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Member since:28.09.2004
Reviews:28
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How do you define the funniest double act of all time?
It's easy really, what you have here is good old fashioned humour that doesn't involve sex, swearing or phoning an old man to boast about having sex with his grand-daughter.
You can keep all you modern "so called" humour and flush it where it belongs.
Laurel & Hardy despite their lack of the above mentioned "humour" have managed to do something that only modern comedians can dream about. They kept the world laughing consistently for years and have continued to do so 60 years after their deaths. I don't know any modern "great" that I'd remember and still be talking about in a year if he disappeared today. There is one exception and I just did a review on that yesterday, but even so, it's still worlds apart.
The box set is presented in a nice box with the Laurel & Hardy logo and a pic of the happy two on the top & sides. Opening the box you are presented with a row of real DVD disc boxes, not the usual cardboard or pocket type rubbish. Each disc spine has the part of a picture that makes up the duo's bowler hats when stacked together. The discs are numbered 1-21 with the last one having a title "A special tribute to the boys" along with other comedy shorts.
Please note that the movies contained in this box set are from the Hal Roach studios and don't contain any movie they did with any other film company. Just as well because the Hal Roach years are the way we want to remember Laurel & Hardy. Material with the other companies were all just copycat sketches which although still marginally funny, were not productive.
Stan laurel was the brains behind the two and wrote much of the gags and had his own voice in the production and the filming of scenes. This is something that was lacking in the copycat era as he was paid to "act"
I purchased this box set when it first came out at £199 and although it retails for a quarter of that now, to me the comedy is priceless.
Speaking of the comedy, if you can think of a Laurel & Hardy classic, it's here, from the piano on the stairs to the bat in the bed in "The murder case".
The classics are all here but also included are the colourised versions which I have never watched. I've never understood the half-wit that came up with that Idea. It's like giving Joseph a black & white coat of not so many colours.
There are also silent comey shorts that have Laurel & Hardy together and material thay made before they teamed up. There is a few other movies that don't include either of them but are part of the Hal Roach franchise.
Interestingly, there are some movies doubled up with the difference being they are in Spanish. OK, so you might think some were dubbed but you are wrong. Laurel & Hardy actually re-shot the whole movie and even spoke the dialogue in Spanish, no dubbing! The interesting thing about this is the differences you find between the two versions and they are worth watching just for that.
Some titles have the two reel and three reel longer versions and there are stills from a long lost movie called, "Two Tars" of which only pictures remain.
I'm still surprised at the number of people who have never seen Laurel & Hardy which I think is quite sad really as I cannot think of anyone disliking them or not becoming a fan after one or two viewings.
Pick yourself up a bargain, you can't possibly go wrong. The more you watch the funnier they become and for 80 year old movies to do that, well it has to be a rare thing.
Comedy - Director: Richard Boden, Mandie Fletcher, Martin Shardlow - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Hugh Laurie, Miranda Richardson, Stephen Fry, Brian Blessed, Tim McInnerny, Tony Robinson, Rowan Atkinson
Comedy - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Tessa Peake-Jones, Buster Merryfield, David Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst
Great taste. I have this collection also. I have not watched in ages though. Well reviewed! My hubby calls them Dick and Duef (something like that) I think it might be their German name. (he's not German though)
MCFruitbat 13.05.2009 15:59
I think the colourised versions are all about adding more discs to the package and therefore more £ to the RRP. Great review. I have not watched them for years but reading your review I may have to have another look.
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