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Laurel & Hardy: The Flying Deuces (Blu-ray) Available for Preorder (1 Viewer)

Ronald Epstein

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The link below will take you directly to the product on Amazon.  If you are using an adblocker you will not see link.

 
 
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Ejanss

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VCI and an evergreen PD title, which means, like Christmas Carol, it could be very good, or, like hundreds of other Flying Deuces, very bad.
 

bigshot

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A whole bunch of late period L&H features have been released on blu-ray in the Netherlands. They are quite inexpensive through a third party dealer at Amazon.co.uk. I have them all on order and I will let everyone know how they look when I receive them.
 

Tony Bensley

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Alan Tully

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I saw this dozens of times, I used to know a lot of the dialogue. My first job (1966) was at a 8mm home movie company, & they had a lot of L&H films (another long one I remember was Swiss Miss). They had some beautiful prints...which they used to cut up on an editing machine to send to the lab for duping, but I don't think there was a shortage great looking prints in those days. Back then, L&H films would pop up on the telly all the time, I haven't seen any of their films on TV for decades, such a shame as they'd get a whole new set of fans, as I think their stuff is timeless.
 

Tony Bensley

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AnthonyClarke said:
Sounds promising. NOw I'll cross my fingers and wait for WAY OUT WEST
Hi Anthony:


I find the WOW versions that appear on the LAUREL & HARDY: THE ESSENTIAL COLLECTION 10 DVD set, and (Surprisingly!) the HALLMARK, VOLUME 2 disc to be quite good! The former includes two fine Commentary Tracks, one with Laurel & Hardy Historian/Film Preservationist Richard W. Bann, and for the other, he is ably joined by Randy Skretvedt, Author of the upcoming third edition of LAUREL & HARDY: THE MAGIC BEHIND THE MOVIES!


If however, you mean a recent individual WOW Blu-Ray release, I don't think it very likely anytime soon, sad to say!


By the way, regarding THE FLYING DEUCES Blu-Ray by VCI, Paul Mular has stated to me that quality wise, it's on par with the aforementioned "Essential Collection" set!


CHEERS! :)


Tony
 

bigshot

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I've watched a couple of the L&H blus from the Netherlands and they are definitely HD, not upscales. The gray scale is good and there isn't a lot of damage. There are spots of artifacting here and there though... for instance, on The Jitterbugs, the opening scene in the desert has some sort of faint video white streaking upwards following dense black things. It stopped a few minutes into the picture though and was fine from there on.


Not fantastic, but certainly good for these particular films.
 

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Robert Harris said:
The two productions are unrelated, as FD is public domain.

RAH
Sorry to disagree, but they are in fact EXTREMELY related, as they both feature two outstanding comic actors, Stan Laurel from Great Britain and Oliver Hardy from the United States.

And my wish is to see my favourite of their movies, 'Way Out West' on Blu Ray, is not diminished by the fact that it is not in public domain.

By chance I have belatedly just purchased this very week 'Lawrence of Arabia' and will be thanking you while I watch.....
 

Tony Bensley

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This upcoming release just appears to have so much going for it!


It has surfaced that the THIS IS YOUR LIFE Bonus Feature includes the Original Hazel Bishop Commercials! The only blemish appears to be a lengthy excerpted, typical Public Domain quality version of THE LUCKY DOG, of which better quality (And more complete!) versions are thankfully, available!


Also not to be underestimated in my opinion, is the accurately representative Cover Art for the VCI Blu-Ray, as opposed to the typically slapped on, way out of the right era Stan & Ollie Photos/Caricatures that are usually associated with THE FLYING DEUCES' Public Domain issues!


Thank you so much, Paul Mular for your most valued first hand accounts of these!


CHEERS! :)
 

Tony Bensley

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I've also got a pre-order for this on US Amazon, as Canadian Amazon pre-orders sometimes tend to get pushed back by 4 weeks at the very last minute! This is one release that I don't want to wait any longer to view than I absolutely have to!


Yes, I'm greatly looking forward to VCI Entertainment's THE FLYING DEUCES Blu-Ray Release on May 19!


CHEERS! :)
 

bigshot

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Beaver obviously doesn't know the story behind the This Is Your Life Show. Stan was furious that they blind sided him. He didn't want to be on the show.


I find that sometimes Beaver reviews rate by the numbers, meaning if it isn't the right codec or a overkill bitrate, they blame film element problems on the disk itself. If the numbers are all hefty, they overlook dupe elements and negative damage.
 

Tony Bensley

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bigshot said:
Beaver obviously doesn't know the story behind the This Is Your Life Show. Stan was furious that they blind sided him. He didn't want to be on the show.


I find that sometimes Beaver reviews rate by the numbers, meaning if it isn't the right codec or a overkill bitrate, they blame film element problems on the disk itself. If the numbers are all hefty, they overlook dupe elements and negative damage.
Hi bigshot!


Ironically, the Screenshots posted in DVD Beaver's negative review actually reinforces my decision to keep my pre-order for what appears to be the best visuals that I've ever seen for any copy (Including the long OOP Stonevision UK DVD, which does suffer a bit for being an early DVD era SD Transfer!) of THE FLYING DEUCES! If it happens that the UK Network Blu-ray, due for Release June 15, is even better, then the Europeans should consider themselves extra blessed!


Insofar as low bit-rate, the BATMAN TV Series Blu-ray Sets, with an even lower bit-rate of something below 15 Mbps (To TFD's slightly below 20 Mbps!), and is also in Color, turned out so badly (Extreme Sarcasm!!) that it recently won several Awards! ;)


Frankly, I'm a bit surprised that VCI went with 2.0 PCM Audio whereas in my opinion, 1.0 would have sufficed, but I have no complaints!


In my opinion, the Extras, while welcome, take a backseat to the Main Attraction's fine HD Transfer!

Perhaps the DVD Beaver Reviewer (Who stated "I don't recommend this VCI Blu-ray." Oh Really?) should have also viewed some of the crappy Public Domain Prints of THE FLYING DEUCES to gain a little perspective as to just how much of a milestone this Release represents, especially in North America, which up to now, hasn't even enjoyed a decent, non sped up issue of this Title on Home Video! To be fair however, I am thankful for the inclusion of the marvelous Screenshots, as it did aid in my own perspective regarding the quality of the upcoming VCI Entertainment Release!

CHEERS! :)

Tony
 

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One interesting thing about the DVD Beaver review is that it alludes to a Region B release later this year by Network (UK). Network tends to be a quality home video distributor, so it will be interesting to see if they really do deliver a superior release of this film.

bigshot said:
I find that sometimes Beaver reviews rate by the numbers, meaning if it isn't the right codec or a overkill bitrate, they blame film element problems on the disk itself. If the numbers are all hefty, they overlook dupe elements and negative damage.

I've noticed that too. They tend to be a little too bitrate conscious in their reviews.
 

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bigshot, on 14 May 2015 - 02:52 AM, said:
bigshot said:
I find that sometimes Beaver reviews rate by the numbers, meaning if it isn't the right codec or a overkill bitrate, they blame film element problems on the disk itself. If the numbers are all hefty, they overlook dupe elements and negative damage.
JoHud said:
One interesting thing about the DVD Beaver review is that it alludes to a Region B release later this year by Network (UK). Network tends to be a quality home video distributor, so it will be interesting to see if they really do deliver a superior release of this film.



I've noticed that too. They tend to be a little too bitrate conscious in their reviews.

What's really puzzling to me is that the Reviewer has obviously viewed this Film before, what with his best Non Roach Laurel & Hardy Feature assessment of THE FLYING DEUCES! How could he NOT recommend the VCI Entertainment Blu-ray, especially in light of the many crappy PD issues that dominate the FD landscape, so to speak?


If there was actually something better, or if there were any favorable advance technical reviews of the Network Blu-ray, then perhaps Gary Tooze might or might not be at least somewhat justified in his knee jerk "VCI Blu-ray not recommended" assessment? Outside of this, in my opinion, he is way off base regarding that! At the very least, he should have, in my opinion, reserved final judgement!


CHEERS! :)
 

Tony Bensley

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David Steigman said:
And Network has a Region B release a month later too ..which one to get :)
Hi David!


I've also pre-ordered this one, as it's actually less expensive than THE FLYING DEUCES' Blu-ray by VCI Entertainment, though I'm also hoping for an advance review of the Network Blu-ray. Barring that, assuming that I'm satisfied with the former, as I suspect I will be, I may ultimately cancel the latter. It's too bad that the original May 11 Release date for the Network Blu-ray got pushed back to June 15, and with no explanation at that!


While I've read about Network's positive reputation for quality Releases of older Titles, I take this with a grain of salt, as the 2012 DVD issue of THE FLYING DEUCES IN COLOR (Which also includes a B&W version) by the generally reputable Legend Films turned out to be a major disappointment, as the Print they used was heavily edited, missing about 6 minutes of readily available footage seen even in the shabbiest of FD Public Domain Releases! The founder of Legend Films had even posted a dedicated thread in the "Laurel & Hardy Forum" to promote its upcoming issue at the time! Also, in July 2012, a statement by him within the comment section of an Amazon Review for the Film that corrections would be made, hasn't to date, been followed up on, to my knowledge. Worse still, the edited DVD is still being promoted on Legend Film's website, without so much as a disclaimer!


Thank goodness for the upcoming Blu-ray issues!


CHEERS! :)


Tony
 

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