Rating: 
Summary: Audio not in sync
Review: The movies are good, especially Flying Deuces, not so much Utopia but the aggravating thing is poor quality of the Madacy distributed DVD. It sucks. The audio is not in sync with the video, not even close. What a ripoff, why can't they get such a simple thing like that right? Save your money !!
Rating: 
Summary: From the French Foreign Legion to Utopia w/Laurel & Hardy
Review: This DVD combines an above-average Laurel & Hardy effort wit the last feature film produced by the screen's greatest comedy team. "The Flying Deuces" gets its name from the final sequence where Laurel & Hardy escape from a firing squad in an airplane. The boys get in this predicament because Ollie is jilted by his girl friend (Jean Parker) and wants to commit suicide. Despite Stan's more than willing help the attempt fails and the boys end up joining the French Foreign Legion instead. Needless to say, Stan and Ollie are not very good soldiers, hence the appointment with the firing squad. The comedy routines in the film are okay, but there is nothing special. The best moments are the more musical ones, especially a nice soft-shoe routine and Stan playing a prison bedspring like a harp. Not a classic, but certainly a worthwhile effort from the boys. This 1939 seven-reeler was directed by Edward Sutehrland for RKO and co-stars Charles Middleton, James Finlayson, Reginald Gardiner, Jean Del Val and Clem Wilenchick. Note: One of the writers receiving screenplay credit for "The Flying Deuces" was Harry Langdon, the great silent comic who was just a notch below the celebrated triumvirate of Chaplin, Keaton and Lloyd."Utopia" was originally released in 1952 as "Atoll K" and later as "Robinson Crusoeland," and finds an aging Laurel & Hardy have inherited a yacht and an island. The boys set off to see along with a refugee as their cook and a stowaway. The yacht sinks in a storm, but a newly created atoll (hence the original title) emerges from the sea to give them a place to live. They are then joined on their new little paradise by Suzy Delair, who is running away from a jealous fiancee. Together they all create their own private little utopia, where everything is just perfect until uranium is discovered and all of the nations of the world begin to battle over ownership of the atoll. Just as the boys are about to be lynched, the atoll sinks back beneath the seas. Whatever its title, this final film from Laurel & Hardy certainly provides mixed feelings. The political satire angle is ambitious, but scarcely appropriate for comedians who rely so much on visual humor (compare with the Marx Brother's classic "Duck Soup"), although the sequence where Hardy distributes key political posts to every but Laurel (he gets to be "The People") is good. But most of the sight gags are not typical Laurel & Hardy routines and several people have claimed the best gags were cut from the film. There is also the shock of the appearance of Stan Laurel, who had been ill before the production and looks like he is at death's door. "Utopia" is a sad farewell to the screen's greatest comic team.
Rating:
Summary: From the French Foreign Legion to Utopia w/Laurel & Hardy
Review: This DVD combines an above-average Laurel & Hardy effort wit the last feature film produced by the screen's greatest comedy team. "The Flying Deuces" gets its name from the final sequence where Laurel & Hardy escape from a firing squad in an airplane. The boys get in this predicament because Ollie is jilted by his girl friend (Jean Parker) and wants to commit suicide. Despite Stan's more than willing help the attempt fails and the boys end up joining the French Foreign Legion instead. Needless to say, Stan and Ollie are not very good soldiers, hence the appointment with the firing squad. The comedy routines in the film are okay, but there is nothing special. The best moments are the more musical ones, especially a nice soft-shoe routine and Stan playing a prison bedspring like a harp. Not a classic, but certainly a worthwhile effort from the boys. This 1939 seven-reeler was directed by Edward Sutehrland for RKO and co-stars Charles Middleton, James Finlayson, Reginald Gardiner, Jean Del Val and Clem Wilenchick. Note: One of the writers receiving screenplay credit for "The Flying Deuces" was Harry Langdon, the great silent comic who was just a notch below the celebrated triumvirate of Chaplin, Keaton and Lloyd. "Utopia" was originally released in 1952 as "Atoll K" and later as "Robinson Crusoeland," and finds an aging Laurel & Hardy have inherited a yacht and an island. The boys set off to see along with a refugee as their cook and a stowaway. The yacht sinks in a storm, but a newly created atoll (hence the original title) emerges from the sea to give them a place to live. They are then joined on their new little paradise by Suzy Delair, who is running away from a jealous fiancee. Together they all create their own private little utopia, where everything is just perfect until uranium is discovered and all of the nations of the world begin to battle over ownership of the atoll. Just as the boys are about to be lynched, the atoll sinks back beneath the seas. Whatever its title, this final film from Laurel & Hardy certainly provides mixed feelings. The political satire angle is ambitious, but scarcely appropriate for comedians who rely so much on visual humor (compare with the Marx Brother's classic "Duck Soup"), although the sequence where Hardy distributes key political posts to every but Laurel (he gets to be "The People") is good. But most of the sight gags are not typical Laurel & Hardy routines and several people have claimed the best gags were cut from the film. There is also the shock of the appearance of Stan Laurel, who had been ill before the production and looks like he is at death's door. "Utopia" is a sad farewell to the screen's greatest comic team.
Rating:
Summary: From the French Foreign Legion to Utopia w/Laurel & Hardy
Review: This DVD combines an above-average Laurel & Hardy effort wit the last feature film produced by the screen's greatest comedy team. "The Flying Deuces" gets its name from the final sequence where Laurel & Hardy escape from a firing squad in an airplane. The boys get in this predicament because Ollie is jilted by his girl friend (Jean Parker) and wants to commit suicide. Despite Stan's more than willing help the attempt fails and the boys end up joining the French Foreign Legion instead. Needless to say, Stan and Ollie are not very good soldiers, hence the appointment with the firing squad. The comedy routines in the film are okay, but there is nothing special. The best moments are the more musical ones, especially a nice soft-shoe routine and Stan playing a prison bedspring like a harp. Not a classic, but certainly a worthwhile effort from the boys. This 1939 seven-reeler was directed by Edward Sutehrland for RKO and co-stars Charles Middleton, James Finlayson, Reginald Gardiner, Jean Del Val and Clem Wilenchick. Note: One of the writers receiving screenplay credit for "The Flying Deuces" was Harry Langdon, the great silent comic who was just a notch below the celebrated triumvirate of Chaplin, Keaton and Lloyd. "Utopia" was originally released in 1952 as "Atoll K" and later as "Robinson Crusoeland," and finds an aging Laurel & Hardy have inherited a yacht and an island. The boys set off to see along with a refugee as their cook and a stowaway. The yacht sinks in a storm, but a newly created atoll (hence the original title) emerges from the sea to give them a place to live. They are then joined on their new little paradise by Suzy Delair, who is running away from a jealous fiancee. Together they all create their own private little utopia, where everything is just perfect until uranium is discovered and all of the nations of the world begin to battle over ownership of the atoll. Just as the boys are about to be lynched, the atoll sinks back beneath the seas. Whatever its title, this final film from Laurel & Hardy certainly provides mixed feelings. The political satire angle is ambitious, but scarcely appropriate for comedians who rely so much on visual humor (compare with the Marx Brother's classic "Duck Soup"), although the sequence where Hardy distributes key political posts to every but Laurel (he gets to be "The People") is good. But most of the sight gags are not typical Laurel & Hardy routines and several people have claimed the best gags were cut from the film. There is also the shock of the appearance of Stan Laurel, who had been ill before the production and looks like he is at death's door. "Utopia" is a sad farewell to the screen's greatest comic team.
Rating: 
Summary: A Very Mixed Bag
Review: This DVD produced by (shudder) Madacy offers a very good Laurel and Hardy film ("Flying Deuces") with a very, very poor one ("Utopia", AKA "Atoll K"). Bad picture quality (with compression) is evident on both films, along with wafer thin sound.
The extras are typical of Madacy. There's a trivia game, filmography, and some biographies.
All in all, you should stay away from this to find a better transfer of 'Flying Deuces.'
Rating:
Summary: an exellent movie
Review: THIS FRENCH MOVIE -YES THE PRODUCERS ARE FRENCH- PUT OLLIE AND STAND IN AN ISLAND. THIS MOVIE IS ONE THE LAST MOVIES THEY FILMED
Rating: 
Summary: Mixed Bag
Review: This is a mixed bag from L&H. Being that it's probably in the Public Domain, "Flying Deuces" is all over the place on DVD and when I was a kid in the 70s, it showed up a lot on TV. This was a pretty good film. The other reviewers have discussed the plot, so I won't go there. Not up to the (sadly) seldom seen "Pardon Us" or "Pack Up Your Troubles," but a good time-killer. There is an oddly moving scene where Ollie tries to talk Stan into joining him in a foiled suicide effort by saying, "What will you do? Without me, people will stare at you and wonder what you are." Stan cries without going into his usual whiny shtick. This leaves a bizzare, but touching aftertaste. Then there's the famous "Shine On Harvest Moon Sequence." This scene, like much of the movie, doesn't exactly cause you to bust a gut and slap your knees, but it does make you smile. Utopia is another matter. This is a really strange story about L&H inheriting an island and trying to start their own society with a group of castaways. The only reason anyone needs to see it is so that they could say they saw the last L&H film. I tried to watch this one 4 times before I could get all the way through without falling asleep. Peee-ooey. What a sad way to go.
Rating:
Summary: Mixed Bag
Review: This is a mixed bag from L&H. Being that it's probably in the Public Domain, "Flying Deuces" is all over the place on DVD and when I was a kid in the 70s, it showed up a lot on TV. This was a pretty good film. The other reviewers have discussed the plot, so I won't go there. Not up to the (sadly) seldom seen "Pardon Us" or "Pack Up Your Troubles," but a good time-killer. There is an oddly moving scene where Ollie tries to talk Stan into joining him in a foiled suicide effort by saying, "What will you do? Without me, people will stare at you and wonder what you are." Stan cries without going into his usual whiny shtick. This leaves a bizzare, but touching aftertaste. Then there's the famous "Shine On Harvest Moon Sequence." This scene, like much of the movie, doesn't exactly cause you to bust a gut and slap your knees, but it does make you smile. Utopia is another matter. This is a really strange story about L&H inheriting an island and trying to start their own society with a group of castaways. The only reason anyone needs to see it is so that they could say they saw the last L&H film. I tried to watch this one 4 times before I could get all the way through without falling asleep. Peee-ooey. What a sad way to go.
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