side Kids
Beat the Devil starring Humphrey Bogart
Smart Alecks starring East Side Kids
Passport to Pimlico starring Stanley Holloway
Mr Wise Guy starring East Side Kids
Spooks Run Wild starring Bela Lugosi
Million Dollar Kid starring East Side Kids
His Girl Friday starring Cary Grant
Bowery Blitzkrieg starring East Side Kids
Love Laughs at Andy Hardy starring Mickey Rooney
Three Broadway Girls starring Joan Blondell
Pot O'Gold starring James Stewart
L'il Abner starring Buster Keaton
Over the Hill Gang starring Pat O'Brien
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67 of 68 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Underrated Box of Gems, December 16, 2006
This review is from: Comedy Classics 50 Movie Pack Collection (DVD)
I'm not sure what box set of comedy classics the majority (certainly not all) of reviewers on this page saw before they commented, but it couldn't have been this set. I'm a pompous DVD snob, and should run screaming from a discount, grab-bag set like this, but I love it. It gets a full five stars because of its selection of classic 30's comedies, its watchable (and sometimes near-perfect) print materials, and its overall heft and value for dollars spent.
First of all, the complaints about the quality of the prints is ridiculous. Most of these films are from the 30's, and even then, the prints are very watchable, with scratches and debris, yes, but very little given the age of the films. Granted, His Girl Friday is a grossly overcut version with plenty of scratches, and is hard to watch, but for every film like this in the collection, there are 7 or 8 others which are surprisingly well-kept, considering their age and the price of the set. I'm watching the films on an HDtv, and if the films were transferred poorly, I'd see it plainly on my tv, but there's no digital artifacts, no combing or ghosting AT ALL. This set would look even better on a tube tv (which wouldn't pick up all the things the HDtv does)! Not only that, there are a few films on this set, including My Man Godfrey, Love Laughs at Andy Hardy, Something to Sing About, Angel on My Shoulder, Beat the Devil and Stork Club, which are in surpringinly fine condition: they are what you'd expect on a regularly priced, single DVD.
This set is full of classic comedies from the 30's, and the films are full of art deco style. From the opening credits to the music, clothing and sets, these films show off the sleek lines and sharp contrasts of that style. Magnificent.
Migawd, this set has Lubitsch! John Huston, Eve Arden, James Cagney, Jimmy Stewart, William Powell, Carole Lombard, David Niven, Harold Lloyd, Preston Sturges...coupled with the fact that the set is full of rarely seen films, some of which have not been released on proper DVD's, this is a treasure box, people.
Simply put: this set is indispensible to the classic film buff, and at a price which cannot be bettered, I bet. I have a few of the 50 packs, and enjoy each of them very much. Treeline is a fine company, and I'm thankful to them for making available so many great films at a ridiculously low price.
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38 of 39 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Lots of Laughs Per $, July 9, 2006
This review is from: Comedy Classics 50 Movie Pack Collection (DVD)
A really great value. The Buster Keaton alone is worth the price -- really. I'd watched very little of his stuff before, but now my 8-year-old son and I are hooked. (He even keeps my 3-year-old daughter's attention!) But then you also get a decent sampling of many of the early American film comedy greats. Too heavy on the East Side Kids and light on Laurel & Hardy and Harold Lloyd, but at least you get to see something of them. I love having the Our Gang (Little Rascals) stuff. And thrown in for some reason is Laurence Olivier in Shakespeare's As you Like It, as well as His Girl Friday with Cary Grant and My Man Godfrey with William Powell (from The Thin Man movies) -- 3 more huge pluses. You also get a chance to see Jimmy Durante, Mickey Rooney, Peter Sellers, Humphrey Bogart, Carole Lombard, Paul Muni, James Cagney -- all great stars, even if not in their greatest movies.
It's an odd compilation, with no apparent rhyme or reason, but that's part of its charm. I'd say you'll get a lot of pleasure out of this collection if:
1) you have an appreciation for (or at least curiosity about) the first couple of generations of American movie comedy (through the 1940s)
2) you can handle a few silent films (like the fabulous Keaton's)
3) you can overlook some occasionally poor sound/film quality.
Sure, there's some stuff here that's not worth having, but a lot of it's really funny & entertaining, and for dirt cheap. So don't throw out the baby with the bathwater. This is an excellent buy for the money.
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