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.

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.