Collection of three feature films and a compilation of shorts starring the comedy duo Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy.
Well, here's another nice mess you've gotten me into! Enter Laurel & Hardy's unique world of emblematic bowler hats and highly visual slapstick with this special compilation boxset of the very best Laurel & Hardy feature-length films. With Laurel playing the clumsy and childlike friend of the pompous bully Hardy, the misadventures of the most recognizable comedy double act, whose charm and on screen chemistry set a new standard, are perfectly captured here in high definition for the first time. Includes Block-Heads, Our Relations, Pardon Us, Sons of the Desert and Way Out West. Includes bonus: Another Fine Mess, Busy Bodies & Towed In A Hole
Comedy with Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. Chickens Come Home (b/w) Chickens Come Home (colourised) Politiquerias (Chickens Come Home in an extended Spanish-language edition with Laurel & Hardy speaking their own Spanish dialogue!) Come Clean (b/w) Love 'Em and Weep (b/w silent with music score) Sugar Daddies (b/w silent with music score) Early to Bed (b/w silent with music score) A collection of classic Laurel & Hardy shorts based around the theme of blackmail - actual or implied! In one of the team's best shorts 'Chickens Come Home' Ollie is a candidate for Mayor whose campaign is endangered by the reappearance of a girl from his past. Alongside the familiar version of this film is its feature-length Spanish equivalent 'Politiquerias' with L&H speaking their own foreign dialogue plus the early silent short 'Love 'Em And Weep' on which it was based. Another early silent 'Sugar Daddies' provides a variant on the idea (plus the same climactic gag!) while in the sound short 'Come Clean' regular foil Mae Busch - the blackmailer in 'Love 'Em And Weep' and its remake - is once again demanding money from Stan and Ollie. In the classic silent 'Early To Bed' Ollie has money to spare - and this time it's Stan who learns the power of blackmail!
Way Out West, Laurel and Hardy's sole foray into cowboy country, benefits from their rousing rendition of "The Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia" (a song which made it into the British charts a few years ago) and some inspired villainy from James Finlayson, the Scottish actor who was frequently cast as Stan and Ollie's nemesis (here, he plays villainous bartender Mickey Finn). The plot is some hokum about Stan and Ollie's attempts to deliver deeds to a gold mine to the daughter of an old pal. What matters is the clowning--most of which is inspired. --Geoffrey Macnab
Buster Keaton's 1926 masterpiece The General shows the great stone-faced comedian at the height of his powers. Buster is a train driver from the South who's caught up in the American Civil War. The film is basically an extended chase, with trains pursuing each other up the track. The level of stuntwork (including a huge train wreck) has to be seen to be believed, but it's the deftness and elegance of Keaton's comedy that is ultimately most memorable. For many, Buster Keaton is the greatest comedian of the silent era rated even above Chaplin, and College (1927) is one of his finest films. A poor student who has to work his way through college, Buster is desperate to win the attention of a pretty girl so takes up sports. Through every disaster, the great "stone face" as he was nicknamed betrays not a flicker of emotion, enduring all humiliations with aplomb. College shows Keaton at the top of his form. Steamboat Bill Jr dates from 1928 and is the last great film Buster Keaton made before he gave up his independence. Buster is the rather fey son of an elderly steamboat owner who is being driven out of business by a wealthy competitor. More by accident than intention Buster turns things around and gets the girl as well. The last 15 minutes are truly astonishing: a storm sequence in which a whole town is blown apart, with Buster experiencing a series of amazing escapes as buildings fall down around his ears. Tragically, the following year he lost his independence when he signed for MGM. His career collapsed, his marriage broke up and he became an alcoholic, never to regain former glories. On the DVD: The organ music accompanying this silent feature is pleasantly unobtrusive, and apart from a short section in the middle where it deteriorates, the print quality is a reasonable 4.3. In addition there are five excellent Keaton shorts, One Week (1920), The Boat (1921) Cops (1922), The Blacksmith (1922) and The Balloonatic (1923). --Ed Buscombe
In this film Laurel & Hardy play a couple of gypsies who spend most of their time playing 'fingers' and picking pockets. They find themselves camped outside a Counts palace.... Olivers' wife kidnaps the Counts daughter and abandons Oliver for her lover leaving him with the child. Years pass and once again they are camping in the palace grounds when the daughter now a woman is caught tresspassing and thrown in the dungeons. Unaware of her noble birth Oliver and 'uncle' Stanley must
For many, Buster Keaton is the greatest comedian of the silent era rated even above Chaplin, and College (1927) is one of his finest films. A poor student who has to work his way through college, Buster is desperate to win the attention of a pretty girl and takes up sports. His attempt at the high jump is a classic piece of clowning, and as the cox in a boat race Buster displays his full genius for comic invention. Through every disaster, the great "stone face" as he was nicknamed betrays not a flicker of emotion, enduring all humiliations with aplomb. If not quite the equal of The Navigator (1924) or its immediate predecessor The General (1927), College shows Keaton at the top of his form. Tragically, the following year he lost his independence when he signed for MGM. His career collapsed, his marriage broke up and he became an alcoholic, never to regain former glories. On the DVD: The organ music accompanying this silent feature is pleasantly unobtrusive, and apart from a short section in the middle where it deteriorates, the print quality is reasonable. In addition there are two excellent Keaton shorts, One Week (1920) and The Blacksmith (1922).-- Ed Buscombe
The Bohemian Girl (Dirs. James W. Horne & Charley Rogers 1936): In this film Laurel & Hardy play a couple of gypsies who spend most of their time playing ""fingers"" and picking pockets. Laurel & Hardy's Laughing 20's (Dir. Robert Youngson 1965): This documentary renewed an interest in Laurel & Hardy and led to a revival in television showings of their classic comedy shorts. The Flying Deuces (Dir. A. Edward Sutherland 1939): Ollie's broken heart lands Laurel &
Coming hard on the heels of Keaton's comic masterpiece The General this was a relaxing romp in both setting and approach after the exacting precision of the American Civil War comic-drama. Those knowledgable of silent comedy may wish to compare it with Harold Lloyd's earlier The Freshman.
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