Laurel & Hardy: Year One (1 Viewer)

[Peter Keller]

Yes. Both Restoring Laurel & Hardy with Serge Bromberg and Laurel & Hardy On-Location with John Bengtson are subtitled.

Thank you! Awesome they are subtitled!

 

[FreshFish]

I've only watched Lucky Dog, 45 Minutes and Duck Soup, but I'm really impressed so far.

 

[Tony Bensley]

Christmas present from my son!

Happy Christmas, Everyone!!

CHEERS!

 

[Clemdog]

Christmas present from my son!
View attachment 207490
Happy Christmas, Everyone!!

CHEERS!

Nice!

 

[rmw650]

Christmas present from my son!
View attachment 207490
Happy Christmas, Everyone!!

CHEERS!

Totally enjoy it, Tony! Hoping Year Two will be coming out in 2024

 

[Tony Bensley]

Christmas present from my son!
View attachment 207490
Happy Christmas, Everyone!!

CHEERS!

Nice!

Totally enjoy it, Tony! Hoping Year Two will be coming out in 2024

Thank you Richard, and I hope so, too!

In the meantime, in 2024, I plan to start posting about the Laurel &/Or Hardy silent and sound films that I have on Blu-ray on Facebook. I believe this will cover everything that's currently released to Region A / Region Free Blu-ray, with the exception of the Legend Films BABES IN TOYLAND / MARCH OF THE WOODEN SOLDIERS (1934) Blu-ray releases (3-D and original flat!), neither of which I own (I however DO have the DVDs of the MGM and Legend Films BIT / MOTWS Editions!), and also unfortunately does not represent the best transfer of that gem!

CHEERS!

 

[Tony Bensley]

Thank you Richard, and I hope so, too!

In the meantime, in 2024, I plan to start posting about the Laurel &/Or Hardy silent and sound films that I have on Blu-ray on Facebook. I believe this will cover everything that's currently released to Region A / Region Free Blu-ray, with the exception of the Legend Films BABES IN TOYLAND / MARCH OF THE WOODEN SOLDIERS (1934) Blu-ray releases (3-D and original flat!), neither of which I own (I however DO have the DVDs of the MGM and Legend Films BIT / MOTWS Editions!), and also unfortunately does not represent the best transfer of that gem!

CHEERS!

The above is actually only true in terms of Laurel & Hardy's team films, as there are at least two features from 1939 (ZENOBIA) and 1949 (THE FIGHTING KENTUCKIAN) released to Blu-ray that feature Oliver Hardy! I do not have the Blu-rays for either of these titles!

Insofar as my own LAUREL &/OR HARDY Blu-ray collection, I did forget about the Blu-ray of Oliver Hardy's co-starring appearance with Larry Semon in THE WIZARD OF OZ (1925), that I have via the 5 Disc THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939): 75TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION from 2013. Sadly, this is a 480i SD port over from the 3 DVD set of THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939) from 2005 (Which I also have!), and thus does not even look as good as the DVD transfer that's on the latter!

CHEERS!

 

[FreshFish]

That's disappointing. I have the Wizard DVD set, but that film only requires one watch

I didn't know that Zenobia and The Fighting Kentuckian were on Blu Ray, I'll put them on my list!

 

[Tony Bensley]

Today's attempted viewing of my LAUREL AND HARDY YEAR ONE Blu-ray set has been a massive disappointment, to say the least!

For starters, I need to clarify that with my Leawo Blu-ray Player setup, I usually can't access the regular disc menu, which may be a huge issue, in this case! How I normally access different titles within a set is via a drop down panel that shows all of the titles. While finding the proper title can be a bit annoying, I have found this to be quite doable!

That is, until today when I tried playing the discs from the above set. Apart from the two main bonus video features that clock in around 10 - 11 minutes, EVERY title has scenes from at least two different shorts! On my second attempt about 20 minutes ago, Disc 1 finally started playing on its own without crashing Leawo, and I was able to play THE LUCKY DOG (1921), complete with Randy Skretvedt's commentary (Yes, the film's audio isn't muted on this set!). Well, the first 11 minutes of THE LUCKY DOG played before shifting to a scene from WITH LOVE AND HISSES! There wasn't any sudden freeze ups or skips! It was just suddenly a scene from an entirely different short playing, with Randy's commentary for that short! There is also 3 to 4 repeat titles with the same length! We're talking probably over 40 to 50 titles per disc for a 2 disc set that has a total of around 15 silent shorts, plus a couple of video bonus features!!

This is extremely frustrating, to say the least! I don't know whether this is the result of some attempt on Flicker Alley's part to thwart piracy by only making unscrambled scenes accessible via the disc menus, or if my Year One set is truly messed up? I've experienced NOTHING like this with my LAUREL OR HARDY Blu-ray Disc set by the same company!!!!

Has anyone else experienced anything similar with the Year One set?

 

[Patrick McCart]

Today's attempted viewing of my LAUREL AND HARDY YEAR ONE Blu-ray set has been a massive disappointment, to say the least!

For starters, I need to clarify that with my Leawo Blu-ray Player setup, I usually can't access the regular disc menu, which may be a huge issue, in this case! How I normally access different titles within a set is via a drop down panel that shows all of the titles. While finding the proper title can be a bit annoying, I have found this to be doable.

That is, until today when I tried playing the discs from the above set. Apart from the two main bonus video features that clock in around 10 - 11 minutes, EVERY title has scenes from at least two different shorts! On my second attempt about 20 minutes ago, Disc 1 finally started playing on its own without crashing Leawo, and I was able to play THE LUCKY DOG (1921), complete with Randy Skretvedt's commentary (Yes, the film's audio isn't muted on this set!). Well, the first 11 minutes of THE LUCKY DOG played before shifting to a scene from WITH LOVE AND HISSES! There wasn't any sudden freeze ups or skips! It was just suddenly a scene from an entirely different short playing, with Randy's commentary for that short! There is also 3 to 4 repeat titles with the same length! We're talking probably over 40 to 50 titles per disc for a 2 disc set that has a total of around 15 silent shorts, plus a couple of video bonus features!!

This is extremely frustrating, to say the least! I don't know whether this is the result of some attempt to thwart piracy by only making unscrambled scenes accessible via the disc menus, or if my Year One set is truly messed up?

Has anyone else experienced anything similar with this set?

The discs are indeed encoded with dozens of "dummy" titles to make it difficult to pirate. I'd recommend just using the VLC Media Player instead, which works fine with Blu-rays (including this release).

 

[FreshFish]

Yeah, i've had no issues playing these on a PS5

 

[Robbie^Blackmon]

The discs are indeed encoded with dozens of "dummy" titles to make it difficult to pirate. I'd recommend just using the VLC Media Player instead, which works fine with Blu-rays (including this release).

I would love it if you could direct me to a step-by-step, reliable tutorial on how to set up VLC to play a bluray. I'm not exactly a technical chimp, here, but the only thing I've ever managed to accomplish while trying to set that up is to get VLC to playback in a horizontally stretched window divided into a top and bottom section-- with the top being a distorted, discolored image and the bottom a mess of green and pink macro-blocks with random garbage text. A crash usually follows within a minute or so.

For now, abso-smurfly nothing works on my installation of VLC.

 

[Tony Bensley]

I would love it if you could direct me to a step-by-step, reliable tutorial on how to set up VLC to play a bluray. I'm not exactly a technical chimp, here, but the only thing I've ever managed to accomplish while trying to set that up is to get VLC to playback in a horizontally stretched window divided into a top and bottom section-- with the top being a distorted, discolored image and the bottom a mess of green and pink macro-blocks with random garbage text. A crash usually follows within a minute or so.

For now, abso-smurfly nothing works on my installation of VLC.

At different times, I've attempted to set up VLC for Blu-ray playback, only for it to end in failure. It did briefly work for me once 7 or 8 years ago with a free pass code I used, which worked for maybe a week, but I've had zero luck, since. I'll likely have to use our living room Blu-ray player setup instead, which I don't have access to that often!

CHEERS!

 

[PMF]

At different times, I've attempted to set up VLC for Blu-ray playback, only for it to end in failure. It did briefly work for me once 7 or 8 years ago with a free pass code I used, which worked for maybe a week, but I've had zero luck, since. I'll likely have to use our living room Blu-ray player setup instead, which I don't have access to that often!

CHEERS!

Tony,

Being that you guided me so well towards my treasured 10 disc DVD set of “Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy: The Essential Collection”, I find myself becoming frustrated over your current situation, as well.

Sons of the desert, may your problem be solved by New Year’s Day 2024.

Keep us posted,
Philip

 

[Tony Bensley]

Tony,

Being that you guided me so well towards my treasured 10 disc DVD set of “Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy: The Essential Collection”, I find myself becoming frustrated over your current situation, as well.

Sons of the desert, may your problem be solved by New Year’s Day 2024.

Keep us posted,
Philip

Hi Philip!

Thankfully, the free version of Cyberlink PowerDVD 22 that I just set up allows me to play the "Laurel & Hardy Year One" Blu-rays properly! At least the first disc (I haven't checked Disc 2, yet!), anyway!! I viewed the entire THE LUCKY DOG (1921) two reel comedy, complete with Randy Skretvedt's lovely commentary!

It's almost definitely a piracy protection issue, which I have little doubt was deemed necessary by the prevalence of solo transfers from the "Laurel Or Hardy" Flicker Alley Blu-ray set on YouTube!

CHEERS!

 

[PMF]

Hi Philip!

Thankfully, the free version of Cyberlink PowerDVD 22 that I just set up allows me to play the "Laurel & Hardy Year One" Blu-rays properly! At least the first disc (I haven't checked Disc 2, yet!), anyway!! I viewed the entire THE LUCKY DOG (1921) two reel comedy, complete with Randy Skretvedt's lovely commentary!

It's almost definitely a piracy protection issue, which I have little doubt was deemed necessary by the prevalence of solo transfers from the "Laurel Or Hardy" Flicker Alley Blu-ray set on YouTube!

CHEERS!

Congratulations on your determined detective work and due diligence, Mr. Bensley.

I fondly remember a Christmas where I received 2 L&H shorts in Super 8mm Magnetic Sound at the age of 14. Them Thar Hills and Tit for Tat. To be given 2 shorts, alone, was a very big deal back in the day. Ahhh, fast forward by a few decades and for less than the price of two shorts from Blackhawk Films (based in Davenport, Iowa) we are now able to have dozens - restored, no less - and neatly in the palm of our hands.

It really is remarkable as to how the gift of Laurel & Hardy continues to bring great joys into the lives of many on Christmas Day, be it in 1974 or 2023.

Happy 2024 to Tony, HTF and to Flicker Alley.

Philip

 

[Tony Bensley]

Hi Philip!

Thankfully, the free version of Cyberlink PowerDVD 22 that I just set up allows me to play the "Laurel & Hardy Year One" Blu-rays properly! At least the first disc (I haven't checked Disc 2, yet!), anyway!! I viewed the entire THE LUCKY DOG (1921) two reel comedy, complete with Randy Skretvedt's lovely commentary!

CHEERS!

Evidently, the Cyberlink PowerDVD 22 setup I downloaded is a 30 day trial version. Despite some feverish digging last night, what features (If any!) remain usable after that period is unclear to me.

Does anyone here know?

Anyway, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

 

[tatifan]

I noticed this issue with the disc encoding as well….I prefer to “rip” my discs with makemkv, so that I can play them back via Plex through my Apple TV or Firestick. With many shorts on a disc I find it easier to keep track of my viewing with this setup, and save a bit of wear and tear on my BluRay machines. Indeed, there are TONS of dummy files that show up, making it impossible to choose the correct ones. I suppose it’s their right, even though I’m not pirating anything, but I really hope Flicker Alley refrains from this in the future. Unless they can come up with a system that thwarts the pirates ONLY, I think paying customers shouldn’t have to deal with this kind of thing. That said, wow, what a release this is!!

 

[Tony Bensley]

I noticed this issue with the disc encoding as well….I prefer to “rip” my discs with makemkv, so that I can play them back via Plex through my Apple TV or Firestick. With many shorts on a disc I find it easier to keep track of my viewing with this setup, and save a bit of wear and tear on my BluRay machines. Indeed, there are TONS of dummy files that show up, making it impossible to choose the correct ones. I suppose it’s their right, even though I’m not pirating anything, but I really hope Flicker Alley refrains from this in the future. Unless they can come up with a system that thwarts the pirates ONLY, I think paying customers shouldn’t have to deal with this kind of thing. That said, wow, what a release this is!!

It does rather stink that paying customers get caught in the crossfire regarding the above, but perhaps this is unavoidable? That I may once again find myself unable to properly play my "Laurel & Hardy Year One" Blu-ray set with my PC setup, once my free 30 day Cyberlink PowerDVD 22 trial with premium features (Just exactly WHAT the premium features consist of, Cyberlink does NOT make clear!) ends near the end of this month really stinks!

What I've played so far is FANTASTIC! I've never seen THE LUCKY DOG (1921) and 45 MINUTES FROM HOLLYWOOD (1926) look better!!

CHEERS!

 

[Tony Bensley]

Evidently, the Cyberlink PowerDVD 22 setup I downloaded is a 30 day trial version. Despite some feverish digging last night, what features (If any!) remain usable after that period is unclear to me.

Does anyone here know?

Anyway, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

One thing I have figured out with my 30 day Cyberlink PowerDVD 22 trial setup is by noting the exact running time for each title on the LAUREL & HARDY YEAR ONE Blu-ray set, I can then match that up with the corresponding time of the proper file in Leawo Blu-ray Player. Employing that method, I successfully viewed THE LUCKY DOG (1921) on Leawo this morning!

Still a bit of a pain, yes, but doable!

CHEERS!