Most of us grew up with afternoon children’s programming in the 60s and into the 70s that featured many of the silent comedy shorts and talkie shorts made in the past. This was how we discovered people like Charlie Chaplin, the Three Stooges and of course Laurel & Hardy. Sadly those great comedic minds have gone by the wayside replaced with crude humor and politically correct cartoons pushing issues instead of entertaining. That’s what makes something like LAUREL & HARDY: THE DEFINITIVE RESTORATIONS something worth picking up.
Kit Parker and VCI have teamed up to save many of the shorts and a few of the feature length films of the comedic duo and given them the love that they deserve. They made new 2K and 4K digital restorations from original 35mm nitrate prints of these films and they’ve never looked better. I already own a copy of LAUREL & HARDY THE ESSENTIAL COLLECTION that features many of the same items. But these have been cleaned even better and made this one worth buying.
Shorts were brief films running about 20 minutes long that were part of going to the movies back in the 30s and 40s. You’d most likely see a cartoon, newsreel, short, B feature and then feature film. You definitely got more for your money. But a large number of these shorts have been lost to time as they’ve deteriorated in vaults. Now thanks to Jeff Joseph/SabuCat in conjunction with the UCLA Film & Television Archive and the Library of Congress and using careful photochemical and digital techniques, these classic films are restored to pristine condition. They’ve never looked this good since they were first projected on the big screen.
Laurel & Hardy came from a live stage background and joined together to make some of the funniest shorts and features ever seen. Their combination of hijinks and pratfalls were unbeatable. The characters they created, the bumbling twosome of Ollie who felt he was the more intelligent and commanding of the two and Stan as the quiet hapless one who always seemed to get in the way paved the road for future comedians down the line. In a short 20 minute short these two could make you laugh till you hurt more than a dozen times. A single short here packs more fun and laughter than any show airing on TV right now.
So what is included here? The two feature films "Sons of the Desert" and "Way Out West". Shorts include "Berth Marks," "Brats," "Busy Bodies," "The Chimp," "Come Clean," "County Hospital," "Helpmates," "Hog Wild," "Me and My Pal," "Midnight Patrol," "The Music Box," "One Good Turn," "Scram!," "Their First Mistake," "Towed in a Hole," and "Twice Two." You’ll also find the short “The Battle of the Century" (with new music track by Donald Sosin) that feature the famous pie fight sequence, a short not seen for over 90 years.
Extras here include 2,500 rare photos, posters and studio files, commentaries by Randy Skretvedt and Richard W. Bann, film and audio interviews with Laurel & Hardy co-workers, alternate soundtracks, music tracks and trailers. There is up to 8 hours of extras included here.
But is it funny? Are Laure & Hardy still funny after all this time has passed? The answer is yes, perhaps more than ever. While watching these shorts to write about I honestly found myself laughing hysterically out loud. Not LOL type laughing but real gut busting laughing. Enough that I had to pause I was laughing so hard. The fact that “The Music Box”, one of the most discussed comedic moments ever filmed is included makes this worth the price tag.
So many young people are unwilling to watch something like this claiming that anything in black and white isn’t worth their time. I showed some of these to my young great great nephew. He was laughing out loud too. He enjoyed it so much that when he stops by he asks if we can watch more of these shorts. Maybe it’s time to reintroduce young people to the comedy that is more long lasting than skit shows on TV now. And maybe the comedy classics that are Laurel & Hardy will be remembered once again. Add this one to your collection immediately.
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