Laurel & Hardy - The Collection (21-disc Box Set) [DVD]

A must for any Laurel and Hardy fan, a near complete collection of their work together. Stan Laurel (born Arthur Stanley Jefferson in Ulverston North West England, his father ran the town theatre) was an English comedian, actor, writer and director at in golden age of movie making. He was paired in movies with an American comedy actor Oliver Norvell Hardy. Stan worked in vaudeville theatre and later travelled to the USA with Frank Karno’s troupe as Charlie Chaplins understudy. Eventually he came to the attention of Film director and Producer Hal Roach, who gave him acting work in early black and white movies, at some point noticing how well pairing him with another of his actors Oliver Hardy. The pair swiftly became a movie lead partnership in single reel comedies. Stan Laurel had planned to move away from acting into producing and directing but the response from movie goers showed that together that were incredibly well loved and the movies were very successful to the point they began to move to full length motion pictures. Stan Laurel would write the scripts while Olly would go and play golf. They were considered along with Chaplin, Buster Keaton, The Marx brothers and Harold Lloyd to be the best comedy film actors of the 1930’s and remain popular still, with new generations falling in love with their films. In this box set are all of their many great films both full length and shorts. Across the dvds are restored versions which are great quality in sound and picture. Particular highlights are ‘Way out West’ (considered one of the greatest comedy films of all time), my personal favourite which garnered their only Oscar for best short film ‘The music box’ in which the hapless duo try to deliver a player piano to a house at the top of large set of steps, the steps where it was filmed is now a world famous tourist attraction. Other movies include ‘Swiss miss’, ‘Flying deuces’, ‘Our relations’, ‘Laughing gravy’, ‘Blockheads’, ‘A chump at Oxford’ and many others. Some alternate versions of some movies are included including some colourised versions. I cannot recommend this box set enough. At Stan Laurels funeral, Buster Keaton told Dick Van Dyke “Chaplin wasn’t the funniest, I wasn’t the funniest, Stan was.”, a fitting tribute to an all time great.

As the Grand Shiek ("Grand Shark") of the Chicago Bacon Grabbers tent of the International Sons Of The Desert, I am so glad I took the plunge and got this set -- and managed to get a great deal on the price too. This is essential Laurel & Hardy and is a comprehensive collection of nearly all their pre-1941 films. There are a few gaps, but what's missing here can be easily found elsewhere. I'm in the US -- these DVDs are Region 2 and will not play on most American DVD players, but "region-free" players are easily available (and some can be modified to play multi-region discs) and it is more than worth it, since no comparable Laurel & Hardy collection has been released so far in the United States. Here's what you get: First, nearly all the silent shorts in which Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy both appear. A few of the later silents are accompanied by their original RCA Victor music and effects scores of the time (1928-1929), although a few are missing. (The original score for "We Faw Down" is available on a German DVD, and the rest are included in the US series "The Lost Films Of Laurel & Hardy.") All the silents are included except "Lucky Dog" (available as part of the "Lost Films" series), "Now I'll Tell One" (a Charley Chase short in which Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy appear separately; this film is officially unavailable in any video format and as of this writing, only one of its two reels is known to exist), and the legendary lost short "Hats Off" (which is represented by a few still photos). Most of the silent shorts have recently-recorded scores by the Beau Hunks orchestra, which are very well-done and faithfully recreate the LeRoy Shield scores heard in many Laurel & Hardy and Our Gang talkies. The talkie shorts are all here too, as are the bulk of Laurel & Hardy's feature films of the 1930s. With a few exceptions, most are presented both in restored black and white versions as well as colorized versions (created for American TV in the 1980s and 1990s). I personally could have done without the colorized versions, but for the price (under $55 US) if the compilers wanted to throw them in, they're interesting at least as a curiosity. The sound-era shorts are essentially complete, but there are a few variations available in other international collections. Most significantly, "The Chimp" appears here with 1940s Film Classics reissue titles (the original titles appear on a German DVD). "Laughing Gravy" appears in two versions -- the original two-reel theatrical version, and an alternate version (one might call it a "director's cut") with an extra reel of footage that was deleted before the film's original release. Two versions of "Brats" appear in this set: the familiar 1937 reissue version (with added music by LeRoy Shield from the feature film "Our Relations") and the long presumed lost original 1930 version with the original music score. The feature films "Pardon Us" and "Pack Up Your Troubles" appear here in extended versions with restored footage not included when the flms were originally released. L&H feature films not included in this set are "Babes In Toyland" (aka "March Of The Wooden Soldiers") (the best version available is the recent MGM/UA release, which is the "official" version from the original source material with full original titles), "The Devil's Brother" and "Bonnie Scotland" (both available as part of TCM's "Laurel & Hardy Collection"), and "The Flying Deuces" (best version available is the MK2/Lobster Films/Kino On Video version, which has Astor Pictures reissue titles but otherwise the cleanest version of this film that's ever been available). The later 1940s L&H films are all available separately through 20th Century-Fox and Warner Home Video, so that's covered. Also found in this set are many Spanish-language versions of early L&H talkies -- these were not "dubbed," but the studio would shoot several different versions of a film simultaneously, and L&H would read their phonetic dialogue off a chalkboard just out of camera range. Several of these include scenes not found in the English-language versions. Of the ones known to currently exist, the only one missing from this collection is the Spanish version of "Pardon Us" (though some clips from the German version are included). Also found here are some comedy shorts in which L&H have cameo appearances (with Thelma Todd in "On The Loose" and with Charley Chase in "On The Wrong Trek"). Not a truly complete collection, but pretty comprehensive and the most bang for your buck as far as L&H on DVD is concerned.

Most of what can be said about this set has already been, and the fact of the matter is that the sheer brilliance of this set can be seen simply by reading the contents. Just look at it. Nearly seventy hours of pure comedy gold, brought together for the first time ever. If you're a fan of one of the Twentieth Century's most popular double acts, you wont need much else to convince you. However, let me try. The quality of these DVDs, in picture and sound, is amazing, when you consider that the films are more than sixty years old. The colourized versions, although slammed by some purists, are actually wonderful for those of us who find Black and White just a little off-putting. As a younger person who has grown up with digital-quality colour film, it can be quite difficult to sit through a whole hour or more of black and white footage, even despite the brilliance of the contents. It's just the way I have grown up. What is more, the coloured version allows one to see many more details than one can on the B+W. It is simply a matter of taste, but not one that destroys the value of the collection or makes it less than worthwhile for purchasing. What is more, I have no doubt that if you have little children round, who almost always adore Laurel and Hardy, they will love you for throwing on the colour version. Also, I need to correct a complaint from a previous review. It has been said that there is no guide as to where the films can be found, but actually that isn't true. Inside each DVD case there is a good booklet, containing a nice guide to the relevant films and history. On the back of these booklets can be found a pictoral guide to which films come on which DVDs, and this will no doubt prove very useful as opposed to pulling out each of the boxes in turn. One last thing: the presentation is nowhere near as bad as some previous reviews have made out. To be honest, I see no problem with using the "Way Out West" dance, which is absolutely hillarious and just the right thing to put on a DVD menu. My only suggestion would be that, if you haven't seen "Way Out West", you watch it first so as to avoid ruining it for yourself. So on the whole, the makers of this collection have done exactly the right thing, by placing the films themselves right at the forefront rather than artsy documentaries or commentaries with talking heads showing how clever and brilliant they are. After all I bought the collection because of my love of the duo's works, not what other people have to say about them. Thankyou so much to the guys who brought us this incredible collection!! And if you don't already own it, you MUST get it too! Now, where's that oxygen...?

Always pleased with orders from music magpie. Well packaged and good quality

This giant boxed set of the very best of Laurel and Hardy represents pretty good value for money. The real gems are the two reelers and almost all are included here (except for one which has been lost forever). Absolute aficionados of L & H will no doubt notice that certain titles (ie the captions at the beginning of the films) are not 'original' in the purest sense but for the casual viewer this really doesn't matter. The sheer amount of good stuff on offer here is overwhelming. Laurel & Hardy's films have obviously dated and comedy today is altogether more slick and sophisticated. However, the inventiveness of these films coupled with the wonderfully warm interaction between Stan and Ollie set them apart. It's refreshing to see comedy that wasn't written by a highly pressurised gang of writers. What also shines out is that even in their day they had something to offer that no-one else did. Chaplin was a master and technically brilliant. Keaton's films were visually stunning and often quite moving. But Laurel and Hardy were somehow more human than the rest. Remember, when L & H came to England some years after these films were made they were received with extraordinary fondness and the kind of hysteria that we now more often associate with The Beatles. But there are some criticisms and they're about the release itself. The running time for the whole collection is absolutely massive at 62 hours. But what is it that makes it so big? Well, each film is presented twice. Once in black and white and then again in the ghastly colourised form, a pointless abomination that comes ideologically straight from the 1970's. There's simply no reason for these films to be presented like this today. You get a choice on the menu as to which version you'd like but this collection would be better (and considerably more manageable) without. The films are not chronologically ordered but by theme which is a little odd. If the colourised versions were removed and the films were presented in order then it would not only have been more satisfying but there would have been more films per disc and a lot less discs in total. Also, for some reason, each film is 'tailed' with a short piece reminding the viewer that they have been spruced up for your viewing pleasure. This gets annoying after a while. Some films (Laughing Gravy for example) have been 'remastered' but it's actually quite hard to tell. All of them show defects because of their age (which is understandable and OK) but remastering by today's standards surely means the removal of all film scratches, frame wobbles, muffled bits of dialogue etc. However the potential buyer shouldn't be put off by this. All the ones I've watched so far have been quite acceptable and it seems somehow right seeing them slightly unpolished. One day someone will really clean them up, frame by frame, and we'll get a clearer 'window' into the past but for now these presentations are just fine. Finally, there's a 'documentary' at the end of the last disc but this is just awful. It's not a detailed and informative look at the boys but a sort of cheap, ancient TV thing, hosted by Dom Deluise (looking like he did it for a few bucks when he was strapped). It just says that L & H were comedic masters and then shows clips of the dreadful colourised versions. Anyway, despite these criticisms I give it 4 stars because it's a bargain and you get what you ask for. Tons of great L & H shorts and films, the best of their work in fact. If you like Laurel and Hardy then you really can't do better, for the time being at least.

I knew Laurel and Hardy from TV when I was younger. Very funny then! Over the years I bought what videos and then DVDs I could find from their films. Very funny now! This collection contains nearly all their material, most of which was not available in the US, and what was, was expensive. I ordered on 12-15-10. Package arrived in US on 12-18-10. Arrived at my door on 1-3-11. Not bad considering the Christmas rush and the eastern US coast snow storm at Christmas time. The box is about 8" x 6" x 7". The lid lifts off revealing 21 numbered DVDs, each in their own case. Each black, white, and gray case contains a different picture of the boys on the front with all the films listed in order on the rear along with a brief description of the contents at the top and all the pertinent info at the bottom. Ex: mono, year copywright, format, rating, etc. No inserts on the inside, just the DVD, which contains a photo of the boys and the disc's contents on the label. Overall, a nice package. Haven't noticed anything broken yet. Have watched a couple of films already- nicely restored, hilarious, family-ready entertainment. What a joy to be able to watch good clean humor! The color version I watched was fine. Not quite as clear as the B&W, but perfectly good watching. I don't have HD or widescreen TV. I don't know what upsets the "die-hards" who can't stand stereo or color. Obviouly, if those features had been available at the time these films were made, they certainly would have been filmed in color with a 5.1 surround stereo or greater soundtrack. These restored versions are in mono or two-channel stereo. However, I listen to them in similated surround sound. They do not play on my regular NTSC US DVD player, but they play fine on my multi-region player. Complete contents have already been listed in others' previous reviews. For $52 US Dollars, including shipping and credit card currency exchange fee, I almost think I stole the collection. A definte great buy for fans, old or new, young or old, who want to laugh "Hardy"ily for "Laurel"s..I mean hours!

Great content, terrible packaging. Review of the content. Many of the prints are excellent, most if not the best you'll ever see, very close. There are still a few somewhat washed out versions, "Angora Love", for example, but not so bad they can't be watched and enjoyed. I've never yet seen a print of "Liberty" without a degraded image of them both on the girder at 15'30" to 15'53", and this one is no different. Maybe the negative was damaged. While most of the prints are good, they are not necessarily the best available. I have not had time to do an exhaustive check, but a rather obvious example is "You're Darn Tootin'", which has clear degradation during the hat routine at the start of the brawl. The version in "The Lost Films of Laurel and Hardy" from Hal Roach has no such damage, and overall is a slightly better image. Similarly Roach's version of "Angora Love" is slightly better overall. The Roach series presents the films in the way they ought to have been presented here, no "artistic" egos in the way, but with good notes. It also has, unlike this collection, a selection of early films of Stan and Ollie separately (often, it must be said, not in the best condition). Roach also offers a version of "The Battle of the Century" with the missing section filled in with several stills and the editing script. The presenters had one very good idea, gathering on the one disc films which are connected in history or theme, although they have not succeeded entirely. For example, while "Love "em and Weep" and its successor "Chickens Come Home" are on the same disc, "Angora Love" and "Laughing Gravy" are not. Nevertheless, mostly they succeed, and there is considerable interest in being able to see together different treatments of similar themes. The inclusion of several films shot in foreign languages is the really novel aspect of this collection. There's the only known material in German of "Dick und Dof", a trailer for "Hinter Schloss und Riegel" (Pardon Us). There's "Les Carottiers", a combination for the French audience of "Be Big" and "Laughing Gravy". And there's a treasury of Spanish versions: "Noche de Duendes" - a combination of "The Laurel and Hardy Murder Case" and "Berth Marks", " Politiquerias" - an extended version of "Chickens Come Home", Tiembla y Titubea - an extended version of "Below Zero" "Ladrones" - an extended version of "Night Owls" "La Vida Nocturna" - an extended version of "Blotto" "Los Calaveros" - a combination of "Be Big" and "Laughing Gravy" as in the French version "Les Carottiers". "Laughing Gravy" was originally included in the French and Spanish versions a whole reel longer (a different ending) than in the English version. This collection has the original English version plus a reconstituted version with the longer ending, recently rediscovered. All the foreign language films are on the same discs as their English language versions, except that "Les Carottiers" is on the same disc as "Laughing Gravy" in its original and reconstituted English language versions, and "Los Calaveros" on the same disc as "Be Big", a fair enough compromise for two foreign films from the same sources. The most remarkable feature perhaps is how well the boys do it. They are obviously foreigners speaking the languages, but it is done expressively and they seem to understand what they are saying. Using a foreign language does not seem to interfere with the fluidity of the performance. Precisely what training they had to undergo to achieve this would be most interesting to know. The apparent level of skill is the sort of thing which provokes wondering about untapped abilities and the possibility of other paths in life, until one quickly comes back to being glad they took the path they did (until 1940). The comparisons between versions are fascinating. The extra material is always interesting, though much of it is short sequences, little is real gold, and some, for example, the bulk of the extra material in "Politiquerias", does not involve Laurel and Hardy. As between the different versions, the performances are very similar, no doubt due to the boys' high level of experience and professionalism. Quite often, other actors are replaced by native speakers of the foreign language, which imports a degree of difference in their characters. "Ladrones" has Edgar Kennedy and James Finlayson also making their way in Spanish. Somehow I would like to have seen Finlayson's German, if he ever got to do it. If like me you find this collection, despite its faults, overwhelmingly irresistible, save yourself the agony of watching something on the last disc called "Laurel and Hardy, a tribute to the boys". It should be called "an insult to the boys". Only someone with truly no idea could call this a documentary. It's bleeding chunks of films interspersed with inane and uninformative comments. In the collection, many of the films are also in colorised versions. If like me you find the colours insipid and artificial, you simply watch the black and white. The insult to the boys, however, is there only in a colorised version, which is yet another reason to stay clear of it - many of your favourite scenes brutally amputated then decorated by Helena Rubenstein. Stan Laurel despaired at the way the films were cut down to fit into TV time slots. He would really have cried at this one.

The set comprises 21 DVDs, each in slimline plastic boxes, all of which are housed in a solidly constructed cardboard box. Just about every movie is here, grouped not by chronology but by subject. For example, various prison-related escapades are found on one DVD, while parenting escapades are on another. I watched the set from start to end, episode after episode, in DVD order. This gave me a mixed viewing experience - silent and talkie, early and later, by various directors. I enjoyed it, but sometimes watching a grainy silent after a late talkie makes the latter look poorer than it might otherwise. One annoyance is that, after almost every movie, the same set of scrolling notes appears, explaining how the collection was restored and presented. You can click back to the DVD menu, but it is a pain. Also, the DVD menu system involves some needless selections. The movie selection menu is a sub-menu from the main menu. This means you have to select that menu first, before choosing what to watch. It's not desperately poor, but in a 21 DVD set, it does become a bit annoying. As for the content on offer, well, it holds up excellently. Watching Laurel & Hardy doing so many cinema firsts in the 1920s is a joy. Their original comedy is often as fresh now as it was then, though some of the early slapstick is not really my thing. The sparsely populated low-rise Hollywood and LA that form the backdrop of many scenes are themselves worth seeing. Innocent bygone times indeed. Laurel & Hardy acted alongside many other early Hollywood greats, which also makes for some bonus viewing. I have to mention my own favourite, the sadly unlamented Viola Richard. Her close-up in the completely barmy "Flying Elephants" is pure Vargas-girl, though that look pre-dates Vargas' cheesecake artwork by some 20 years. The original box set included a booklet with each DVD. These booklets are missing in this cheaper edition, and I really noticed the omission. The lack of background notes on these movies detracts a little from the experience, though much information about each movie is available on IMDB.

Meglio di così non si può trovare sul mercato inerente a questi due Geni del Cinema. I dvd sono tutti in lingua inglese con i sottotitoli sempre in inglese e l'opzione Bianco/Nero - Colori. Il cofanetto comprende tutti i cortometraggi muti e sonori dal 1926 al 1935 e tutti i lungometraggi dal 1931 fino al 1940. L'audio italiano è assente ma, devo dire, che vedendoli in lingua originale sono anche più divertenti. Inoltre, i dialoghi sono elementari e pertanto comprensibili da tutti. O quasi.

Auf englisch, auf deutsch Text darunter!! I was very pleased to be able to find this really very well reproduced set of Laurel & Hardy films to buy again, since the original one was stolen from me! Laurel & Hardy made one of the greatest contributions to really HIGH QUALITY ENTERTAINMENT for almost half of the 20th Century! To all intelligent people with Imagination, this is a "MUST" I had the great fortune to meet in person, some of the actors who contributed to some of the greatest Britisch Comedy films from the Ealing Studios and others! They stated, that for anyone wanting to make Comedy films today, there is no getting away from "The Laurel & Hardy School"! This was true for the great Peter Sellers as well as for "Faulty Towers" and so many others of the greatest British creations! However, modern, up to-date . productions, are lacking originality and imagination!! Laurel & Hardy haben, für fast das halbe 20te Jahrhundert, einen der allergrößten Beiträge zur Unterhaltung von höchster Qualität geleistet! Die Art und Weise, mit welcher die typischen menschlichen Schwächen dargestellt wurden, ohne verächtlich zu werden, ist einmalig! In den Worten der grössten englischen Komiker, kommt keiner, der heutzutage Komik produzieren will, an der "Laurel & Hardy-Schule" vorbei! Alles haben die beiden vorexerziert! Man kann das alles mehr als empfehlen!

Not sure what the last reviewer was talking about when they said "None of the reviews are for the 21 disc set." Not sure if that person can read but they are for the 21 disc box set. The only con to the set is that you need a regain 2 dvd player. It's made in the UK so what do you expect. On the plus side... This set is Freaking SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!!! There is no other set like it. You have no idea how excited and happy I was to find such a thing, and then when I got it in the mail and sat down to watch it. WOW!!!! It's got everything you could ever want. lol If your a fan of Laurel and Hardy then You have no choice but to get this collection. If your not a Laurel and Hardy fan you need this set( after watching it you might love em. If you have no clue who Laurel and Hardy are then this is really a must for you!!! Look, if you like to laugh then this get this collection. They are (in my book) the all time best comedy team that ever walked the earth. Oh and don't worry about the price, it's worth every penny.

While available via Amazon.ca, this is a Region 2 DVD set which is not made clear in the description nor in contacting the seller. It would not play on my equipment. I had to buy a Region Free player.

Sono divertentissimi e superbamente bravi. Avevo già dei loro filmati in videocassette e adesso in DVD sono ancora migliori. Li raccomando vivamente.