Any Updates On the Ultimate Early Laurel and Hardy Boxset? - Page 4

For what it is worth, of the well connected "Grand Sheiks" told me within the last year that Agee was considering going to the DVD-R route with these. T  This is starting to smell like a DVD-R situation.   Even if this is a pressed release I agree with Denny that this has "amateur hour" written all over it.  

One would think that a well known studio/distributor would be all over the chance to bring a quality L&H collection from the Roach era (silents or sound) to market.  The fact that none has happened suggests that either rights issues are stickier than known (sound era)  or that the rights holders are a pain to deal with (silent era) or both.  If Agee was this flaky in his dealings with Image Entertainment no wonder that relationship went south.

Unfortunately, Mr. Agee has not always done what's best with the Laurel and Hardy materials in his care. When he began his "Lost Films" project, he brought in nitrate elements from around the world. He then made the rather appalling decision to store them for many years in his California garage. When the elements were finally acquired by UCLA, they discovered such irreplaceable treasures as the original 35mm nitrate camera negatives to BIG BUSINESS and YOU'RE DARN TOOTIN' had decomposed to the point of no return.

Wow,  now I'm sorry I resurrected this thread!   Despite my doubts, I was hoping the Agee set would be the real deal this time.  And now the sound shorts set is delayed indefinitely?  L&H just can't seem to catch a break in Region 1 - the situation has almost become like one of their films (but without the laughs).

Brandon, I hope you're able to cancel your order.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bob Furmanek 

Unfortunately, Mr. Agee has not always done what's best with the Laurel and Hardy materials in his care. When he began his "Lost Films" project, he brought in nitrate elements from around the world. He then made the rather appalling decision to store them for many years in his California garage. When the elements were finally acquired by UCLA, they discovered such irreplaceable treasures as the original 35mm nitrate camera negatives to BIG BUSINESS and YOU'RE DARN TOOTIN' had decomposed to the point of no return.

Is Agee "Soft"? Seriously, who stores nitrate in a GARAGE in CALIFORNIA?! Might as well light a match and finish the job...

BIG BUSINESS is one of my all-time favorite L&H Silent comedies!
 

When I read Bob's post I literally got a sick feeling to my stomach...anyone stupid enough to store priceless treasures like L&H original nitrate in a garage has absolutely no business being around film no matter how well intentioned they may be.

The rights to the silent L&H films (and the sound Roaches as well) need to be acquired by an entity that cares about them and has the financial means to properly preserve them.  If Agee holds any rights to the silents he needs to be willing to sell or transfer these rights for a fair sum in the interest of preserving a vital part of our popular culture.  Reading these stories over the past several years gives one the impression his ego and lack of common sense have caused L&H much more harm than good.  According to the English forum linked to earlier, Agee is all but homeless since he can't pay his mortgage/rent.  Not to diminish a sad situation, but this is the guy we're entrusting a significant portion of the L&H legacy to??

A&C, the Stooges, the Marx Brothers, Harold Lloyd, and Buster Keaton all have deluxe packages marketing their work.  L&H is conspiculously mising and their absence is a disgrace.

Update: After a couple emails back and forth with Lou about two weeks ago I've been issued a full refund via paypal of my "pre-order". So, good news there.

Bad news is that I would strongly encourage everyone to completely forget about this set ever seeing the light of day.

Worst news is that the hope for a quality R1 release of these films are seemingly light years away. As Steve said, that sick feeling in the stomach regarding these films remains....

Brandon, I'm glad to hear you got the refund. 

But of course, I'm not happy about not only this offer falling, but the future of these films in general.  And with the sound shorts collection also stalling, it looks like the L & H Roach films were just not meant to be in Region 1.

It seems Region 2 is the only way to go.

Steve...O,

>>A&C, the Stooges, the Marx Brothers, Harold Lloyd, and Buster Keaton all have deluxe packages marketing their work.  L&H is conspiculously mising and their absence is a disgrace.<<

Well, I'm not sure how "deluxe" the Stooges package was, but it WAS complete. I'm glad that it happened and I'm glad that I bought 'em.

I'm pretty happy with my R2 L&H set, although the silents are a bit rough and we don't need the Crayola treatment on the sound shorts. I've got the "Lost" discs, so I guess I'm up to speed. This set would have been nice, but.....

I've only talked with Agee one time. It was when he was doing single shorts on VHS. Back then, that seemed wonderful! Hey, I was used to spending a fortune on a single Super8 Blackhawk, ya' know? The guy seemed like a whacko back then. I doubt that the situation has improved. I admire what he did, even if it was done (as mentioned in that movie about Blue Boy) a bit ass-backwards. At least he did SOMETHING, which is more than any of us can claim.

At this point, it's probably time to turn it over to the pros. That Time-Warner set was nice, and those two Fox feature sets were really great (loved the commentaries). They must have sold enough to make each other worthwhile, right? So, hand it off. Time to get real.

Love you guys. I just stumbled upon this site when trying to find out whatever became of Eleven Memories. Thanks for being out there in Cyberville!

-MJ