Customer Reviews

The Lost Films of Laurel & Hardy: The Complete Collection, Vol. 9

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This volume includes: You're Darn Tootin' (1928, 22 min., Silent), Battle Of The Century (1928, 28 min.*, Silent), a Clyde Cook/Oliver Hardy short Wandering Papas (1927, 21 min., Silent), a Charley Chase/Vivian Oakland short Mighty Like A Moose (1926, 24 min., Silent), Why Girls Love Sailors (1927, 21 min., Silent), and a Charlie Chase/Martha Sleeper short Mum's The Word (1926, 22 min., Silent). All have Vitaphone Music & Effects or Vitaphone track. There are two "extras": 1) a second version of Battle Of The Century (the first version is *11 minutes with all the known surviving film played together) which is *17 minutes long including original script & still photos where there is missing film. The only problem is the second version of Battle Of The Century HAS NO SOUND despite the sound copyright notice in the opening title screen of the film. 2) a second version of Why Girls Love Sailors in FRENCH. While having no music background effects on the second version of Battle Of The Century is a disappointment and Mum's The Word had a cooper/gold look to it instead of the usual white we see in films, this DVD is 159 MINUTES LONG, making it by far the longest in the series! I've been waiting over 10 years to see the very rare Why Girls Love Sailors. Any DVD owner and L&H fan who hasn't seen Why Girls Love Sailors will be happy owning this DVD just for this one rare film.

I just received my ninth (of the ten planned) installment of this MUST HAVE DVD series by the Hal Roach Studios "Lost Films of Laurel And Hardy". These meticulously restored movies are provided with original theatre poster art and film background information making this so enjoyable to watch. (Films as early as 1915. Can you imagine?)

Being re-introduced into the silent era was such a joy after only knowing them (known affectionately as the "The Boys") through the talkies and TV. This DVD collection brought to me a new level of enjoyment watching the golden age of comedy.

I have even joined a "Sons of the Desert" tent. (a world wide group (over 105 tents) of admirers to perpetuate the legacy of L & H. So named after their 1933 film of the same name.) They meet monthly to discuss and watch the 105 films made by "The Boys".

I just wanted to say that this is the best quality picture and sound. Reproduced and digitalized from the original master prints and audio disks.

Laughter through visual comedy is the devine genius of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. They are truely kindred spirits that we can now enjoy for a life time.

Perhaps more so than any of the other discs in this series (with the possible exception of the so-called tenth and final installation, 'Laurel and Hardy and Friends,' which only features them in one of their sound shorts and making a cameo appearance in an Our Gang short), this one is meant only for the serious collector or fan. The only two real L&H shorts are 'You're Darn Tootin' (a.k.a 'The Music-Blasters') and 'The Battle of the Century,' which has missing footage from the beginning of the second reel to this day. 'You're Darn Tootin' is one of my favorite of their silents, one of their very funniest, just getting funnier and funnier as the action goes along. One of the other reasons I like it so much is because this is one of the few times that Stan (who's always been my special favorite of the two) actually stands up for himself, defending and asserting himself, almost coming across as the smarter superior one instead of letting himself be pushed around by Ollie all of the time. 'The Battle of the Century' is also quite funny, though it would probably be even funnier if we had the full picture and weren't still missing that footage at the beginning of the second reel, footage vital to the plotline. The famous pie fight at the end, the biggest pie fight ever in a movie, is outrageously funny, although contrary to popular belief, this was not some kind of staple in silent comedy. Whoever keeps saying that most silent comedies consisted of pie fights and police chases clearly isn't familiar with the genre! There's also the requisite pre-teaming short, 'Why Girls Love Sailors,' one of the many times Stan puts on female attire and a blonde curly wig to disguise himself as a woman, perhaps going further in the cross-dressing charade this time than he does in any of the other films he makes himself up as a woman in. Certainly this kind of thing would have brought down the wrath of the Hays Code had it existed back then, with Stan sitting on the laps of the other sailors, flirting with them, and having his skirt blow up far enough to expose the undergarments!

Contrary to what the product description says, the Our Gang short co-starring Ollie, 'Thundering Fleas,' isn't on this disc. In its place we have the Charley Chase short 'Mighty Like a Moose,' in addition to another of Charley's very funny films, 'Mum's the Word.' Sure the plots of these films might not make sense (such as in the former film the husband and wife not recognising one another after both have plastic surgery, even though they've only changed one minor detail, his teeth and her nose), but that's what makes it so funny. Not everything is supposed to make sense or seem rational in a comedy! The disc is capped off with the Clyde Cook short 'Wandering Papas,' which also co-stars Ollie. Clyde was a huge star back in his native Australia, but apparently didn't experience the same success when he came to America and began working at Hal Roach Studios. It comes as no surprise that most of his film roles after the early Thirties were uncredited. I'm sure he was a nice well-meaning guy, and he was funny (I liked this short much better than the other Clyde Cook short contained in this series, 'Should Sailors Marry?'), just really not distinct from all of the other would-be hopefuls also trying to become the next big thing in comedy. He was funny enough, just not anything really special or memorable.

I will not go into a synopsis of the material as that is readily available but will comment on the series itself having viewed them all.

This is a stunning collection of the early work of the `boys` and is presented from restored 35mm material much of which is taken from the original surviving negatives. Several of the titles in the series, have until fairly recently, been considered lost forever.

Each disc has detailed information on the titles and every film is presented with either the original vitaphone sound on disc (again recently discovered) synchronised with the picture or with a composite vitaphone soundtrack.

Even for those who don`t normally view `silent` movies these are astounding prints of what is now the historic formation of one the most inventive and forever lasting comedy teams ever to grace the silver screen.

Each disc deserves five stars for content, quality and value.

If you are looking to buy just one of "Lost Films of Laurel and Hardy" (shouldn't it be called "found films?) pick a different one than this, the 9th in the series. This particular collection is just for avid L&H fans who want to fill out their collection. The most satisfying film in the set "Your Darn Toootin", follows a familiar formula. The boys are musicians who first disrupt a band concert by missing cues and fighting over a piece of sheet music, eventually spreading mayhem to the entire band. Following an interlude in a boarding house, the boys are trying to make it as street musicians. Eventually, they cause a chaotic scene involving mass gut-punching, shin-kicking and pants-ripping.

The second film, "Battle of the Century" follows almost precisely the same formula: displaying ineptitude as professionals (here Stan is a boxer), an interlude scene, this time involving an insurance salesman, (of which the footage is lost), and the famous, chaotic pie-throwing scene. The pie fight is almost worth the price of the DVD, and is much more rewarding than the pants-ripping scene, despite the overall fragmented state of the film. It includes the famous last shot of "Roach sexpot" Anita Garvin, having just executed a perfect fall on a discarded cream pie, demurely shaking her leg in the hopes of dislodging bits of cream from very private locations. (Garvin returns in "Why Girls Love Sailors" in this collection, a weak, early film with only historic interest for L&H fans.

As with the other volumes in the series, this collection contains short films from other Hal Roach actors, as well as Stan or Ollie individually. Two films by Charley Chase are found here, neither of which I found entertaining, as well as an obscure entry by Clyde Cook (deservedly obscure, in my mind). In general, if you're not collectors of Laurel and Hardy films, I would pass on this volume.

After purchasing this, I was disappointed that "Thundering Fleas" isn't actually on this set (I am a big fan of the silent Our Gangs and I hope that Hal Roach Studies puts some of those out on DVD too), but what is on here is good enough to keep me from wanting my money back.

"You're Darn Tootin" is one of the weaker L&H's. Not much story here. Our heroes get kicked out of a concert band, then thrown out of their apartment, then violently vent it out on each other that leads into a free-for-all involving the whole town. Not in the same league with some of the other stuff here. Then there's two formerly lost L&H's. The Battle of the Century is a LAFF RIOT with the boxing scene with Stan as "The Human Mop" (look carefully to see a young Lou Costello at ringside) and Ollie as his hapless maganer. This is followerd by the legendary pie fight (personally, I think the 3 Stooges topped this in "The Sweet Pie and Pie," but BOTC is funny enough, especially Anita Garvin's bit of pre-code erotica with her pie.

"Why Girls Love Sailors" is a rediscovered treasure. Essentially, it's a great Stan Laurel comedy with Ollie in a bit part as a villan (shades of the first L&H comedy "Lucky Dog"). You've seen the plot detail in the other reviews, and this is really fall down on the floor funny! However, the scene with Stan dressed as a woman flirting with the crude captain while sitting on his lap was enough to make me run for the Pepto-Bismol. YUCK! Much of this comedy is filled with spicy pre-code humor, and even now should be shown with parental caution. But it's a real howler any way you look at it as a whole.

One comedy has the forgotten aussie comic Clyde Cook in a tale directed by Laurel and featuring a clean shaving Hardy as a worker who hates Cooks cooking, and two other comic misunderstanding tales with the also-forgotten Charley Chase. These are also highly amusing. For classic comedy fans, this makes you wanna do like Blazing Saddles and give Hal Roach Studios a Laurel and Hardy handshake.

The synopsis makes no sense at all, sounds like an "Our Gang" video to me!!!