Laurel And Hardy - 21 Disc Box Set ! (1 Viewer)

[MarcoBiscotti]

Thanks so much!

Can anyone tell me what the 'definitive' DVD versions of both "The Flying Deuces" and "March Of The Wooden Soldiers" are, as quite a few different public domain companies in R1 have released these?

 

[Mark Oates]

Frankly, Marco, I'd hang on to your Artisan copies if you buy the UK set (which I strongly recommend). I know I would. There's a lot of material on those discs not included in the set (solo pictures). Where there is an overlap, call 'em backups

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

Thanks so much, I definitely intend to do so!



Can anyone reccommend which versions of both "The Flying Deuces" and "March Of The Wooden Soldiers" to pick up considering how many companies are currently offering these in the public domain?

 

[David Wright]

I'm finally on the verge of buying the 21 disc UK collection, but I thought I'd let everyone know that I've found it even cheaper than Amazon. It is £139.99 at Choices Direct, this is £10 less than Amazon and like Amazon has free postage.
I see even HMV, who usually charge full price on newish items and originally were charging top wack, have reduced it to £159.99.
I really pity anyone who has paid the full £199.99, when they could have got it for £50 and now £60 less. Some dealers still have it at the ridiculous £200. Even £140 is a lot to pay out all at once for some DVD's, but it's much cheaper than buying the discs individually, which will set you back well over £200, and you won't get the bonus disc nor the nice box!

 

[David Wright]

Just ordered it for even less - £129.99! from DVD Source. It now seems to have gone up to £135.99, still the cheapest around though.
It will take 6 - 10 days delivery however as it is on back order, unlike Choices Direct and Amazon who state 24 hour despatch. Still, for £70 less than the retail price I can wait!
Glad I didn't buy the Dutch collection now!

 

[Cees Alons]

That's a great price, David. I happened to be in London this weekend and saw it for £199.999 still, at HMV's in Oxford Street. Didn't touch it! (Well, touched it alright, but then put it down again. )


Cees

 

[David Wright]

My box set has just arrived today. The company are based in Jersey, Channel Islands, presumably there was no VAT to pay, this possibly accounts for the £70 lower price. This wretched tax we have to pay in the UK adds £17 in every hundred on to virtually everything we want to buy. As if they don't get enough from income tax, National Insurance, fuel tax, road tax, insurance tax, airport tax, death duties, alcohol and tobacco tax, etc, etc. Disgusting!
Anyway rant over.
I'm very happy with my purchase. Free postage too. It now appears to have increased from this company to £134.99, but that is still considerably the cheapest around.
How the shops expect to compete at £179.99 to £199.99 I don't know.
Maybe there are still people who don't trust buying on the internet?

 

[Cees Alons]

That's still a very good price.


Cees

 

[David Wright]

Well, I've now watched a few of the colour versions and I can't see why people hate them so much. Okay, so the colour isn't as we'd expect today, but it's much better than I thought it would be. I expect if people hadn't got used to the b&w they wouldn't be so critical. What I don't understand is there appear to be just three of the talking films - The Live Ghost, Any Old Port and They Go Boom that don't have the colour versions. Why is this? Weren't these three ever colourised?
Another point though is that maybean alternative collection could have been made available of just the b&w films for people who only wanted them. This would have almost halved the number of discs and been correspondingly much cheaper. It also would have taken up less room!

 

[Mark Oates]

I made this point a ways back, and the official line I got from the UK L&H Appreciation Society (who advised Universal on the set) was that feedback they'd had about the release of the films indicated the general public (not collectors) wouldn't have touched the set without the inclusion of the colorized versions. In fact there had been a debate whether the silents should have been included.

 

[Duncan_N]

If you can find a set, WHSmiths in the UK are currently selling the 21 disc box set for £89.99 (about $200). I managed to find one today after lots of phoning of stores in my local area.

It was marked up at £179.99 but scanned at the lower price.
Can't wait to start going through it.

 

[oscar_merkx]

that is an awesome price indeed. although their website is still the higher price

 

[Cees Alons]

Awesome. Even more so because £90 is no more than about $145.


Cees

 

[Duncan_N]

Apologies - my currency convertion was wrong. But it is about $165 at todays exchange rate not $145.

Anyway, who cares - it's still a stunning price. It's definately a nationwide price although it seems a lot of stores have not altered the stickers on the boxes. I'm sure it will be worth while keeping an eye on the online price in the coming days.

 

[Matthew H]

So what's the cheapeast I can buy this set for online? I want it so bad, but the chepeast I've found is Amazon. Anyone?

 

[Tory]

I just ordered it from amazon along with a bunch of other stuff, I heard of some places that were suppose to be cheaper but they weren't and I could just use my amazon account. I felt safer dealing with them for some reason.

 

[Daniel Windsor]

Is that all?

 

[Mark Oates]

There's a new R2 print of Fra Diavolo coming out 4th October under the title Laurel and Hardy: Bogus Bandits for £9.99; and in a two-disc with Wooden Soldiers for £11.99.

 

[Tory]

Thanks for the info, there are a few other R2 titles I plan on picking up with October releases, these are timed perfect.

 

[Jim Douglas]

I've read all of this with great interest and have now been looking into getting a region free player. Before I do anything has there been any talk of this set being released in region 1?

I've found player that is region free and will also play pal discs with no extra hardware for under $100.00. I would guess from my limited knowledge of all of this that is the way to go. Also I guess the best US source for this set appears to be Amazon UK.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be welcome.

Thanks,

Jim