Customer Reviews

The Laurel & Hardy Collection

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Avoid this cheapo release of these great film! subpar prints..certainly NOT from original 35mm elements..wait for the good one to come out down the road!

Currently available through amazon.co.uk is a 21 DVD set of Laurel And Hardy - remastered with oodles of extras including colorized versions and running 3 hours or more for each DVD. Why isn't the collection (or a comparable one) available here?

Laurel and Hardy at their best are great. At their worst they're terrible. These movies are as bad as it gets. Judging their comedy by these flicks is unfair to them, so don't be fooled. Don't buy these. Hold out their best stuff, the 2-reelers from the early 30's, not their full-length movies. The only feature-length films worthy of their best are "Sons of the Desert," (arguably the funniest movie ever made) and, possibly, "Way out West." Unfortunately, the best 2-reelers are still not available on DVD, and difficult to find even on VHS. All of their avilable silent movies have been released, and are worth the money. Does anyone know why it's taking so long for those great talkie 2-reelers (1929-1933) to be released on DVD?

Go to Amazon.uk and you will find the whole Laurel and Hardy collection (all together or as seperates). There are 21 DVDs in a classy collectable box (DVD 21 is a documentary about the two). The quality is brilliantly restored and has colourised versions as well (may appeal to younger ones).

All the best are here (including early silent ones, extended versions and even some in other languages), apart from The Flying Deuces (made at another studio - MGM I think) and a few of the lesser quality ones (post 40's) which are not as good anyway.

The only problem is that they are Region 2 (PAL) so you may need to get a multiregion DVD player and television that can play PAL.

The cheap DVDs you see around do not contain any of their better stuff (particularly the Hal Roach shorts of around 1930-1940 or the feature films such as Blockheads, Way Out West or Sons of the Desert) but any Laurel and Hardy is worth getting.

The colourised versions are 'television friendly' i.e. with cuts here and there - but it is worth watching them to see Stan's bright red hair and some of the colour tones of the time. However, the black and white versions are by far the best, with clear sharp images (restored) and they remain uncut (Laughing Gravy is on twice, one is extended and has the original ending - a rather grimmer ending at that!).

Listen,I'm a BIG Laurel and Hardy fan and when I first saw that there was going to be box set of the best comedy team ever,I was excited,but I just found out that there are no shorts!! There's no Berth Marks,Hoose-gow,Chickens Come Home,Music Box,County Hospital,Scram!;none of those classic shorts...I mean,the first 3 discs are already out on DVD..Utopia isn't the best of the 3,but there are funny moments in it..The other 2 are alot better."Lucky Dog" is already available on the slient shorts collection that Hal Roach Studios came out a few years ago...Why couldn't this collection be like the Buster Keaton box set that Kino on Video put out not too long ago?? Laurel and Hardy fans deserve better than this!!!

How complete a collection of their classics could this be without their masterpiece WAY OUT WEST??? I am constantly amazed that this film is still not available on DVD! Does anyone know why?

No offence,but I couldn't agree more with most everyone else who's rated this collection.It just isn't right without Sons Of The Desert,Way Out West,The Music Box and Another Fine Mess.For me the best films in this DVD set would be March Of The Wooden Soldiers,Be Big and The Lucky Dog.The latter being a collector's item going by how it was Stan and Ollie's very first film together,even before they became the famous comedy duo.Utopia would be another collector's item,being their very last film from 1950.I hadn't realised they were around that long.However,their appearance in this film is an eyesore,with Stan so thin and sick looking and Ollie three hundred pounds overweight.One thing you may notice,is the film's remarkable simularity to Gilligan's Island.

how many times can they re-re-re-re-re-re(whew)re-release "flying deuces" and "utopia"?! don't get me wrong they are great movies but you can find it just about anywhere why won't these companies focus more on rare out of print stuff like "way out west" or "swiss miss",oh well I give this set 5 stars because it's a nice release and has "this is your life" which is worth getting by itself,"march of the wooden soldiers" is in glorius black and white and the sound of both "flying deuces" and "utopia" are great (although I can't say the same for the picture)I had these movies before and each version I got on d.v.d. you had to turn the volume up all the way to hear it,this set has a louder sound and you can hear the background stuff better which is cool the picture for both are scratchy,the last disc is the best because of the L&H trailers.I hope they do a vol2 box set with more (out of copywrite) releases like footage from the "u.k. tours" and "movie struck" and home video footage ,interviews ect if your going to get cheap d.v.d releases at least make it interesting (like the goodtime video releases)there are alot of stuff that has lost it's copywrite which could end up in the second volume!!NO MORE "FLYING DEUCES" AND "UTOPIA" PLEASE!!!

I am not rating the DVD because I haven't purchased it. I have seen all their films, and have many of them on Super8mm sound - Way Out West, Brats, Music Box, Our Relations, March of tyhe Wooden Soldiers, Blockheads, Utopia, Flying Deuces, Liberty among some of the titles.

Hallmark owns all theu US rights to their films. Why are they holding out. We need Sons'of the Desert, Way Out West, Our Relations and other of their 1930's features as well as their short films, all from the Hal Roach Studios. That is the best of their work. i get pretty sick and tired of U topia, which is a sad farewill to the boys film career. Fly Deuces is good, the quality of the film was poor becasue of a low budget.

I just do not understand why Hallmark is holding out!!!!!!!!

When I add a DVD to my humble collection, I expect to learn something historical about the making of the film. If you want to see a great commentary which all DVD makers should emulate, it is ''Love is a Many- Splendered Thing' with William Holden & Jennifer Jones.
When I turned on my player expecting to learn a bit more about my two heros and discovered no running commentary and the voices out of sync, I was very disappointed.
Much aloha,
Bill