Rating: 
Summary: Finally!!!!
Review: I used to watch A&C every Sunday morning when I was a child. Made me laugh every time, no matter how many times I watched it. Now I get to do it again...at the age of 42! This DVD is great. I also got Volume 2 and I can't wait for volume 3. They did an excellent job on the picture quality I must say. I give 4 stars only because I would rather have 4 dvd's instead of 2. They use both sides of the disk. But that's just my taste.
Rating: 
Summary: A great Collection
Review: This set is just a treasure. There are hardly better value-for-the-dollar dvd releases around: 8 movies, all looking very crisp and clean (considering their age), on two discs. Most of the films have their theatrical trailer included, and all have brief but informative production notes.Other reviewers have written about technical problems with these discs, but I watched every second of all 8 movies and experienced not one single glitch. As for the movies themselves, sure they vary in quality somewhat. Abbott and Costello were cranking out movies at such a fast pace, you can't expect every one to be a classic. "A Night in the Tropics" is interesting, because it is their first big-screen movie. It's not hard to see why these guys shot to mega-stardom, as they easily steal the movie. Of the "service" pictures, I personally like "In the Navy" the best, though "Buck Privates" is of course a classic and "Keep 'Em Flying" includes many classic scenes. My favorite of the 8 included is "Hold That Ghost", which has held up extremely well and remains a hilarious movie after all these decades. The requisite musical numbers included in all but one of these 8 are, for the most part, dispensable. Not all of them are snooze-inducing: several of the Andrews Sisters numbers are very good (especially Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy) and Ella Fitzgerald has a couple good numbers in "Ride 'em Cowboy". One nice thing about "Hold that Ghost" that contributes to it being my favorite: the musical numbers are reserved only for the very beginning and the very end, nothing to interrupt the hijinks! Also notable, "Who Done It?"- a very funny, if very convoluted, murder mystery- is the only picture on this set that is free of musical numbers. I grew up watching these movies, often with my dad, in the '80s. As old as they were even then, the comedic brilliance of A&C still worked like a charm. 20 years later, it's great that so many of their films are being anthologized by Universal. I'm looking forward to Vol. 2 and 3.
Rating:
Summary: Good bargain
Review: Ignore those phoney reviews that claim these discs are defective- those people must own really cheap chintzy DVD players because I watched every single frame of all 8 films and there are zero problems with my JVC player. Get a real DVD player, folks.
Of the 8 films Buck Privates is the best- the music, the routines, the pacing is perfect- this is the one with the Andrew ßisters singing Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy.
The western film has Ella Fitzgerald singing "Tisket Tasket"- she's probably the most technically accomplished jazz singer ever.
Rating:
Summary: Hey Abbott!!! Pick this up!!
Review: This is a great set. I enjoy it on Sundays and I will go pick up Volume 2. I did notice my Sony ns700p DVD player had problems freezing and skipping the disc. And then I placed the disc in my Playstation 2 and it works perfectly. Don't mind the jerk saying to get a real player, he doesn't know what he's talking about. JVC...please. Enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant reproduction of Classic A & C
Review: Universal have done true justice to their former stars of formular comedy / slapstick. No point in going into the movies themselves, all of Bub & Lou's movies are well known and there are no surprizes in this package. However, on the production side the BIG surprize is the HIGH QUALITY of these eight movies. Universal must have taken them from the original Masters, they are too sharp and clear to have been restored. Universal proberly don't have any Masters for the trailers, these have been reproduced with all the scratches and wear and tear that one expects to see after fifty plus years of use.
All of these movies are very enjoyable and are shown uncut. Buy this set and Vol 2 also; same quality and you can't go wrong. The one and only fault that I can find is that Universal have put all eight on two discs instead of four. This format plays just fine but there is always a high risk of damage to at least one side of the two sided discs, you just might lose two movies. Of course if you are that unlucky, then you could always purchase a second set, at this price you can afford to.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent!!!
Review: We all know Abbott & Costello, so no more praise needs to be done for their movies. Well... sure it does!!! It's just like you remember going to the movies for a nickel ;-) or on Sunday mornings with your parents/grandparents. The movies have not changed one bit, and they are still the exact same as I remember them. OUTSTANDING job by the studios to release these. (Now I wish they would release Charlie Chan. That is another story.) The only downside to this release, is the DVD themselves. There are two DVDs, with two movies on EACH side. I don't like this. With the "normal" DVD, the top can get scratched, and it will still play. (The laser uses the bottom.) With this style, scratch the top, and you lost two movies. They should have put them on four discs instead of two. Also, I have heard that people have had problems playing these DVDs. I did as well; however, I have to admit, I don't have a top or mid line player. Mine is a basement bargain, and it may be the cause, though, it does play other movies with out problems. Sometimes when I put it in, it reads the movie and other times it does not. Just have to fiddle with it to get it going. And on some, I noticed the color fades in and out. That could be the DVD of the movie itself. Other than that, I am quite thrilled with this release, and I do hope they release all of the Abbott & Costello films, clips, etc soon. And while the studios are reading this: Release Charlie Chan and all Three Stooges too!!!!! :-)
Rating:
Summary: "tickle your funny bone with Abbott & Costello!"
Review: Growing up in the midwest, the big film night was Friday ~ this is when all my friends and I would go and see the latest Abbott & Costello movie ~ this first volume of eight films is only the beginning. Also appearing in this series is one of my favorite vocal groups The Andrew Sisters. Must confess my favorite film is "Buck Privates", with some side splitting routines from Bud and Lou, like the dice game, awkward squad, turn on the radio, boxing ring and clever tongue twisters that are still as fresh today as they were back in 1941 ~ the boot camp scenes are some of their best ~ plus the highlight is "BOOGIE WOOGIE BUGLE BOY", featuring the Andrew Sisters who made this a number one gold record during World War II ~ check out the champion jitterbug routines at the USO. Entire collections ~ "ONE NIGHT IN THE TROPICS" (1940), "BUCK PRIVATES"(1941), "IN THE NAVY"(1941), "HOLD THAT GHOST" (1941), "KEEP 'EM FLYING"(1941), "RIDE 'EM COWBOY"(1942), "PARDON MY SARONG"(1942), "WHO DONE IT?"(1942) ~ notice how many films the boys made in a year ~ relive those years with the boys and a cast of wonderful fellow actors William Bendix (Life with Riley-tv series), Johnny Mack Brown(champion of the B-Westerns), Leo Carrillo (Pancho from The Cisco Kid), Robert Cummings(had his own series The Robert Cummings Show), Joan Davis(starred in her own tv series), William Demarest (My Three Sons), William Fawley (Fred from I Love Lucy), Dick Powell (42nd Street) ~ each one went on into other films and televison that have been reshown on Turner Classics. Total Time: 2-DVD-Set ~ Universal Studios 46822 ~ (2/10/2004)
Rating:
Summary: 8 GREAT Films... Keep 'em Coming!
Review: Universal has done an outstanding job on this set. The image and sound quality are very good, and the decision to put 8 films in this set for such a low price just says "BUY ME!" These films bring back memories when I was a child growing up in NY. We used to watch them every Sunday morning, along with the old Abbott and Costello TV show... Which is also now on DVD... get them while you still can!
Rating:
Summary: Watts, watts, watts!!
Review: With 10,000 volts he could be the president! Sure some of the jokes are dated but the sheer number of quality exchanges like that wacky watts are volts (with an in joke to the who's on first skit) in just one movie like Who Done it may be worth the price but to get eight is just a tremedous value. I suspect that for all of us who have watched these films rerunning on sundays, it will bring back lot's of memories; however, more importantly is seeing how great A&C's pacing had been.
Rating:
Summary: A&C absolutly fantastic!
Review: I thought the quality of the videos were nothing like ive never seen before. Obvioulsly, Universal, used the masters of these movies. Excellent!
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