-Lord Heath, August 14, 2012
Released: 7 August 2012
DVD Language options:
◊ Huns And Hyphens (1918) [17:10] ♣
◊ Bears And Bad Men (1918) [19:25] ♣
◊ Frauds And Frenzies (1918) [20:47] & [20:09] ♣
◊ The Egg (1922) [18:29] ♣
◊ Mud And Sand (1922) [29:14] ♣
◊ Mixed Nuts (1922) [12:09] ♣
◊ A Weak-End Party (1922) [14:50] ♣
Huns And Hyphens is in a very good condition, sharp and clean, but very slightly inferior to the Kino/Lobster print which is available. The title card is probably not the original but is a decent alternative. It is on-screen for just one second and missing the subsequent gag card introducing Madge Kirby. There is a considerable amount of time difference between this print and others, which run almost two minutes longer.
Bears And Bad Men is missing the original title card but the print is beautifully restored and is a much superior print than any other available print of the film on DVD.
Frauds And Frenzies is presented with both English/Originalfassung (meaning 'original version'), and with German titles, which runs approximately 40 seconds shorter. Both prints are the same source apart from the German title card and intertitles. It's another crisp, very high picture quality presentation of the film.
The Egg is another clean print, but is significantly darker than other prints which are available.
Mud And Sand is not in particularly great condition. A lot of dirt, scratches and very dark in places. Some prints of this film have been released at 40 minutes, this is 29 minutes. The picture is also zoomed-in as well.
Mixed Nuts is, by a slim margin, the clearest version of the film released to date but is some three minutes shorter than the French DVD release. There is no title card whatsoever.
A Weak-End Party is presented with approximately five minutes of footage missing (due to the missing footage being lost) and incorporates English intertitle cards with added German subtitles.
DVD1 disc review: Quite simply this is a brilliant disc, the disappointment of a couple of the titles is compensated by the brilliance of others.
Mark:
◊ Detained (1924) [14:20]
◊ Mandarin Mix-Up (1924) [21:02] & [21:04]
◊ Somewhere In Wrong (1925) [21:49]
◊ West Of Hot Dog (1924) [22:13]
◊ Twins (1925) [26:33] & [21:31]
◊ Pie-Eyed (1922) [16:47]
◊ The Snow Hawk (1925) [19:47] & [19:47]
◊ Dr. Pyckle And Mr. Pride (1925) [18:39] & [19:43]
Detained is in an above-average condition, with a brownish tint to the picture.
Mandarin Mix-Up is shown in two versions. The German-subtitled version is in a subtle brown tint, whereas the English-version is black & white. Both prints are missing the original title card and have instead replaced it with a horrible Japanese-looking font. In terms of picture quality, the print is not quite up to the best quality compared to others on the disc, but it is watchable nonetheless.
Somewhere In Wrong has English title cards with added German subtitles attached to them. The original title card has been replaced by a basic text. The print is quite dark throughout and has a distinctive brown tint to the picture. There are parts of the film where Stan's face is very white with no facial features visible due to the over-contrasted picture. Disappointing.
West Of Hot Dog has had all the English intertitle cards removed and had German titles placed instead. Many times the English cards flash on the screen before disappearing. The print is average, quite dark compared to other prints of the film I have seen previously. It is also heavily missing some 7+ minutes of footage as well.
Twins is another one of those films shown with both English and German titles. The print is lovely for the most part but there are some varying degrees of quality. At times it sparkles, and towards the end it is very grainy. The film is quite hard to come by and is absent from most collections, so this is a worthy inclusion on the set. The English version has a yellow tint to it and both prints are missing the original title card, though the English-version comes closest to at least making the effort! The german-titled version runs five minutes longer.
Pie-Eyed is simply beautifully presented. Despite the absence of the original title card, the picture is crisp throughout, almost perfectly preserved or remastered. It is probably the best picture quality of any film on this disc.
The Snow Hawk is presented in two versions; the original and the German. Both are quite horrible, very dark, brown tinted and quite embarrasing at the end where the music fades out whilst the film continues to play the last scene. Poor. There are much better prints of this film in circulation.
Dr. Pyckle And Mr. Pride is all over the place. Presented in two versions; the original and the German, a bit unnecessarily in my opinion, the German print is tinted in pink, blue, green(!?), whereas the English version is tinted brown and is below average picture quality, fuzzy and quite hard to watch. Neither has the original title card.
DVD2 disc review: A big disappointment. Many of the films are missing footage, some are quite dark and better prints are available on other collections.
Mark:
♦ Fatty's Fatal Fun (1915) [1:53]
♦ Something In Her Eye (1915) [10:06]
♦ One Too Many (1916) [15:05]
♦ A Battle Royal (1916) [11:38]
♦ Hungry Hearts (1916) [10:39] ♣
♦ Love And Duty (1916) [12:39]
♦ Cupid's Rival (1917) [29:02]
♦ The Villain (1917) [12:32]
♦ Fiddlin' Around (1925) [12:31]
♦ The Rent Collector (1921) [17:54]
Fatty's Fatal Fun is shown only as a clip. Given its extreme rarity, I'll accept it in any condition, even if, as is the case here, that condition shows a lack of contrast and quite watery, yet it is clear.
Something In Her Eye is very dark, though it does retain an original title card. I have seen much clearer prints of this film elsewhere.
One Too Many, another rare film which is hard to come by, is quite decent. The intertitle cards are clear and the picture quality shows a significant improvement over previous releases (not that there have been too many of them). It does seem, however that the film is not running at the correct spped, like it has been slowed down slightly, which will result in a stretched running time.
A Battle Royal has a decent enough picture quality despite its age. Once you get past the embarrassing inserted title card, there is evidence of some deterioration in the negative which is reflected with blotches on the print, but all in all and given its rare appearance on any L&H collection, it is probably the best print of the film out there. It does get dark towards the end though.
Hungry Hearts is extremely rare to find - in fact as I reviewed it, I noted I had never in fact seen it anywhere prior to this. Tinted in brown, the backing audio overpowers the film, but there are sound effects which accompany some of the on-screen action. The picture is very fuzzy and in a poor state - possibly the reason for not being available for home viewing in recent years, but it's better than nothing.
Love And Duty is in poor condition. Very fuzzy, blurry, over-contrasted and slowed down. Also it is dark in places and lacks all original titles. I've seen better prints of this film. In some scenes you cannot even see what is going on. German titles throughout.
Cupid's Rival is shown with an original title card. It's in an above average condition, though the picture is soft for the most part. The four corners of the screen seem to be curved in a black-out lens, like you are watching it through a telescope at times, but again, its age and rarity is a reason to embrace its inclusion.
The Villain is dark, fuzzy and brown tinted. Again, it is one of those titles which has the corners of the screen rounded off with black areas. It is obvious the negative has been blown up for the DVD. The English intertitle cards also have German subtitles.
Fiddlin' Around is another one of those hard-to-find films which we should be grateful for that it is included in any collection. The print ranges between watchable and awful though. Presented with German titles at the beginning.
The Rent Collector is presented with an awfully long intro of text in German and it quite patchy throughout, especially at the beginning where it is considerably dark in places. The picture seems to continually flash between bright and dark and is inconsistent with its quality all the way through the film. Very uncomfortable viewing due to the constant flashing of the transfer.
DVD3 disc review: Well this disc does include some major rare gems. Half the films on this disc are available elsewhere in better conditions, but some of the rare films on this disc are must-haves. In general though it's quite a poor disc overall.
Mark:
♦ The Lottery Man (1916) [60:46]
♦ The Hobo (1917) [18:13] & [18:56]
♦ The Rogue (1918) [24:48]
♦ His Day Out (1918) [15:12]
♦ Her Boy Friend (1924) [10:54]
♦ The Bell Hop (1921) [21:17]
♦ The Midnight Cabaret (1923) [13:08]
♦ Her Near-Sighted Father (Married To Order) (1920) [6:50] ♣
The Lottery Man is a six-reel silent feature released for the first time (officially) on DVD and already someone couldn't help but sticking their watermark stamp on it. In the bottom-right hand corner of the screen is a small pixelated rectangle box which is seen throughout the film. The picture quality is ok, neither bad nor great. The fact that this is the only known issue of the film on DVD means die hard fans should seriously consider this disc.
The Hobo is shown in both an English and German-alternative titled version. Both prints are fuzzy but it's no worse that what is already available from this film elsewhere. The German print is slightly darker yet clearer, whilst the English print is murky.
The Rogue is probably the same level of quality as the previous film in terms of picture. There is a lot of fuzziness in the picture throughout the film, but again, it is no worse than other prints of the film I have seen.
His Day Out is shown with German titles at the beginning. The print is soft for the most part but gets noticably dark after about 11 minutes. From then on it is very dark indeed and barely watchable.
Her Boy Friend is shown with the original title card which has been manipulated into some silly warped effect. The print looks as though it has been cleaned up but appears to be quite dark for the majority of the film.
The Bell Hop is also shown with the original title card centred around a silly special effect. The print is very dark and fuzzy and there are clear signs of interlacing problems with blurred images from the fast motion of the action.
The Midnight Cabaret is a rare film for any collection. Previously unavailable other than in Italy, there is no original title card and the picture quality is merely acceptable and nothing more. There is a lack of contrast which makes the film look soft and fuzzy. Also, it should be noted that this is only a fragment of the film and runs 13 minutes, which is 4 minutes shorter than the version available in Italy.
Her Near-Sighted Father (aka Married To Order) is bordering on awful. This print lacks everything from original cards to a picture which is remotely watchable. It is very dark right from the start and doesn't get any better. Now given that other DVD prints of this film are much more complete and much better quality, this seems like a pointless addition to this collection. Terrible.
DVD4 disc review: There's no denying that the inclusion of the feature The Lottery Man, it is hard to ignore this particular disc. It's worth it just for that alone. The other shorts are about what you would expect, but there are a couple in particular which are quite bad. The mark I have rated this disc is amplified merely because of the inclusion of the first title.
Mark:
♦ The Wizard Of Oz (1925) [68:33]
♦ The Sawmill (1921) [24:36]
♦ Kid Speed (1924) [17:24]
♦ The Show (1918) [25:14]
♦ Golf (1922) [25:56]
The Wizard Of Oz is restored back to its original black & white (there are tinted versions available) and has a new stereo sound mix added to it. The print is pretty good, clean and very watchable. The slightly-shortened running time does suggest some footage is missing though?
The Sawmill is quite a disappointment. This famous, record-breaking short is shown with an original title card but with a German translation underneath it. The quality of the print is clean but not sharp. There are better copies available, but there are also much worse! It's just lacking that sharpness, but for anyone who wanted to see this must-see film, this isn't a bad copy to start with.
Kid Speed is straight away a major let down in terms of major darkness! For a film which is readily available on other collections, it has to be stated that this is one of the worst prints of the film I have ever seen. The audio even crackles, it's that bad. To add to the misery there are forced German subtitles on the intertitle cards. A good film spoiled by a lousy print.
The Show is tinted in a cross between a browny-yellow like colour and again has forced German subtitles on the screen when the English cards are shown. The print itsself is quite good despite the tint being a slight distraction (other prints of this film on other collections are better to watch), and to its credit it does look clean for the most part, with very few scratches and marks on the screen. The audio is a mix between an old recording and a new, bouncy piano tune. I'd have to say that if I was looking for the best print of this film then I would consider previously-released options.
Golf is surprisingly shown with its original animated title card intro. We have a relatively good version of the film, not great but very watchable all the same. I haven't seen a better print of this anywhere, but that is not to suggest this version is the best on the market either. The frame rate and interlacing of the DVD here is noticable too.
DVD5 disc review: Well this is the disc I would call "the good, the bad and the ugly". There is nothing here that cannot be found better somewhere else on previous releases. It also features some of the very worst prints of Hardy's solo works that are available on DVD.
Mark:
• The Lucky Dog (1921) [16:23] ♣
• The Stolen Jools (1931) [19:03] & [7:35]
• The Tree In A Test Tube (1941) [5:15]
♦ The Candy Kid (1917) [13:07]
♦ Hop To It! (1925) [22:47]
♦ A Bankrupt Honeymoon (1926) [8:26]
♦ The Bell Hop (1921) [21:18]
Trailer: Utopia [1:30]
Trailer: DVD program for this box-set [2:07]
The Lucky Dog : Well what can I say about this? Finally, a version of this important film available on DVD in good condition which features the long-missing opening twenty seconds of Stan being ejected from the hotel and into the street. The print is in good condition BUT despite the extra footage rarely seen from this film, the whole thing is approximately seven minutes short. Not even PAL speed-up would account for that so there has to be something missing somewhere. It's frustratingly disappointing yet at the same time incredibly exciting to have this print. The best print is on Volume 3 of The Lost Films Collection, but that print doesn't have those missing 20 seconds which is here. AAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!!
The Stolen Jools is on the disc twice; the normal English version and a poorly dubbed German version which is only half the proper length. This German-dubbed version is poorly done with the voice-overs too close to the microphones they recorded their audio with. The English version is very good, with a clean print which looks remastered, albeit slightly darker than others I have seen. It's one of the best prints of the film I have seen but the audio is noticeably fuzzy in places. Oh there is just no pleasing some people!
The Tree In A Test Tube : whenever you see this mentioned on a DVD listing you automatically think oh boy I wonder what state it is in?! Well first of, it is the short five minute version (so it is half complete in other words) and has only the Laurel & Hardy scene with the suitcase. The opening title card bares a slight resemblance to the RHI print but it has that yellow-faded look with the scratches on it. The film itsself is quite clean considering, but it is obvious its inclusion on the disc is merely a filler.
The Candy Kid is a Hardy solo film presented with its original title card. However, the print is tinted brown, dark, blurry and fuzzy throughout, and has that four-corners black telescope lens effect - you know, everything that can possibly make a film look bad is here. To be fair though, you won't do much better to look elsewhere for a better copy of the film.
Hop To It! oh dear, oh dear this is dreadful. The title card looks to be original but then we have German intertitle cards throughout this badly-tainted film which is dark. There are brief glimpses of the film letting up and being watchable but this is pretty bad.
A Bankrupt Honeymoon or rather, a fragment of it is shown in a brown-tinted print and with an overpowering audio musical accompaniment. As there are no known prints of this film available on DVD to compare this to, I shall have to accept this is the best version to watch. The print is pretty good, not great, but a collectors item nonetheless.
The Bell Hop has the original title card which has been sabotaged by some stupid special effects. The print is not sharp but I don't think you will find much better anywhere else. The majority of the film is watchable but the fuzzy picture and interlacing problems creep in from time to time.
Utopia - trailer is in a sepia looking presentation. It's fuzzy throughout and Ollie's voice sounds squeaky!
DVD trailer - a two minute advert for this box-set with brief clips from some of the featured films.
DVD6 disc review: This disc looks like it was scraped together with easy material from the public domain. The extra seconds from Lucky Dog are important but then several minutes are also missing too. The other stuff is nothing new and quite unremarkable other than the fact is features a rare Hardy short. There doesn't seem to be much 'quality' on this disc.
Mark:
• Babes In Toyland (1934) [73:53]
Gallery [1:09]
Original 1934 'Babes In Toyland' Trailer [3:47]
Italian 'Babes In Toyland' Trailer [2:24]
Music compilation [4:48]
Cartoons:
Seeing Stars {clip} [1:00]
Bosko's Knight-Mare (1933) [6:46]
The Brave Tin Soldier (1934) [6:49]
Balloon Land (1937) [6:40]
March Of The Wooden Soldiers : Straight away this is a let-down. A recently-created substitute (and crap-looking) title card has been inserted at the beginning. It's hard to know exactly what to say to be fair to this release here. The beginning is awful but the black & white print does look quite beautiful when it gets going. Not sure if this is the Legend-restored print, but it's not far away from it. But taking into consideration the spectacular job they done with this film, great print or not here, the title card sequence is excuse enough to want to discard this print.
Gallery a selection of high-quality images taken from the making of the film shown as a slideshow. There are 6 photographs and 9 publicity images (posters etc.) shown over an alternative audio mix of a song featured in the film.
on the disc twice; the normal English version and a poorly dubbed German version which is only half the proper length. This German-dubbed version is poorly done with the voice-overs too close to the microphones they recorded their audio with. The English version is very good, with a clean print which looks remastered, albeit slightly darker than others I have seen. It's one of the best prints of the film I have seen but the audio is noticeably fuzzy in places. Oh there is just no pleasing some people!
US Kino Trailer seems to be the original 1934 trailer to the film, which has the original "Babes In Toyland" title included.
Italian Trailer is a horrible yellow-tinted, darkly presented trailer for the film in Italian. If you never see it you wouldn't have missed much!
Music is a selection of music recorded in 1927 by the Victor Light Opera Company under the direction of Nathaniel Shilkret.
Cartoons: Seeing Stars (clip); Bosko's Knight-Mare; The Brave Tin Soldier; Balloon Land are a selection of cartoons with varying degrees of quality. Probably added as a space filler. Seeing Stars is only a fragment and is awful quality. Bosko's Knight-Mare is quite messy too, especially the opening titles which are blatantly not original. The Brave Tin Soldier looks complete, and whereas the colours are not vibrant and you can see the film is aged, it's of a fair quality. Finally Balloon Land is the best cartoon in terms of picture quality but the title card has an annoying new copyright sticked shoved over it. WHY? Don't people realise that all this "ownership" and "hey look at me, I own this" and shoving it in our faces when we are trying to watch something simply spoils the enjoyment. It's annoying.
DVD7 disc review: Quite simply put this disc is a must-avoid. It's a pointless inclusion on the set and I am starting to think they have bulked this DVD compilation up with so much crap to try and justify the heavy price tag.
Mark:
• The Flying Deuces (1939) [64:48] ♣
The Flying Deuces - opening credits sequence with German titles [1:02]
The Flying Deuces - slideshow [1:23]
Trailers:
French [1:29] German [2:55] English [1:41]
The Flying Deuces : 2012 has already had its fair share of disappointment with substandard DVD releases, and in light of the "Legend let-down" release of this film back in June, I was hoping this set may have gone some way to restoring my faith. It took less than 2 seconds for me to be disappointed with this print. No RKO logo, the opening credits are wrong and I found myself almost smashing my hands hard on my computer desk. But I started to feel a degree of satisfaction when the credits ended and the film began. A very clean print, one of the best I have seen (and believe me I have seen at least a dozen) until the opening round of dialogue begins. The film is DUBBED IN GERMAN! For GODS SAKE! (well, come on, this is a German release after all?!) The film looks intact, including all references to our friend Gaston the escaped shark.
The Flying Deuces - German opening credits is a rare glimpse at the film with the original German title cards, which can be viewed as an alternative. They're in poor condition, but an interesting inclusion.
The Flying Deuces - slideshow is a selection of 6 publicity shots and posters shown without an audio track. A big portion of the clip is just a black screen!
The Flying Deuces - trailer are trailers for the film in three different languages. The French trailer is the only one worth viewing. The German version is dark and the English one is complete and utter shit.
DVD8 disc review: Another waste of a disc, full up with material which quite frankly is a desperate attempt to put ANYTHING out there just to try and make money.
Mark:
• Atoll K (1951) [82:03] ♣
Extras:
Gallery / Slideshow [2:15]
Utopia trailer [1:30]
Trailer: DVD program for this box-set [2:07]
Utopia: Here we go with another let-down. What a complete and utter mess the opening credits are. The title card reads "UTOPIA" and underneath it has the audacity have "Robinson Crusoe Land" as well, which has been clumsily tacked-on. Now, on the plus side (yes it does have one) this print far exceeds all the cheap public domain prints of the film floating around. It's not a sharp print (nowhere near the German or Russian prints I have seen) but it is much MUCH better than the awful alternatives. If I am honest, I would say this print would be suitable for television broadcast. Just about.
Gallery is a slideshow of 22 stills, publicity shots and material for the film, with an accompaniment of a music background. There is a particularly nice one of Suzy Delair on the rocks.
Trailer is the same one on DVD6.
DVD trailer is the same one on DVD6. Did I not just say that?
DVD9 disc review: Apart from stealing material from Disc 6, this disc does offer a new print of Utopia which is far better than the general DVD qualities. It would be worth the upgrade for this film but not enough to justify buying the whole box set. My opinion.
Mark:
♦ Stick Around (1924) [19:59]
◊ The Pest (1922) [22:28] ♣
♦ Hop To It! (1925) [19:48]
Extras:
Documentary: Their Lives And Work (2012) [41:34]
Cartoon - Bosko's Knight-Mare (1933) [6:39]
Cartoon - Bosko's Adventure (1932) [6:33]
UK Tours [10:09]
Private Films [13:26]
Private Film in Colour [4:17]
This Is Your Life (documentary) (2007) [15:04]
Stick Around is shown under its adopted name of The Paperhanger's Helper. The quality of the print is well below average and has a yellow tint to it. There are much better copies of this film elsewhere.
The Pest is presented in a glorious print. This sort of came out of nowhere in a steadily declining set of discs in this collection. Without doubt this is the best, clearest and most watchable version of the film I have ever seen. It's almost too good!
Hop To It! is also on DVD6 of this set. This print looks fuzzy, zoomed-in and dark.
Their Lives And Work (Lhr Leben und werk) is a new documentary about Laurel & Hardy which is in German. It features several clips from their films (solo and team) all with varying degrees of quality (County Hospital looks terrible).
Cartoons: Bosko's Knight-Mare; Bosko's Adventure are two cartoons, one of which is also on DVD7 of this set in the exact same format. Both cartoons are in very bad condition, very fuzzy and almost unwatchable.
UK Tours is basically a few scenes of Stan and Ollie in England in the 1930s with a mute soundtrack with added music. The picture quality is below average and these historical clips are available on other releases.
Private Films is a previously-seen/previously-unseen short feature with Stan's daughter Lois as a child, outside in the garden, and riding her horse.
Private Film in colour shows Stan and Ollie in 1956 at Hardy's house after he had his stroke and lost a lot of weight.
This Is Your Life (documentary) is not the tv show of the same name, but rather, a poorly constructed short documentary presented in German.
DVD10 disc review: Well for a start, the documentary is only good for those who speak and understand German, and there are MORE repeat films here: a cartoon which appears on DVD7 is here again, and another Hardy film which also appears elsewhere in the collection. I think this disc (well, the last 4 in fact) show without any shadow of a doubt just what a complete and utter RIP-OFF this set is. Don't take my word for it though, be a mug yourself and pay the ridiculous asking price for it.
Mark: