Laurel & Hardy: The Definitive Restorations [Blu-ray] [2020] [NTSC]

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Six years later, the two, each with their own careers, would be cast together in a series of shorts that marked the beginning of a beautiful partnership comprising 106 short subjects and feature films. Being that it’s from a various lower quality sources, there’s lots of damage and flicker leftover, yet it retains an organic appearance. Note however, Randy’s commentary of That’s That helps it massively; turning it from a jumble of unconnected clips to what it is; confirmation of source; who is in it and many more things I wouldn’t have thought of looking for.

When my grandparents passed away years later as I was an adult, the only inheritance I insisted upon was that pair of statues. His main focus and interest was in those showing the making of the films rather than stills from the films. Feature Films: "Sons of the Desert" and "Way Out West" Classic Short Subjects: "Berth Marks," "The Battle of the Century" (with new music track by Donald Sosin),"Brats," "Busy Bodies," "The Chimp," "Come Clean," "County Hospital," "Helpmates," "Hog Wild," "Me and My Pal," "Midnight Patrol," "The Music Box," "One Good Turn," "Scram!

I particularly like the selection on disc four which includes many images from the 1932 ‘holiday’ visit to the UK. Incredibly informative and often pretty personal, these are well worth a listen, particularly those by the enthusiastic Skretdvedt. And in many cases, the simpler the task, the better the results, as evidenced by perhaps their most beloved short film, The Music Box, which for nearly 30 minutes follows the boys doing nothing but attempting to lug a player piano up a long and intimidatingly steep set of stairs.

There’s also a near-absence of grain in many of the shorts, giving them a slightly waxy, overly digitized look. All of the audio commentaries are fun and informative from the men involved, while the multitude of interviews and still galleries offer plenty of background on the comedy duo and their work, but also showcase film history. The Battle of the Century-Die Schlacht des Jahrhunderts", liegt hier nach fast 90 Jahren, wieder fast komplett vor. In particular, the women were given much meatier and stronger roles than most of the other “He-Man Women Haters Clubs” would provide. I thought this was odd, as do many people now hearing those tracks, but it was not my choice to make.Please note – none of the stills featured in this review represent the actual image quality from these blu rays in any way whatsoever.

This is all rounded out by a series of trailers and a very interesting and rare silent promo (The Tree in a Test Tube) from the U. Tracy Tolzmann, Grand Sheik of the Block-Heads tent of Minnesota got his discs about a week before me. Some have been scanned at 2K, others at 4K, often from various sources (35mm, 16mm, different generations from the negative). von 1927 (eine Zusammenstellung der Filmfotos, des Fragmentes wäre auch Wünschenswert-zu sehen auf YouTube), das Stan Laurel-Kurzfilmfragment "Monsieur don't care' (1924)" : 7 Minuten hat man bisher gefunden, "When Knights Were Cold (1923)" ebenfalls mit Stan Laurel, das Langfilmfragment plus Rekonstruktion aller Fragmente und Fotos, mit der komplett erhaltenen Tonspur (kann auf YouTube besichtigt werden) von "Rogue Song-Banditenlied" von 1930, mit Stan und Ollie in ihrem ersten und einzigen Farb-Langfilm.Step back in time to a multi-decade foray into the world of innovative comedy as Laurel and Hardy take centre stage in a career that would define pop culture for decades to come. In something not often seen, several of these tracks actually run a good deal past the running time of the shorts themselves, as they have not yet run out of information to pass on and they continue right along with a backdrop of stills. Not necessarily top tier Laurel and Hardy (the full-length films never were), but it features perhaps their most charming and endearing moment – the soft shoe dance routine to the tune of “At the Ball, That’s All” manages to be both life-affirming and hilarious at the same time. New 2K and 4K digital restorations from original 35mm nitrate on standard definition DVDs, Laurel and Hardy’s classic comedies are here in the best quality since their first release! The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products.