Product Details

• Actors: Douglas Fairbanks, Charles Chaplin, Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Harry Houdini
• Format: Black & White, NTSC
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Mpi Home Video
• VHS Release Date: October 25, 1994
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00000F33Q
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #359,194 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Third Installment ... Days of Thrills & Laughter ... VCI Ent. (2010)", June 28, 2010

By 

J. Lovins "Mr. Jim" (Missouri-USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Days Of Thrills & Laughter (DVD)

VCI Entertainment and 20th Century Fox presents ~ "DAYS OF THRILLS & LAUGHTER" (Dolby digitally remastered) -- Once upon a time before "Talkies", there were silent films filled with laughter, thrills and just some good old wholesome entertainment --- This is the third and best of the revivals of silent comedy a feature-length compilation of excerpts from silent comedies and melodramas, written and produced by Robert Youngson --- it is one of the most unexpectedly good basic catalog reissues of the year --- There is an appropriately humorous but affectionate background score by Jack Shaindlin and a commentary by Jay Jackson at the Sixty-eighth Street Playhouse at Third Avenue --- Featured players include Douglas Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin, Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Harry Houdini Pearl White, Harry Langdon, Ben Turpin, Charlie Chase, Snub Pollard, Mack Sennett, Fatty Arbuckle, Mabel Normand, Ford Sterlng, Boris Karloff, Warner Oland, Ruth Roland, Monty Banks, Al St. John, Cameo the Wonder Dog, the Keystone Kops and the Sennett Bathing Beauties.

Mr. Youngson has included segments by Douglas Fairbanks with some unbelievable stunts by Fairbank's himself in "Wild and Woolly" and some mad material from the likes of such serial experts as Pearl White in "The Perils of Pauline", Ruth Roland, Warner Oland, Boris Karloff --- and the believe it or not, Harry Houdini, rescuing a somewhat foggy damsel from taking the distressing drop over Niagara Falls some outstanding footage to behold --- Check out the Sennett-Chaplin chapters of film history of more than forty years ago and another look at Chaplin skittering around corners fleeing from prison guards in "The Adventurer" or blithely exposing his comic genius as the drank in "The Cure" will make for a greater appreciation of his authentically stupendous talent, that will never pass this way again.

CHAPTER TITLES:
1. THE BATH CHAIR MAN
2. THE KEYSTONES
3. THE CURE - CHARLIE CHAPLIN
4. WILD & WOOLEY
5. COMEDY'S GOLDEN TWENTIES
6. "KILL OR CURE" - STAN LAUREL
7. WOODHEAD - BEN TURPIN
8. HARRY LANGDON
9. COMING OUT PARTY
10. "EL PRESIDENTE" - SNUB POLLARD
11. THE THRILLERS
12. THRILLS & LAUGHTER
13.THREE FOR THE ROAD

Each clip carefully selected for this one of a kind release some great footage has been preserved by default, often looking remarkably clean, clear and even sharp.--- Every fan of the silent film era should view this collection --- The silent stars from yesteryear are still in our minds and hearts --- it makes for a journey worth retaking and proves just how enduring some of the films made really were worth viewing over and over again --- Must point out there are no bonus features or extras.

Total Time: 93 mins on DVD ~ VCI Entertainment #8561 ~ (6/29/2010)

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Days of Scenarists and Gagmen, January 7, 2011

By 

Brent R. Swanson "coffee shop inspector" (Crooper, Illinois) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Days Of Thrills & Laughter (DVD)

The quality of this VCI Entertainment release should be addressed in two parts. As to the quality of the dvd itself, picture and sound quality are excellent, and the chapter stops follow the subject matter. There are no extra features, which seems to be the status quo with the majority of dvd releases these days. Robert Youngson and his compilations helped fuel interest in the revival of the pioneering and classic comedies of the early 20th century, and they still hold up as a good introduction to that fruitful and complex period. Any rereleases of these anthologies are welcome.

That said, "Days of Thrills and Laughter" is something of a curiosity among Youngson's compilations. His better efforts showcased the silent comedies of Laurel & Hardy, Charley Chase, Max Davidson, and Buster Keaton, and featured generous helpings of Chaplin, Langdon, and Sennett's Keystone comedians. The focus of "Days of Thrills and Laughter" seems to be Snub Pollard. Pollard's comedies at Hal Roach were the successors to Harold Lloyd's short subjects, and helmed by some of the best talent in the business, starting with Charley Chase (most of the comedies excerpted in this movie can be seen full length in the "Becoming Charley Chase" dvd setBecoming Charley Chase). But as a comic personality, Pollard had a range that went from A to A; his comedies were all gags--often great--and little character. When he left the Roach Studios behind, he essentially left his career behind.

With Pollard as the center of attention, this movie feels somewhat hollow. There are welcome excerpts from Chaplin's "The Adventurer" and "The Cure," as well as some more pre-team work from Oliver Hardy and Stan Laurel. The fragments from silent thrillers and serials featuring Harry Houdini and Pearl White are interesting, but are so piled atop one another that they become exhausting rather than compelling. Another problem with this particular compilation is that only a small number of the films excerpted are referred to by title, an oversight that seems unusual for a Youngson film.

Overall, this is an entertaining film, but it comes nowhere near the excellence of Youngson's best compilations, such as "The Golden Age of Comedy" and "Laurel & Hardy's Laughing '20s." Those were hard acts for anyone to follow.

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Third and best, January 10, 2010

By 

T. Barthel "author" (upstate new york) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This is the third and best of the revivals of silent comedy. Appearing original more than 30 years after talkies began, the All movie guide says "This is one in a series of entertaining cinematic compilations by Robert Youngson that reviews aspects of the history of film (The Golden Age of Comedy and When Comedy Was King directly preceded this release). As in its predecessors, this compilation looks back on the more distant past. Renowned comics like Charlie Chaplin, Mack Sennet and the Keystone Kops, Fatty Arbuckle, Stan Laurel, and others are featured in some of the best moments in their filmic careers. As for the thrillers, those times when the heroine was tied to the train tracks or the hero's car balanced on the edge of a cliff, they are as hilarious in retrospect as the comedies were to that generation."