Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(57)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

First let me say that these films are the BEST that Laurel & Hardy ever did, they are ***** films! I was excited to get this DVD, finally we were going to see the great restoration work that was done in Europe and sold on DVD there.

I have seen their DVDs, and this is NOT the restored version!

Problem 1) Over compression causes digital artifacting that makes SONS OF THE DESERT look like VHS at times. The transfer is the old grainy U.S. TV tape.

Problem 2) THE MUSIC BOX is compressed from a damaged video tape, there are wrinkles that appear as the boys are unloading the piano.

Problem 3) COUNTY HOSPITAL is a grainy copy from the Film Classics re-issue negative. The European DVD is authored from the original MGM issue negative. Leo the lion roars a greating to you to let you know that Europeans are about to see a fine transfer. In the U.S., our DVD only has the soundtrack of the roars over the grainy re-issue titles.

Problem 4) BUSY BODIES, while it does have the nice original MGM titles, is grainier than the European restored release.

On a slightly positive note, ANOTHER FINE MESS did not undergo restoration in Europe, so their version looks as grainy as ours. It does have the original title section with the two girls reciting the credits.

There is a fair documetary that used grainy clips from other shorts not on this collection (giving us a preview of how bad the future DVDs might be) and some nice stills showing you some locations as they look today.

Hopefully Artisan & Hallmark will re-master this DVD so that those without access to the European DVDs can enjoy these five classic movies the way they were meant to be seen: sharp without artifacting, on two discs.

This 2-disc set should've been a slam dunk. Some of the best-loved comedies of all time, the greatest comedy duo in the history of movies, and new digital technology to make it all seem like new. In Germany, two dozen DVDs of Laurel & Hardy sound and silent masterpieces have been restored, remastered, and released to great success. Hallmark (current owners of the Hal Roach films) had no interest in releasing them stateside, but apparently the entreaties of classic comedy lovers made them cough up this release. So what did we get? Barely adequate transfers from 20-year-old video (not digital) masters. Inserted "fade outs" where the extra commercials went for TV showings. Re-release credits instead of the often brilliant original opening credits. In short, Hallmark/Artisan used the least amount of effort, time and expense possible to release these films to the home market. This release should rival the much-talked-about Charlie Chaplin reissue of a couple of months ago, instead it was tossed onto the market with no care or thought. Shame on them.

So, L&H fans are faced with a dilemma: purchase the disc and hope Hallmark does better next time, or ignore it and get an all-region player to buy the German discs. My advice? Shop at amazon.de.

Artisan presents its first Laurel & Hardy DVD, containing vintage material produced in the 1930s by Hal Roach. Laurel & Hardy fans have been waiting for this release, and this writer's reaction is mixed.

"Sons of the Desert" is a genuine comedy classic, with Stan and Ollie sneaking off to a lodge convention without telling their wives. But beware the DVD's claim of "digitally remastered" -- this version was broadcast on TV's "Laurel & Hardy Show" in pre-digital 1986. The film is incomplete, with edited scenes (the "wax fruit" and "convention" are shortened), overdubbed background music, and frequent fade-outs for commercial breaks. The editing is good, so casual fans and general audiences will enjoy the feature, but dyed-in-the-wool Laurel & Hardy admirers will resent all the tampering.

The DVD's featurettes and short subjects have better picture quality, and appear to be taken from excellent 35mm and 16mm prints. "Another Fine Mess" (vagrants Stan and Ollie pose as butler and householder to escape the police) is the 1990s restoration that aired on the AMC cable network; it has the original Hal Roach titles and is superior to older video and TV editions. "The Music Box" (the team's Oscar-winner where the boys move a piano up a long flight of steps) and "Busy Bodies" (Stan and Ollie in a carpentry shop) are also fine presentations. "County Hospital" (visitor Stan ruins patient Ollie's hospital stay) is taken from a 1940s "Film Classics" reissue print but the quality is equally good.

This writer noticed a very occasional light scratch or stray debris in the image, but the flaws are minor and should not detract from your enjoyment unless you are a perfectionist. The menus and bonus features use some clever optical effects.

Too bad Artisan hadn't consulted a better print of "Sons of the Desert," or paid more attention to the transfer, but it's great to have this choice material on DVD at all. Here's hoping Artisan will continue its Laurel & Hardy series.

This long awaited DVD contains one of 'they boys' best loved features Sons of the Desert and a nice selection of their two reel comedies; Busy Bodies, Another Fine Mess (which is actually a three reeler), County Hospital, and the Academy Award winning Music Box.

What makes this release so important is that it is the first (of hopefully many) of their sound comedies. The Laurel and Hardy catalog has been criminally ignored over time and the package of films has switched hands too often with no care going into the released product. Fans have had to tolerate colorized (UGH!) prints or non restored films that have been copied so much they are barely recognizable.

Artisans (Hallmark) DVD states these films are 'digitally remastered' which indicates we are finally seeing these films fully restored much like the Little Rascals product that was released on VHS through Cabin Fever and Artisan a few years ago.

If you are a Laurel and Hardy fan like me who has been waiting to see these films the way they were meant to be seen, get out there and support this release and order it now. If enough of us get behind it, it should ensure more releases from this classic team.

These movies have obviously been dubbed from 16mm reduction prints! Notice in "The Music Box" a bar of distortion appears horizontally across the screen then moves upwards. This sort of distortion only appears on video tape! What you have here is a third generation dub! From 16mm reduction to video (for television distribution) to DVD. The feature "Sons of the Desert" fades out and back in a regular intervals for the nonexistant commercial breaks! It's not only irritating but disappointing as well since Edie Adams never materializes to pitch Muriel Cigars and no glimpse of Barbara Feldon to lustily entice me to shave closer with Gillette!

Any apologist who says, "well, they look good considering they're 70 years old!" ought to see some of the older silent comedies Kino International has on DVD duped from original 35mm negatives! The contrast is sharp, no scratches and no video distortion. What Hallmark has done is absolutely criminal in my view. It's like painting a moustache on the Mona Lisa!

I never thought I would see the day that I would rate any product that contained the greatest film comedy team of all time,Laurel and Hardy,with just one star!!
But it seems Hallmark has managed to elevate banality,mediocrity and utter codswollop to an entirely new level.
And it is with no small sense of regret that I have to say this.
I have seen most of these films in their European release formats and to say these Hallmark versions are far inferior to those would be an understatement.The European mindsets' credo generally seems to be when releasing anything whether it be audio or visual to obtain the best possible sources from which to work with then do the necessary work in order to release the best possible product that you can.All related North American industries should have taken a page from their book YEARS ago!
Here are just a few examples of what I have noticed in this Hallmark DVD:
All of these prints seem to be incomplete and the original elements used are average to worse in condition.No effort it seems was used at all to obtain the best possible negatives from which to work from.And what "work" has been done is strictly basic digital transfer with a slight alteration for contrast.In other words the films look a little better than their VHS counterparts but countless imperfections of all sorts run rampant throughout ALL of these pictures and have astoundingly not been corrected in any way.
'Sons of the Desert' does not contain the original MGM opening(with lion roar and music....the same for most)and it inexplicably has fade outs for what appears to be commercial breaks!! I can only surmise that this print originated from some TV showing in days past.Now that's quality!
'County Hospital' gives us a print of the "Film Classics" 50s version complete with the opening "plaque".
'The Music Box' has a horizontal tape glitch line(!) running from bottom to top just as Stan opens the back of the wagon near the beginning of the film.
The rest of the shorts are again totally average in their transfers and quality.
Let me state clearly that ALL of Laurel and Hardy product that is extant is available in its' original theatrical format(i.e.as orginally seen) with proper opening sequences intact and
accompanying music.So there is no excuse whatsoever that Hallmark would/should release an INFERIOR product such as this.
And although I sympathize with those who have longed for The Boys to be released onto DVD(I am one of those!) there is no way we should just en masse accept anything that is thrown at us.We as consumers,not to mention the men who made these wonderful films,deserve nothing short of the best,and that is FAR from what we got.
In conclusion this release shows what is wrong,has been wrong,with the entire audio/video industry for much too long a period in North America.Inferior product foisted on an unsuspecting public either through faulty/inferior manufacturing or,as in this case,just plain indifference.It is about time we became more pro active
about this multi-billion dollar a year industry who without OUR hard earned money/support would go nowhere fast.
We should not accept such tripe as this Hallmark release and as such they deserve our utter contempt.
Stan Laurel when alive could not stand to watch his films when run on TV because of them being cut to fit time restraints.I shudder to think what he would think of this release of his films.These men deserve so much BETTER!

What went wrong? The long-overdue, eagerly awaited "Laurel & Hardy" DVD should have been a lot better than the disappointing final product. "Sons of the Desert" looks a bit washed out compared to the Nostalgia Merchant video from the 1980s. Surely, Hallmark could have located a superior 35mm print - perhaps they didn't give a damn. Even worse, "The Music Box" has an unforgivable transfer glitch at the beginning that should have been fixed. By comparison, "Busy Bodies," "Another Fine Mess" and "County Hospital" look pretty good, yet the latter short doesn't include the original Hal Roach opening credits! When considering the digital technology and archival material now available, one would expect these Stan and Ollie gems to match the excellent quality of the "Our Gang" restorations, but they do not come close. Hallmark should immediately recall this DVD and start again from scratch.

I looked at the Hallmark dvd and I feel that it is indeed inferior to what one would expect in a restored version. I e-mailed Hallmark and inquired about plans to present the L&H films in the restored manner as described by other customers. I received a brief reply saying that no plans were in the works. Hallmark released two of the former Cabin Fever Little Rascals series but nothing more seems to be forthcoming from that series. Hallmark strikes me as strictly a corporate money maker with no aesthetic appreciation for film history. When Cabin Fever Videos' had releasing rights to the Little Rascals, their lead-in showed an excitement about the product. Hallmark seems customer unfriendly to me and could care less. Why don't they just sell the Laurel and Hardy and The Our Gang rights to someone who would treat these series with the respect they deserve? I am looking into the German series along with an all-regional dvd player. It is an unfortunate situation especially in the wake of contemporary interest in America's film heritage.

While it is great to see "The Boys" on DVD, the quality is nowhere near as good as it should be. These are not the highly-praised German restorations, but are apparently recycled from tapes of "The Laurel & Hardy Show" of the late 1980s. "Sons of the Desert" has a curious fadeout/fadein after the "Honolulu Baby" musical number and a prominent digital tape glitch toward the end. "Another Fine Mess" has lite scratches throughout and an "RHI" logo on the beginning -- a sure giveaway to the TV origins of this material. With so much better material available on these films from Germany, why, oh why are we getting the inferior old versions here, in the country where the films were made?

The prints on this DVD are, for the most part, the same old crappy prints we've been seeing for years on television & home video, even though Hallmark owns beautifully restored prints of most of Laurel and Hardy's best talkies. Guess they thought nobody would notice.

Teach these bozos a lesson & buy the German DVDs!