Vivendi and RHI Press Release: Laurel & Hardy: The Essential Collection (1 Viewer)

[JoeDoakes]

Although they have seen only a few black and white shows, and their only exposure to L&H was from the New Scooby Doo Movies, I watched The Music Box, County Hospital and Busy Bodies with my 5 and 7 year old tonight. I didn't even plan on Busy Bodies, but the first two were very popular and they demanded a third. It just shows how timeless L&H's work is and how it can be appreciated by anyone who is in a mood to give it a chance.

 

[BobO'Link]

Although they have seen only a few black and white shows, and their only exposure to L&H was from the New Scooby Doo Movies, I watched The Music Box, County Hospital and Busy Bodies with my 5 and 7 year old tonight. I didn't even plan on Busy Bodies, but the first two were very popular and they demanded a third. It just shows how timeless L&H's work is and how it can be appreciated by anyone who is in a mood to give it a chance.

My grand kids (11, 8, and 4) all love the Three Stooges but I've been totally remiss in introducing them to Laurel and Hardy! Those three are great choices for first time viewings. Now I just have to find a time when grandma doesn't make 'em go outside and lets us be coach potatoes!

 

[JoHud]

Laurel & Hardy is great entertainment for people in general. I have yet come across a friend or family member that didn't like them, including those that generally don't like old movies. I'm of course talking about the early Hal Roach talkie shorts in general, although Way Out West and Sons of the Desert are also great laugh getters.


I guess part of the reason is that unlike the 3 Stooges, L&H is completely alien to the general public and their quality blindsides them. Obviously it's not to anybody's taste but I do find surprisingly broad appeal even today.

 

[Tony Bensley]

Gary Tooze's main objection to anything from VCI is they use the old MPEG2 encoding (as opposed to AVC), which is not ideal for the sharpest Blu-ray releases.


Network does not give any official encoding information other than region ABC on their site, but other sites claim it will be AVC (but those also say only region B).


I have not been able to secure a pre-view copy because I am in the U.S.A. and not their target customer. They are marketing in the U.K..

Hi Paul!


We both know who Network could target in the UK!


CHEERS!


Tony

 

[Tony Bensley]

See my Review of VCI Entertainment's THE FLYING DEUCES Blu-ray on Amazon:


http://www.amazon.com/review/R51C8SXE05YAS/ref=cm_cr_dp_title?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B00TPN7DEO&channel=detail-glance&nodeID=2625373011&store=movies-tv


Suffice it to say this Edition is at present, the Gold Standard for what is, in my opinion, a most enjoyable Laurel & Hardy Feature!


CHEERS!


Tony

 

[Essanay Paul]

Hi all,


Tony Bensley just sent me this YouTube link that shows the wonderful NETWORK Blu-ray release of FLYING DEUCES. It seems to outshine VCI's.

 

[Tony Bensley]

Going on the assumption the rest of the Film on the Network On Air Blu-ray is of similar visual quality, this upcoming June 15 2015 Release (Which I have on good authority is Region Free, despite listings that indicate the contrary!) appears to be superior to the new VCI Entertainment Blu-ray, as much of a step up as it did represent. I have pre-ordered the Network version from Amazon UK on the strength of the above clip and it's Region Free status!


THE FLYING DEUCES Network On Air Blu-ray: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00T6LQHOM?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00


CHEERS!

 

[Tony Bensley]

My UK Amazon Blu-ray order of THE FLYING DEUCES by Network On Air has shipped today. Once I receive this (Probably within the next 2 weeks, or so.), I plan to post my observations of this version, and how it compares with the recent VCI Entertainment Blu-ray Release!


However, I'm undecided about viewing the German dubbed version that is also included as an extra? I may just check it for general visual quality.


CHEERS!

 

[Essanay Paul]

Tony,


I would be curious to know if the "German Dub" version also has German titles & lettering within the film.

 

[Tony Bensley]

Tony,


I would be curious to know if the "German Dub" version also has German titles & lettering within the film.

Hi Paul!


I will check for that, Paul. Are you receiving the Network Blu-ray. also?


CHEERS!


Tony

 

[JoHud]

Major L&H: A complete 2nd reel of Battle of the Century has been found and recently announced. Lobster Films now has it.


http://silentlondon.co.uk/2015/06/15/second-reel-laurel-hardy-battle-of-the-century-pie-fight/


We will finally see how things really went down during the 2nd half.

 

[Tony Bensley]

First off, I echo the joy of the recent discovery of the entire Second Reel of THE BATTLE OF THE CENTURY! That modern audiences will soon be able to view the Record Setting Epic Pie Fight in its entirety is nothing short of miraculous!


Which makes the slight bomb that I'm about to drop a bit of an annoying anticlimax.


Despite what is mentioned in the Silent London article, the Eugene Pallette Insurance segment (Plus, a bit of subsequent business with Stan & Babe running into & tripping over things!) is actually a part of the First Reel that has remained missing for many decades!


As there has been NO mention of Reel One having also been discovered, it is my opinion that it shouldn't be assumed that its last few minutes of heretofore non extant footage have been recovered!


On the positive side, once restored, THE BATTLE OF THE CENTURY will at worst, be missing no more than 20% of its original footage. This represents quite a significant drop from the heretofore roughly 45% or so, that has remained firm since the late 1970s!


Here is a related article by James Neibaur, which I believe to be more accurately representative of the facts, as they are currently known about this remarkable discovery: http://www.examiner.com/article/lost-footage-from-laurel-and-hardy-silent-found


CHEERS!

 

[Essanay Paul]

Jon informed me that reel 2 starts at the fade-up of Laurel & Hardy walking down the street. The film has all original leaders and "start reel two" notice as well as complete end titles.

The thing that gets me is that this film has been stored just across the bay from me for decades and I never knew it. I didn't matter how many contacts I knew, it appears that the owner (who passed away) didn't know just what he had and everybody just assumed it was the cut-down Blackhawk reel.

 

[JoHud]

Reel 1 has always been complete since it was discovered in 1979.


Edit: Wait, I guess there is a missing segment from reel one. From what I hear it seems the film will now be 90% complete

 

[Tony Bensley]

Reel 1 has always been complete since it was discovered in 1979.


Edit: Wait, I guess there is a missing segment from reel one. From what I hear it seems the film will now be 90% complete

Apparently, the the reason why Reel One that Leonard Maltin found in 1979 was missing the post fight footage was because everything up to the end of the Boxing Match was originally tinted, and the remaining Black & White Reel One footage had to be spliced on separately.


Could there be a Mini Split Reel with the final 3 or so minutes of THE BATTLE OF THE CENTURY's First Reel kicking around someplace?


Be sure to check your attics for footage of the boys' Park Bench encounter with an Insurance Agent, followed briefly by Stan & Babe bumping into and tripping over things!


CHEERS!


Tony

 

[Tony Bensley]

I just got this e-mail from Legend Entertainment, they are award of the FLYING DEUCES missing footage and plan to re-issue the DVDs; Hi Paul, Please inform the Sons of the Desert that we intend to fix the error. This one got away from us. We apologize. Best, Barry Barry B. Sandrew, Ph.D Founder & CCO/CTO 3721 Valley Centre Drive San Diego, CA 92130 Tel: 760-497-1922 URL: http://www.legend3D.com Blog: http://bsandrew.blogspot.com

Hi Paul!


It's too bad the aforementioned intention by Barry Sandrew to "fix the error" was never lived up to, for whatever reason!


Thank goodness for THE FLYING DEUCES' 2015 Blu-ray/DVD releases by VCI Entertainment in the U.S, and Network On Air in the UK!


CHEERS!


Tony

 

[Tony Bensley]

I'm going through my copy of the new box set now, and generally am very, very pleased with the audio and picture quality in these new transfers. "Sons of the Desert" looks a little bit lackluster--it could have had better brightness and contrast--but otherwise these films look as good as, and usually better than, I've ever seen before. I was particularly pleased with "The Midnight Patrol," which heretofore I've seen in Super 8, 16mm, and VHS copies which all looked rather dupey and had very feeble soundtracks with lots of extraneous noise. The new DVD transfer sparkles--it has beautifully sharp picture quality and the audio is clear and strong. All of the films have original main titles, even "Hog Wild," the main titles for which now exist only on one 16mm print owned by Richard Bann. It looks as though the inventive original titles for "The Chimp" are taken from a 16mm source as well, but at least we have them--and the opening joke, told in two title cards, is at last in the proper order! (All the reissue prints from the '40s onward have the punch line first.) The Spanish-language films (and one French film) are a treat, and it's nice that they include English subtitles. It would have been nice to include such subtitles for the hearing impaired, but as I understand it, the DVD market has collapsed to such a point that this project had only one-fourth the budget that was allotted for the Little Rascals box set put out by Genius Entertainment a few years ago. The packaging hasn't been a problem for me, although there is the slight nuisance of having to pull the discs out by grasping their edges. I'll likely be putting them into separate jewel boxes. Other than that, the packaging is attractive, and Richard W. Bann's notes are informative, as are his commentaries. I'll leave it to the jury to decide about the merits of my own commentary about "Way Out West." As we seem to be approaching the end of physical media (*someone* thinks it's a great idea to only have our movies and music on a "cloud," or available only as downloads, but that wouldn't be me), I'm grateful that L&H have finally been given a proper DVD release. It should have happened ten or more years ago, but better late than never. This is certainly a must-have purchase for any Laurel & Hardy admirer. You may have other copies of these films, but you don't have them looking and sounding this good. --Randy Skretvedt

Hi Randy!


Though I see that you haven't posted on HTF in a long while, I just thought that I'd note my agreement with you regarding this marvelous set, and also in regards to SONS OF THE DESERT's lackluster appearance! While I've recently found that adjusting some settings on my VLC Media Player software helps somewhat, it is my opinion that a better job of it could be done by some tweaking at its HD digital source!


CHEERS!


Tony

 

[Brian McP]

Not a dvd or bliuray, but a book -- an essential one for all Laurel and Hardy fans, Randy Skretvedt's "Laurel and Hardy: The Magic Behind The Movies".


A brand new edition/reboot is now being financed on Kickstarter until January 1 -- the old line 'words cannot describe' apply in this instance -- check out the campaign page and see for yourself:


https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/373772146/laurel-and-hardy-the-magic-behind-the-moviesspecia/description

 

[Essanay Paul]

So when will the second half of this reel be released and then put onto DVD?

I posted info about this on another thread. Unfortunately unless something changes, there is LITTLE hope of reel two of BATTLE OF THE CENTURY getting released on DVD.


1) Lobster Films may be doing the new 35mm restoration work, but they have NO home video rights to the silent Laurel & Hardy films, just their solo work.


2) Corinth Films owns the U.S. Home Video Rights and they have little to no interest in releasing silent Laurel & Hardy films on DVD (they are streaming the old Agee transfers on Hulu).


3) The European Home Video rights are owned by a German company who tried to confiscate the recently found film from Lobster Films. Lobster pointed out that they only owned the Video rights and not the films. So relations between them is a bit like the cold war.


Our best hope is that Corinth ( U.S. owners ) will allow Lobster ( a French company ) to release the film on DVD in the U.S.


On another note, David Shepard (Blackhawk Films & Film Preservation Associates) still owns the 16mm film distribution rights in the U.S. so we may actually see 16mm prints before we see DVDs.

 

[Essanay Paul]

Apparently, the the reason why Reel One that Leonard Maltin found in 1979 was missing the post fight footage was because everything up to the end of the Boxing Match was originally tinted, and the remaining Black & White Reel One footage had to be spliced on separately.


Could there be a Mini Split Reel with the final 3 or so minutes of THE BATTLE OF THE CENTURY's First Reel kicking around someplace?


Be sure to check your attics for footage of the boys' Park Bench encounter with an Insurance Agent, followed briefly by Stan & Babe bumping into and tripping over things!


CHEERS!


Tony

Hi Tony,


We screened THE BATTLE OF THE CENTURY surviving reel 1 along with the newly found reel 2 a few weeks ago. To be honest, I see Nitrate wear & deterioration near the end of the surviving reel 1, so I still believe the Eugene Pallette footage is lost due to Nitrate deterioration.