BD 294 Laurel and Hardy : The Silent Years (1927)

[Finch]

Standing tall alongside Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin as pioneers of cinematic comedy, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are two of the most beloved comedians in the history of moving pictures. Having acted alongside each other for the first time in 1921, they officially teamed up later in the decade in a series of shorts made for producer Hal Roach – launching a wildly successful partnership that would survive into the sound era and last for another quarter of a century.

This collection captures the duo’s earliest (mis)adventures on screen, chronicling their journey from their first films together – The Lucky Dog and the aptly titled 45 Minutes to Hollywood – to the dawn of their official partnership in thirteen shorts released throughout 1927. From Duck Soup and Sailors Beware! to Do Detectives Think?, Putting Pants on Philip and The Battle of the Century (once available only in incomplete versions until its missing scenes were rediscovered in 2015), these films show the development of two independent comedians into the most influential and celebrated comedy duo of all time.

The Masters of Cinema series is proud to present the early works of Laurel & Hardy – painstakingly restored from the best available materials held by collectors and archives around the globe – in a special two-disc Blu-ray edition for the first time in the UK from 2K restorations.

The set contains the following shorts: Lucky Dog, 45 Minutes from Hollywood, Duck Soup, Slipping Wives, Love ‘em and Weep, Why Girls Love Sailors, With Love and Hisses, Sailors, Beware!, Do Detectives Think?, Flying Elephants, Sugar Daddies, The Second 100 Years, Call of the Cuckoo, Putting Pants on Phillip, and The Battle of the Century

SPECIAL FEATURES
Limited edition O-Card slipcase featuring new artwork by Scott Saslow
1080p HD presentations on Blu-ray from new 2K restorations
Scores by a variety of silent film composers including Neil Brand, Antonio Coppola, Eric le Guen and Donald Sosin
Alternate scores on select shorts
Audio commentary tracks on all films
New interviews with silent film experts
Image galleries
Archival recordings and interviews
A collector’s booklet featuring newly written notes on each film by Paul Merton, and a new essay by Imogen Sara Smith

[therewillbeblus]

So is this just a UK version of the Flicker Alley set?

[MichaelB]

This is wonderful news; much though I admire Flicker Alley, their releases are insanely expensive for the likes of me thanks to the post-Brexit exchange rate and sky-high postage costs, so I'd been umming and aahing about this one without ever pulling the trigger.

[swo17]

So is this just a UK version of the Flicker Alley set?

It has all the same films, though this release makes no mention of Hats Off!, a lost film included by FA as a slide presentation. Also, the FA booklet featured contributions by Randy Skretvedt, Richard W. Bann, and Serge Bromberg, so the MoC booklet looks like it will be completely different. It's hard to say how the rest of the extras might compare, as MoC's descriptions are somewhat vague. For instance, both releases advertise commentaries for every film, but will MoC's be the same as FA's (all by Skretvedt)? The composers of the scores are identical between the two releases

[rapta]

Great to see Paul Merton involved in this, as he's somewhat known for his appreciation of silent comedy (see BBC 4's Silent Clowns, which aside from Laurel & Hardy, obviously also covered Keaton, Chaplin and Lloyd).

I wonder, could Eureka acquire any Lloyd, or indeed Chaplin? I suppose Criterion and BFI have done a majority of the latter, but are there any left to release that I'm forgetting? Still waiting for Criterion to release some remaining Lloyd (The Freshman, The Kid Brother) and Chaplin (The Gold Rush, Monsieur Verdoux, Limelight, and eventually A Woman of Paris) over here.

[Peacock]

This is wonderful news; much though I admire Flicker Alley, their releases are insanely expensive for the likes of me thanks to the post-Brexit exchange rate and sky-high postage costs, so I'd been umming and aahing about this one without ever pulling the trigger.

Flicker Alley titles work out around $21 for a single disc title if ordered during one of their website sales, which is fairly standard in the boutique world, although true that doesn’t factor in reshipment costs to the UK.

However I for one am delighted by this announcement!

[MichaelB]

Flicker Alley titles work out around $21 for a single disc title if ordered during one of their website sales, which is fairly standard in the boutique world, although true that doesn’t factor in reshipment costs to the UK.

Actually, looking at Eureka's proposed RRP - a fair bit higher than I was anticipating - it turns out that there's not much difference!

But buying locally (to me) makes things easier.

[Peacock]

Agreed re buying locally.

I wonder if this sells well if MoC will look at porting the other FA Laurel and Hardy sets past and future?

[Altair]

That would be great - for me, their early 1930s shorts are when they're at their absolute best. I also imagine this set will appeal to a different audience compared to other MoC releases, so hopefully will be a good seller.