Lost Films of Laurel & Hardy Vol 01

Rating:
Summary: Woth it just for "Big Business" alone.
Review: For fans of comedy, this DVD is worth it just for the short, "Big Business." Excellent quality taken from the best available materials. Why doesn't someone put the Laurel and Hardy sound shorts on DVD?

Rating:
Summary: Very good . Finally some silent material and good quality .
Review: Found the recording process quite favourable . Enjoyed it thoroughly

Rating:
Summary: This DVD series is a MUST for "The Boys" admirers
Review: I just want to say I have just received my ninth installment of this must have DVD series Hal Roach Studios Lost Films of Laurel and Hardy. The meticulous restoration process and background information makes this so enjoyable to watch. (Films as early as 1915, can you imagine?) Being re-introduced into the silent era was such a joy. Only knowing Laurel and Hardy through the talkies and TV. This DVD series brought to me a new level of enjoyment watching the golden age of comedy. I have even joined a "Sons of the Desert" tent so I could group discuss and see the other L&H movies (105 total). I just wanted to say here on Volume 1 that it is a great beginning and an introductory synopsis was necessary for this L&H DVD series. Laughter through visual comedy is the devine genius of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. They are truely kindred spirits that we can now enjoy for a life time.

Rating:
Summary: This DVD series is a MUST for "The Boys" admirers
Review: I just want to say I have just received my ninth installment of this must have DVD series Hal Roach Studios Lost Films of Laurel and Hardy. The meticulous restoration process and background information makes this so enjoyable to watch. (Films as early as 1915, can you imagine?) Being re-introduced into the silent era was such a joy. Only knowing Laurel and Hardy through the talkies and TV. This DVD series brought to me a new level of enjoyment watching the golden age of comedy. I have even joined a "Sons of the Desert" tent so I could group discuss and see the other L&H movies (105 total). I just wanted to say here on Volume 1 that it is a great beginning and an introductory synopsis was necessary for this L&H DVD series. Laughter through visual comedy is the devine genius of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. They are truely kindred spirits that we can now enjoy for a life time.

Rating:
Summary: wish I could give it more stars
Review: If you aren't familiar with the silent films of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, this is the best place to start. The first film on the DVD is worth the price alone, "Big Business" from 1929 (shot December 1928, released April 20, 1929) is probably THE FUNNIEST FILM EVER MADE...the boys are door-to-door Christmas tree salesmen (not in July) who should never have rang James Finlayson's doorbell. Other highlights include "Do Detectives Think?" (1927) in which the boys wear their trademark outfits for the first time...the real treat is Fin's reactions to killer Noah Young. "Call Of The Cuckoo" (1927) is a fairly odd piece with Max Davidson trying to sell his house to get away from his neighbors (Laurel, Hardy, Finlayson, and Charley Chase)...Spec O'Donnell is the real stand-out in this film as Davidson's dim-witted son. "The Finishing Touch" (1928) is classic Laurel & Hardy, the boys as carpenters has never been better...also starring the great Edgar Kennedy. Also included on this DVD are two Stan Laurel solo shorts, "On The Front Page" (1926) very amusing. and "Hustling For Health" (1918) one of Stan Laurel's earliest films.
The restoration for these films is amazing, all-in-all, this is a wonderful collection...don't just stop at volume one, all ten volumes are worth picking up.

Rating:
Summary: wish I could give it more stars
Review: If you aren't familiar with the silent films of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, this is the best place to start. The first film on the DVD is worth the price alone, "Big Business" from 1929 (shot December 1928, released April 20, 1929) is probably THE FUNNIEST FILM EVER MADE...the boys are door-to-door Christmas tree salesmen (not in July) who should never have rang James Finlayson's doorbell. Other highlights include "Do Detectives Think?" (1927) in which the boys wear their trademark outfits for the first time...the real treat is Fin's reactions to killer Noah Young. "Call Of The Cuckoo" (1927) is a fairly odd piece with Max Davidson trying to sell his house to get away from his neighbors (Laurel, Hardy, Finlayson, and Charley Chase)...Spec O'Donnell is the real stand-out in this film as Davidson's dim-witted son. "The Finishing Touch" (1928) is classic Laurel & Hardy, the boys as carpenters has never been better...also starring the great Edgar Kennedy. Also included on this DVD are two Stan Laurel solo shorts, "On The Front Page" (1926) very amusing. and "Hustling For Health" (1918) one of Stan Laurel's earliest films.
The restoration for these films is amazing, all-in-all, this is a wonderful collection...don't just stop at volume one, all ten volumes are worth picking up.

Rating:
Summary: Very good . Finally some silent material and good quality .
Review: Laurel and Hardy were giants of the cinema in their day not only because of their immense talent but also because of the more leisurely paced times of the late 1920s and the 1930s. People in small towns could scarcely wait for the next L&H film short, much as a child can't wait for his favorite uncle to pay him a day visit and then utterly delight in the magic of the time spent with that uncle. These L&H films capture that sense of delight perfectly, because they have brought back the best available prints in DVD format of the whole range of 15-20 minute shorts that so captured the nation's fancy on a mass scale 70 years ago. Do not be misled by the unfortunate title of "lost films" -- this is not a knock-off series (it is planned as an omnium gatherum of their films); nor is it "small town" in the sense of being simpleton comedy; nor is it mere nostalgia (though it is a great throw-back to the past); nor is it a poor-quality series such as the many L&H offerings that have plagued the VHS market. This is from the source (Hal Roach Studios), and it truly does bring back great films that, by their nature as short silents, could not easily have been separately marketed and have not therefore been otherwise accessible now for decades. While these films are silent, you will discover by them just how visual artistry alone has the power to delight. Masterpieces are included (such as "Big Business"), but the whole grouping is also a delight: it is wholesome, it is clean, and it is funny, often hilariously so. I can watch these movies any time and never tire of the subtly recurring themes, the "slow burns," the tit-for-tat exchanges, and, above all, the larger-than-life characters projected by L&H that do not simply please for the moment, in a given place or culture, but rather transcend all bounds to tell all of us -- young, old, or in between, of any era and in any culture -- something about what we are as people. For the over-stimulated times in which we live, these films are most welcomed.

Rating:
Summary: A marvellous treat and a surprise for those who are under 40
Review: Laurel and Hardy were giants of the cinema in their day not only because of their immense talent but also because of the more leisurely paced times of the late 1920s and the 1930s. People in small towns could scarcely wait for the next L&H film short, much as a child can't wait for his favorite uncle to pay him a day visit and then utterly delight in the magic of the time spent with that uncle. These L&H films capture that sense of delight perfectly, because they have brought back the best available prints in DVD format of the whole range of 15-20 minute shorts that so captured the nation's fancy on a mass scale 70 years ago. Do not be misled by the unfortunate title of "lost films" -- this is not a knock-off series (it is planned as an omnium gatherum of their films); nor is it "small town" in the sense of being simpleton comedy; nor is it mere nostalgia (though it is a great throw-back to the past); nor is it a poor-quality series such as the many L&H offerings that have plagued the VHS market. This is from the source (Hal Roach Studios), and it truly does bring back great films that, by their nature as short silents, could not easily have been separately marketed and have not therefore been otherwise accessible now for decades. While these films are silent, you will discover by them just how visual artistry alone has the power to delight. Masterpieces are included (such as "Big Business"), but the whole grouping is also a delight: it is wholesome, it is clean, and it is funny, often hilariously so. I can watch these movies any time and never tire of the subtly recurring themes, the "slow burns," the tit-for-tat exchanges, and, above all, the larger-than-life characters projected by L&H that do not simply please for the moment, in a given place or culture, but rather transcend all bounds to tell all of us -- young, old, or in between, of any era and in any culture -- something about what we are as people. For the over-stimulated times in which we live, these films are most welcomed.

Rating:
Summary: Worth it for Big Business
Review: The rest of the material in this collection isn't quite on the same level of genius, but "Big Business" may be the funniest 20 minutes ever recorded on film.

Rating:
Summary: Worth it for Big Business
Review: The rest of the material in this collection isn't quite on the same level of genius, but "Big Business" may be the funniest 20 minutes ever committed to film.