A Few Words About A few words about...™ Laurel & Hardy: The Definitive Restorations - in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Patrick McCart]

MGM owns Babes in Toyland/March of the Wooden Soldiers. Apparently part of the Samuel Goldwyn Company holdings (not the classic films distributed by Warner).

 

[Mark Y]

Yes, that's all correct. But I think the situation with "Babes In Toyland " may be similar to that of "Night Of The Living Dead" and some other films where someone got hold of a print lacking a valid copyright notice, so they considered it fair game. Same thing has happened with a lot of Little Rascals shorts, they just used reissue titles without a legally valid copyright notice. In the case of "Babes" though, they aren't as careful about that stuff. The Legend Films DVD version is compiled from different sources and the B&W version IIRC even has a superimposed copyright notice from the earlier (early 1990s) colorized version.

 

[TJPC]

Here in Canada the copywritie is very F'd up. Any DVDs are not available, and whenever they are shown on TCM, they are blocked and other movies are substituted. I've only ever heard about silent L&H, not being ever allowed to see them.

 

[Tony Bensley]

Here in Canada the copywritie is very F'd up. Any DVDs are not available, and whenever they are shown on TCM, they are blocked and other movies are substituted. I've only ever heard about silent L&H, not being ever allowed to see them.

Yes, and if we want to go the streaming and digital download route in viewing the Laurel & Hardy shorts and features released on "The Essential Collection" in HD, as is available only in U.S. territories via Amazon and iTunes, you're SOL!

 

[RobertMG]

MGM owns Babes in Toyland/March of the Wooden Soldiers. Apparently part of the Samuel Goldwyn Company holdings (not the classic films distributed by Warner).

No WPIX in NYC owns Babes In Toyland --- trying to get them to restore the film!

 

[ahollis]

The Tribune Company owned the rights, however they leased the film to The Samuel Goldwyn Company in the 80’s, which in turn was purchased by Orion Pictures, which was acquired by MGM. MGM has some partial rights due those transactions, but the underlining rights belong to Nexstar Media Group, Tribune’s successo.

 

[RobertMG]

The Tribune Company owned the rights, however they leased the film to The Samuel Goldwyn Company in the 80’s, which in turn was purchased by Orion Pictures, which was acquired by MGM. MGM has some partial rights due those transactions, but the underlining rights belong to Nexstar Media Group, Tribune’s successo.

And now with Amazon owning MGM the film will never be released and restored WPIX owns the film Nextstar owns WPIX they leased the video rights to now MGM

 

[Capt D McMars]

Difficult to answer. I believe that many of the original nitrates have seen far better times, if they even exist. Too many owners and distributors over the decades. Some of the films had analogue preservation and restoration years ago. I presume that at least some of the masters are derived from those safety dupes, as opposed to returning to the original basis of those restorations, presuming that the elements have survived.

Better? Generally, higher quality, far more work intensive digital work, with a lighter touch. One way to get images clean is heavy brushstrokes and automation. Doing otherwise, is far more expensive and time consuming.

In a general sense, from a appropriate seating distance, many of these films are fine. They just aren't as either advertised or expected.

Had the marketing simply said, "from finest surviving film elements," I could buy it.

In defense of the way it's been handled, to do it properly could have necessitated a great deal more funding, and taken years.

Thanks RAH for heads up, it's sad for all concerned, when a project like this goes off the rails. As well as the slight dishonesty between the companys "Hoopla" crew and the final production realties of it, after the smoke cleared.

 

[Tony Bensley]

MGM owns Babes in Toyland/March of the Wooden Soldiers. Apparently part of the Samuel Goldwyn Company holdings (not the classic films distributed by Warner).

No WPIX in NYC owns Babes In Toyland --- trying to get them to restore the film!

The Tribune Company owned the rights, however they leased the film to The Samuel Goldwyn Company in the 80’s, which in turn was purchased by Orion Pictures, which was acquired by MGM. MGM has some partial rights due those transactions, but the underlining rights belong to Nexstar Media Group, Tribune’s successo.

And now with Amazon owning MGM the film will never be released and restored WPIX owns the film Nextstar owns WPIX they leased the video rights to now MGM

It is a sad state with BABES IN TOYLAND (1934), insofar as the unlikelihood of ever seeing any further restorations released to the public, and the better looking proper existing Black & White transfer relegated to DVD only, and also out of print, I believe?

What would be nice to see are new 2K or 4K transfers of BONNIE SCOTLAND (1935) and especially THE DEVIL'S BROTHER (1933). Does Turner/Warner still have the rights to those two titles?

CHEERS!

 

[RobertMG]

It is a sad state with BABES IN TOYLAND (1934), insofar as the unlikelihood of ever seeing any further restoration, and the better looking proper Black & White transfer relegated to DVD only, and also out of print, I believe?

What would be nice to see are new 2K or 4K transfers of BONNIE SCOTLAND (1935) and especially THE DEVIL'S BROTHER (1933). Does Turner/Warner still have the rights to those two titles?

CHEERS!

Yes Turner owns those two === Babes in Toyland would be great restored - and tons of extras = Kit Parker tried to work with MGM so far ZILCH what a sad state

 

[Tony Bensley]

It is a sad state with BABES IN TOYLAND (1934), insofar as the unlikelihood of ever seeing any further restorations released to the public, and the better looking proper existing Black & White transfer relegated to DVD only, and also out of print, I believe?

What would be nice to see are new 2K or 4K transfers of BONNIE SCOTLAND (1935) and especially THE DEVIL'S BROTHER (1933). Does Turner/Warner still have the rights to those two titles?

CHEERS!

Yes Turner owns those two === Babes in Toyland would be great restored - and tons of extras = Kit Parker tried to work with MGM so far ZILCH what a sad state

About as successful as THE ALAMO (1960), I take it?

On the other hand, it is encouraging that Kit Parker is working to provide us with more HD Laurel & Hardy titles. Hopefully, this will translate into another physical release in the next couple of years! Perhaps, Kit Parker can make an arrangement with Turner for THE DEVIL'S BROTHER (1933) and BONNIE SCOTLAND (1935)?

CHEERS!

 

[[email protected]]

What about the status regarding the silent L & H's, who owns those now?

 

[Tony Bensley]

What about the status regarding the silent L & H's, who owns those now?

It's bit complicated, but in North America, it's definitely not the same party who holds the rights to most of the L&H 1929-1938 Hal Roach sound library, at least the last time I checked!

I assume special permission was obtained for the inclusion of THE BATTLE OF THE CENTURY (1927) on the 2020 L&HTDR set? Perhaps, this can be also be arranged for future L&H silent film titles?

CHEERS!

 

[Tony Bensley]

Laurel & Hardy: The Definitive Restorations (4 Disc Blu-ray Set) – Defects?

Lately, I’ve been noticing some pausing and freezing occurring on two of the shorts on Blu-ray Disc 2.

Unfortunately for me, one of them is the much transformed HOG WILD (1930), which looks absolutely stellar in comparison to any of its previous home video releases! On my external Blu-ray drive, it will actually freeze up in a couple of different spots, whereas on our Samsung Blu-ray player, I noticed several very brief pauses when I played this short on that device the other day.

HOG WILD (1930) - The much transformed 2020 Blu-ray version!

And the Essential Collection DVD version from 2011, Very stretchy image!

The other affected short in question is the last short on Blu-ray Disc 2, ME AND MY PAL (1933), which is also much improved over its “Laurel & Hardy: The Essential Collection” counterpart! The difference is, while this short pretty consistently freezes up at the part when cross eyed Bobby Dunn rams his bicycle into the Taxi Cab on my external Blu-ray drive, the entire short plays smoothly on our Samsung Blu-ray player. Weird!

One other possible issue is I noticed when inserting L&HTDR Discs 1 and 2 in our Samsung Blu-ray player, the player will spit them out once or twice before successful insertion. The Mrs. told me this sometimes happens with her (Probably her M*A*S*H DVDs!), so this could be the Samsung showing its age (And/or is in need of a cleaning?), as we did buy it in the fall of 2013!

CHEERS!

 

[[email protected]]

It's bit complicated, but in North America, it's definitely not the same party who holds the rights to most of the L&H 1929-1938 Hal Roach sound library, at least the last time I checked!

I assume special permission was obtained for the inclusion of THE BATTLE OF THE CENTURY (1927) on the 2020 L&HTDR set? Perhaps, this can be also be arranged for future L&H silent film titles?

CHEERS!

Yeah, last I heard the owner didn't take very good care of them, kept them stored in a very hot and humid garage?

 

[Stephen_J_H]

Laurel & Hardy: The Definitive Restorations (4 Disc Blu-ray Set) – Defects?

Lately, I’ve been noticing some pausing and freezing occurring on two of the shorts on Blu-ray Disc 2.

Unfortunately for me, one of them is the much transformed HOG WILD (1930), which looks absolutely stellar in comparison to any of its previous home video releases! On my external Blu-ray drive, it will actually freeze up in a couple of different spots, whereas on our Samsung Blu-ray player, I noticed several very brief pauses when I played this short on that device the other day.

HOG WILD (1930) - The much transformed 2020 Blu-ray version!
View attachment 163580

And the Essential Collection DVD version from 2011, Very stretchy image!
View attachment 163581

The other affected short in question is the last short on Blu-ray Disc 2, ME AND MY PAL (1933), which is also much improved over its “Laurel & Hardy: The Essential Collection” counterpart! The difference is, while this short pretty consistently freezes up at the part when cross eyed Bobby Dunn rams his bicycle into the Taxi Cab on my external Blu-ray drive, the entire short plays smoothly on our Samsung Blu-ray player. Weird!

One other possible issue is I noticed when inserting L&HTDR Discs 1 and 2 in our Samsung Blu-ray player, the player will spit them out once or twice before successful insertion. The Mrs. told me this sometimes happens with her (Probably her M*A*S*H DVDs!), so this could be the Samsung showing its age (And/or is in need of a cleaning?), as we did buy it in the fall of 2013!

CHEERS!

Your laser diode is probably dying.

 

[Tony Bensley]

Laurel & Hardy: The Definitive Restorations (4 Disc Blu-ray Set) – Defects?

Lately, I’ve been noticing some pausing and freezing occurring on two of the shorts on Blu-ray Disc 2.

Unfortunately for me, one of them is the much transformed HOG WILD (1930), which looks absolutely stellar in comparison to any of its previous home video releases! On my external Blu-ray drive, it will actually freeze up in a couple of different spots, whereas on our Samsung Blu-ray player, I noticed several very brief pauses when I played this short on that device the other day.

HOG WILD (1930) - The much transformed 2020 Blu-ray version!
View attachment 163580

And the Essential Collection DVD version from 2011, Very stretchy image!
View attachment 163581

The other affected short in question is the last short on Blu-ray Disc 2, ME AND MY PAL (1933), which is also much improved over its “Laurel & Hardy: The Essential Collection” counterpart! The difference is, while this short pretty consistently freezes up at the part when cross eyed Bobby Dunn rams his bicycle into the Taxi Cab on my external Blu-ray drive, the entire short plays smoothly on our Samsung Blu-ray player. Weird!

One other possible issue is I noticed when inserting L&HTDR Discs 1 and 2 in our Samsung Blu-ray player, the player will spit them out once or twice before successful insertion. The Mrs. told me this sometimes happens with her (Probably her M*A*S*H DVDs!), so this could be the Samsung showing its age (And/or is in need of a cleaning?), as we did buy it in the fall of 2013!

CHEERS!

Your laser diode is probably dying.

While this is sadly (As in, we can't afford a replacement BD player, UGH!) a definite possibility, our Samsung spitting out discs isn't a new thing, either. For years (Since circa 2015), I've had a Three Stooges 2 DVD Documentary set, one of which plays perfectly fine, but the other DVD ALWAYS gets spit out by that player.

Guess I might have to start "Windows" shopping for something somewhat affordable and add it to my Christmas wish list, perhaps replacing the newly released "Our Gang: The Complete Collection" Blu-ray set, which is currently perched on top!

CHEERS!

 

[Stephen_J_H]

While this is sadly (As in, we can't afford a replacement BD player, UGH!) a definite possibility, our Samsung spitting out discs isn't a new thing, either. For years (Since circa 2015), I've had a Three Stooges 2 DVD Documentary set, one of which plays perfectly fine, but the other DVD ALWAYS gets spit out by that player.

Guess I might have to start "Windows" shopping for something somewhat affordable and add it to my Christmas wish list, perhaps replacing the newly released "Our Gang: The Complete Collection" Blu-ray set, which is currently perched on top!

CHEERS!

Keep an eye on Black Friday sales. I know most of the deals electronics wise are on streaming boxes or sticks and TVs, but Visions [for example] has some unadvertised BD and UHD 4K players on sale if youl check out the website.

 

[Tony Bensley]

Keep an eye on Black Friday sales. I know most of the deals electronics wise are on streaming boxes or sticks and TVs, but Visions [for example] has some unadvertised BD and UHD 4K players on sale if you check out the website.

Thanks, Stephen!

Upon reflection, I have another reason to hold off on a new Blu-ray player besides finances. We're in the midst of reno work in our unit, and I'd just as soon not buy anything electronic while there's the chance it could get damaged. As previously mentioned, I do also have an external (Pioneer Burner) Blu-ray drive, which isn't much newer than the Samsung, but is still functional, if all else fails.

I'm thinking this might be something for Christmas, 2023? All reno work for our building SHOULD be complete by then!!

CHEERS!

 

[David Weicker]

Thanks, Stephen!

Upon reflection, I have another reason to hold off on a new Blu-ray player besides finances. We're in the midst of reno work in our unit, and I'd just as soon not buy anything electronic while there's the chance it could get damaged. As previously mentioned, I do also have an external (Pioneer Burner) Blu-ray drive, which isn't much newer than the Samsung, but is still functional, if all else fails.

I'm thinking this might be something for Christmas, 2023? All reno work for our building SHOULD be complete by then!!

CHEERS!

Some reno work? Are you divorcing your unit?