Mark Y

Re: Best Laurel and Hardy DVD's?

I can pretty much agree with what Steve says above.

If you want the primary canon of sound-era L&H, you are best off to get some of the sets released in Germany, the UK and the Netherlands. (If you're in the US, you'll need to get a multi-region DVD player.) I have the second German box set and it comes highly recommended. There are some differences in the way each country compiled their releases.

The German DVDs include several bonus shorts, mostly Charley Chase silents in which Oliver Hardy appears. They also include German-dubbed versions of many films, if you're interested in that sort of thing...a few of the features have intros by a German TV host, not sure of their vintage. The second German set (Vol. 2) has a couple of the phonetic foreign-language L&H films (not dubbed, these are actual alternate versions shot at the same time), but the UK set has more of these. The German set includes the few extant clips of the phonetic German "Pardon Us" (as well as two different cuts of the US "Pardon Us," one is the original length and the other is the longer version, sort of a "director's cut," which was released on an early laserdisc and shown on American Movie Classics). The German set also has two different cuts of "Laughing Gravy" (similar case as above). The German Volume 1 set also includes the original 1930 version of "Brats" with the original music score...several of the early talkie shorts were re-released in the mid to late 30s with some edits and the music score redubbed from a couple of their then-recent feature films. (In most cases, the reissue versions are the only versions extant on these particular films.)

The original version of "The Chimp" (with the original titles) is on a German DVD. I'm told the UK one has Film Classics titles (I don't have it to compare).

The most bang for your buck is probably the UK set, which has pretty much the whole Hal Roach L&H canon in chronological order...silents, talkie shorts and features, apart from some holdout films which are under different ownership (all of which have been released on their own anyway). The UK set also includes colorized versions of a lot of the sound films, if you're into that sort of thing.

The German DVDs have been released in three separate box sets. All these discs are available individually, as are the UK ones, but the UK set has one bonus disc not available separately. It has the original 1930 "Brats," plus a few shorts in which Laurel and/or Hardy make cameo appearances in someone else's film.

One other thing though...a few of the films in the German DVD sets have spots where the German subtitles cannot be turned off. This was done because those portions of the German dubbed soundtracks were missing. (These were primarily released for the German market.) Of the top of my head I believe "Our Relations," "Pack Up Your Troubles," and "Blotto" are affected...possibly one or two others. The UK versions should be clean.

I, too, am looking forward to the remastered silent L&H collection...however, be aware that these projects are slower than mollasses and we really don't know when this is coming out. Right now, you still have a chance to grab the "Lost Films Of Laurel & Hardy" discs that are out there...they are "on moratorium," pending the release of the new set, but again, there isn't really a firm date for its release. I'd say the silents have a better presentation overall on the "Lost Flms" series compared to the ones I have on German DVDs, with a couple of exceptions...the German set has the complete original Vitaphone soundtrack on "We Faw Down," only half of which is included on the US version. For the silent shorts that didn't have Vitaphone tracks, the US DVDs have composite soundtracks edited from a couple of other Vitaphone tracks, and they are quite repetitive and monotonous. A lot of the ones on the German DVDs have "Beau Hunks" scores and sound effects added, and done really well. But the few shorts with actual ORIGINAL Vitaphone tracks are fascinating..."Liberty" in particular is very effectively done.

Hallmark in the US so far has released two DVDs of their L&H holdings. The quality and presentation are not comparable to the German DVDs I have seen, but they are handily available.

Vol. 1: Sons Of The Desert; The Music Box; Busy Bodies; Another Fine Mess; County Hospital

Vol. 2: Way Out West; Block-Heads; Chickens Come Home

(Great films, but I am somewhat hesitant to recommend these two discs, simply because the foreign releases BLOW THEM OUT OF THE WATER and overall, the quality is so much better, it isn't even funny!)

There also is a pretty nice version of "The Flying Deuces" which was released by Kino. This film is all over the place (it's public domain) but the Kino version is by far the best quality available (it's a re-release of a French DVD done by Lobster Films). The only catch is that the opening titles and closing "The End" title are from an Astor Pictures reissue, so two title cards are different, but still vintage 1940s or 1950s...and there are no visuals on the end credits. This disc also includes a bunch of extras, most of which are available in other places, but still handy: The Stolen Jools short, The Tree In A Test Tube (not complete; a better version is on the Fox Vol. 2 set); two silent films of the 1932 UK tours; and L&H's appearance on "This Is Your Life."

Goodtimes released a colorized DVD of "March Of The Wooden Soldiers" in the 1990s (unfortunately, ONLY the colorized version with no B&W version), but it does include the original theatrical trailer, a couple of Stan Laurel home movies (in color) and the Oliver Hardy 1950 "Ship's Reporter" interview where he talks about filming "Atoll K" (aka "Utopia"). (This interview is also on one of the new Fox sets, but the quality is far better on this disc.) The visuals on the titles, showing the name of the film, have been changed, but everything else is original, even down to the MPPDA seal at the beginning, which is replaced with a Legend Films logo on the new Legend Films DVD version. (However, the Legend version otherwise has the correct original "Babes In Toyland" titles.) The Legend DVD also has a boatload of extras, including the original trailer, an edited "Tree In A Test Tube," and a clip of Our Gang singing "Auld Lang Syne" (evidently from some longer film, but I haven't been able to identify it). The Legend DVD has a colorized and a B&W version, but there is some debate over whether it is really a "true B&W" version or not; it seems to have been cobbled together from more than one source.

For the "non-canonical" (not part of the main Hal Roach properties) L&H films, pretty much everything is out, and really nice versions have come out just recently. All the Fox films are out in two sets, with three films each, all with audio commentary..."The Dancing Masters" is sourced from a 16mm film print for some reason, but everything else is pristine. Between the two sets, you also get all six Fox trailers (most of which repeat numerous times over the six discs for some reason) as well as the complete "Tree In A Test Tube," a couple of Fox Movietone News clips with L&H, the 1932 UK tour silent films, "Ship's Reporter" (again, the Goodtimes disc has this in much better quality) and a really good documentary called "Laurel & Hardy: The Fox Years," with clips from all the Fox films and some very enjoyable reminiscenses about Stan Laurel by Rich Correll (son of Charles Correll of "Amos & Andy" fame).

"TCM Archives: The Laurel & Hardy Collection" includes restored versions of "The Devil's Brother" and "Bonnie Scotland" (including theatrical trailers for both), plus a TCM documentary, "Added Attractions: The Hollywood Shorts Story" (which is not specifically about L&H, but they are featured). (The documentary has some edits compared to the version aired on TCM). There are clips of other L&H film appearances, including the magic act with Jack Benny from "The Hollywood Revue Of 1929;" two segments from "Hollywood Party" and two from "Pick A Star;" and the sole extant L&H segment from "The Rogue Song," in color.

"Air Raid Wardens" and "Nothing But Trouble" have just been released together on a disc, with trailers for both films. This is also available as part of the "Classic Comedy Teams" 3-DVD set along with two from Abbott & Costello ("Abbott & Costello In Hollywood" and "Lost In A Harem") and two rare Three Stooges film appearances (the Western parody "Gold Raiders" and the 1933 Jack Pearl/Jimmy Durante vehicle "Meet The Baron," in which the Stooges appear with Ted Healy). "Meet The Baron" and "A&C In Hollywood" also include their trailers. Probably not the best films of any of the three teams, but a good opportunity to get a set of some of their less familiar work.