Lost Films of Laurel & Hardy Vol 03

Rating:
Summary: JEAN HARLOW IS IN "LIBERTY"
Review: A previous reviewer noted Jean Harlow is NOT in the Laurel and Hardy comedy "Liberty". In fact, she is. The Boys are running from the cops trying to swap their trousers. There is a series of shots showing them in various venues atempting to accomplish this relatively simple task--behind a store, in an alley, behind some boxes. Finally, a guy and a pretty babe open the door to get into a taxicab--and out come The Boys, pulling up their pants. The Babe: Jean Harlow, in her first L&H appearance. INCIDENTLY, THIS DISC IS NOT REGIONALLY ENCODED AND WILL PLAY ON ANY DVD MACHINE (as it says right on the package). Also, the disc is produced by Hal Roach Studios, which is why the material is so pristine.

Rating:
Summary: Very disapointed
Review: As a huge admirer of L&H, I was looking forward to buy this entire series. In fact vol. 3 was the first DVD we purchased because Liberty is such a masterpiece. I expected some of the other films to be filler, but so be it. Hal Roach studio re-release is a fraud. The copies used are horrible at time, especially in Liberty. In a film where timing is crucial, missed frames kill several scenes. The worst part is the soundtracks or rather, soundtrack since there is only one for all six films, constantly repeated and almost always incongruous. The result is boredom for something which should be close to pure joy.

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Summary: When will Warner Home Video follow suit?
Review: First of all, why title this review,WHEN WILL WARNER HOME VIDEO FOLLOW SUIT? - - well as most people know Warner Bros. bought up TURNER a few years ago and thus inherited all the old MGM films, including Laurel and Hardy's sound shorts and features.

I would think the great quality of the IMAGE releases and incredibly strong reception from us home viewers should be inspiration enough to start releasing some other Laurel and Hardy treasures.

As far as this DVD is concerned, it is great as are the rest in the series. I highly recommend them to all Laurel and Hardy fans.

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Summary: Shoe Shine Girl
Review: I have been looking for the movie Shoe Shine Girl for about 12 years now and i can't find it anywhere.I used to watch it all the time when i was a little girl but i don't really remember the main characters names. I heard somewhere along the line that it is a Laurel and Hardy flic. If you have any info. PLEASE email me at [e-mail]. Thanks! :)

Rating:
Summary: Misleading, but still worthwhile
Review: I think calling this DVD "Lost Films of Laurel & Hardy" is somewhat misleading, because only 3 out of the 6 shorts feature the boys as the pair that most fans are familiar with.

"Bromo and Juliet," for example, has Oliver Hardy, buried under a thick mustache, in a small role as a dinner guest of Jimmy Finlayson, and Stan Laurel as one of Jimmy's employees; the two never meet in the film. In another short, Hardy shows up for a few minutes as a taxi driver.

In addition, the picture quality is not always good, but that's to be expected in films so old. And as another reviewer mentioned, the same soundtrack is used over and over, which can get a little monotonous after awhile.

Depsite the fact that this DVD wasn't exactly what I expected, however, I still enjoyed it. It was interesting to see Laurel & Hardy in roles other than "the boys" and the rest of the casts (Charley Chase, Mae Busch, Vivian Oakland, to name a few) gave hilarious performances. I recommend it to fans of Laurel & Hardy (and other silent stars as well), but be aware that not all the films may be what you might have expected.

Rating:
Summary: Good material with only minor flaws
Review: The shorts presented herein are very fine and funny material, even the shorts that aren't real L&H shorts per se because they either appeared together but hadn't been teamed yet or because only one of them were appearing. The strongest material of course comes from the two proper L&H shorts, 'Liberty' and 'We Faw Down'; I also very much like 'The Lucky Dog,' the film in which they first appeared together, even though they were nowhere near getting teamed yet. 'Love 'Em and Leave 'Em' is the original silent version of what later became 'Chickens Come Home'; but for the difference of roles (Ollie and not Jimmy Finlayson plays the blackmailed husband running for mayor in the sound version), it's such a practically word-by-word and gag-by-gag retelling it's uncanny. 'Bromo and Juliet,' the Charley Chase short in which Ollie appears as a police officer, is very funny and enjoyable too; it's a criminal shame that today this great funnyman and performer is all but forgotten. 'Along Came Auntie,' which was rescued from near-decomposition, is also enjoyable, but overall I'd peg it as the weakest of the six shorts presented here. Of course the material on the discs in this collection are fantastic, but it just seems like they were assembled without rhyme or reason, like by theme or chronological order.

There are however a few minor flaws; it appears that this DVD is like the others in this collection in that it just starts playing right away, or at least it does so on my computer's DVD player. You have to click the Menu button on the control bar to be brought to the main menu to select the short you want to see yourself, and if you're only interested in seeing one, four, and six, say, you have to repeat this every time instead of having it automatically start and the beginning and not display the menu by itself until the final short is over. The background music, even if some of it may have been the original backing soundtrack in theatres, can also become repetitive and monotonous. Sure it's not EXACTLY the same throughout every short, but it's not very varied either.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent stuff from the silent-movie era
Review: These guys were definitely among the best physical comics ever! You should definitely check out "Liberty" where the two caper around scared witless on top of an unfinished skyscraper (incidentally, it inaccurately states Jean Harlow is in this picture; she's not, but the picture's still great!).

Rating:
Summary: More Laurel and Hardy Masterpieces
Review: This is another superb installment in this Laurel and Hardy DVD collection. The DVD begins with one of Laurel and Hardy's finest silent films, "Liberty". This short finds the boys in "high and dizzy" situations that were more accustomed to Harold Lloyd, but they pull it off with hilarious results. "We Faw Down" is the second short and it too is another classic. The basic storyline was later used in Laurel and Hardy films such as "Be Big!", "Sons of the Desert", and "Block-heads". This DVD also gives us a look at another performer at the Hal Roach Studios, Charley Chase in "Bromo and Juliet". The film picture quality in this short is not up to the high standards set by the first two shorts, it seems scratched and faded at times, but the comic material is equally hilarious. The rare short "The Lucky Dog" is also included and we are able to see the first screen appearance of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy together even though they are not a team at this time. "Along Came Auntie" is a slaptstick/farce comedy that features Oliver Hardy, Vivian Oakland, Glen Tryon, and Lucy Beamont. It is a very entertaining short, but the first reel has a "worn looking" picture quality due to the fact that the first reel of the original nitrate print has already decomposed and lesser quality material had to be inserted, but the second reel is still around and looks great. We are very lucky that the film was found before it could be further damaged by nitrate decomposition. The final short, "Love 'Em and Weep" is one of my favorites from this DVD. It is the original silent version of Laurel and Hardy's "Chicken's Come Home (1931)", but this version has Jimmie Finlayson playing the part Ollie did in "Chickens Come Home" and Ollie plays the judge invited to Tillsbury's (Finlayson's) house The picture quality is excellant and the film is must see for any fan of Laurel and Hardy, especially fans of "Chickens Come Home" Just for a side note, you might have noticed Vivian Oakland, the talented actress who appears in three films on this DVD. She is Stan's wife in "Love 'Em and Weep", Ollie's wife in "We Faw Down" and the leading lady in "Along Came Auntie" She would also appear several years later in Laurel and Hardy's film "Scram." Fans of Our Gang (The Little Rascals) will also recognize Mae Wallce (Ollie's wife in Love 'Em and Weep) from her part as Jackie, Mary Ann and Wheezer's mother in the short "Love Business" a few years later. This is a great DVD and it contains some great films and I would highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: A Good Disc For the Great Comedians
Review: This volume of the "Lost Films of Laurel and Hardy" series starts off with "Liberty", which, while going into Harold Lloyd territory slightly, is an utter masterpiece. Some of the stunts performed on the construction site still inspire gasps after the fourth or fifth viewing.
The second and last of the genuine Laurel and Hardy shorts on this volume is "We Faw Down," which is a delightful little comedy which, like many other Laurel and Hardy films, involves the boys trying to hide their latest fling from their wives.
Other shorts presented here are either solo-efforts ("Bromo and Juliet," "Along Came Auntie") or very early pairings, such as the hilarious "Love 'Em and Weep" and "The Lucky Dog" (which is their first film together).
The DVD looks very good, especially in "Liberty" and "We Faw Down," which are clearer than you'd expect. The others can be scratchy at times but are all very sharp. The shorts have been digitally mastered from original 35mm material, or in some cases from the original nitrate camera negatives. Like most silent films released through Image Entertainment, this is quite satisfactory.
There are no special features, other than some liner notes.

Rating:
Summary: Classic Laurel & Hardy Silent Shorts, 2 dir. by Leo McCarey!
Review: Volume 3 in this series continues to present silent shorts from the early days of Laurel & Hardy. The first two on this DVD have the distinction of being two of the three Laurel & Hardy comedies directed by the great Leo McCarey. "Liberty" (1929) is an absolute classic. The boys escape from prison whereupon they are picked up by friends in a car and change into civilian clothes. The simple premise for this classic comedy is that Stan and Ollie have on each other's pants, and they spend the rest of the time trying to change clothes, ending up on the high girders of a skyscraper. Obviously this is a very large tip of the hat to the work of Harold Lloyd, although the gags are all perfect for Laurel & Hardy. It is also a very risque film for its day, with the boys always being discovered lowering their pants in strange places. In "We Faw Down" the boys announce to their wives they are going to a show when they are really heading out for a poker game. When they hear the theater burned down, the wives are understandably distraught. But Stan & Ollie, having fallen into a mud puddle, have been taken by two pretty young flirts to the girl's apartment. Of course, as the boys are leaving the apartment without their trousers, their wives show up with shotguns. The film's climax is the best gag in "We Faw Down" and one of the funniest endings to a Laurel & Hardy two-reeler.

This DVD collection also invludes the very first on-screen pairing of Laurel & Hardy in 1919's "The Lucky Dog," although they are certainly not a team at this point. "Love 'Em and Weep" from 1927 is another one of the Hal Roach-Pathe comedies featuring James Finlayson in which Stan Laurel is the second comic lead and Oliver Hardy has a more minor role. All three are henpecked husbands whose lives are complicated by the return of Finlayson's old flame, Mae Busch. This particular story line is used by the boys to much better effect in their talkie "Chickens Come Home," so track it down after watching this silent version. This time around the bonus shorts reveal Oliver Hardy teamed up with other comics in a pair of 1926 two-reelers: "Along Came Auntie" with Glenn Tryon and "Bromo and Juliet" with Charley Chase. These are more interesting than the Stan Laurel shorts on the first two volumes because they provide cinematic proof that the boys were perfectly matched comedic partners.