Search - Laurel & Hardy and Friends (Featuring "Our Gang") on DVD

Excelent 35mm transfers on unofficial volume 10.

Paul J. Mular | San Carlos, CA USA | 01/31/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Nice 35mm transfers of public domain comedies. The title to the disc is misleading, there is only one Laurel & Hardy short on it. It should be called The Little Rascals and Friends as there are three Little Rascals (aka Our Gang) shorts. Laurel & Hardy do make a brief cameo on the last short.
This disc features the only sound Laurel & Hardy short to date to come out on DVD: "Be Big" has fallen into the public domain.This disc was released without a volume number while the silent shorts were being issued. When Volume 9 of the silent DVD set came out there was an announcement inside it that called this disc Volume 10."

Still waiting for Volume 10

C. Taylor | 08/31/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Those of us who had Laserdisc players a decade ago remember Image Entertainment's "Nostalgia Archive" release of "The lost films of Laurel & Hardy" which ran for 4 volumes. Problem with the title was at the time the only films in the Laurel & Hardy cannon were truely lost were "Hats Off", "Rouge Song", and the second full reel of "Battle of the Century". At the time two lost films had been recently rediscovered, "Duck Soup" and "Why Girls Love Sailors". None of these films were on the L&H laserdiscs. Instead they had L&H silent shorts that had been available from Blackhawk even before the sound films. Images excuse for calling them lost was that none of the silent films had yet shown up on home video [ Blackhawk still only distributed them on film, Super 8 for home projectors ]and had not been seen on television for years. For $30 one would buy this misleadingly titled disk and get two silent shorts. Some time after the second volume Image began to release another series on Laserdisc called "Laurel & Hardy and Friends". for $40 you got two L&H silent shorts and other films from Hal Roach Studios, although on some occasions the L&H films were "Talkies" and some non Hal Roach comedy shorts were thrown in. Soon the "Lost Films..." series was discontinued while the "....And friends" series would go on for eight volumes. It wasn't long before the disks only had one L&H film while the rest was filled up with films like "Fiesta", a forgettable Hal Roach full color musical. The series did allow for the re-release of newly discovered masters of shorts already released on the "Lost Films..." disks, or L&H cameos in films like "On the wrong trek", but it seemed like Image was trying to milk every cent out of us by dragging the series out with one true L&H film per disk and lots of "friends" films filling up the rest of the disk. By the time the ".....Friends" series reached #8, most stores were replacing Laserdiscs with DVDs. Vol. #8 was picked up by very few stores and the series was discontinued.



Flash forward about five years and you have the release of "The Lost Films of Laurel & Hardy: the complete collection" running for a planned 10 volumes. Once again Image was getting money out of me because instead of taking off where the final laserdisc left off they have mixed the films up so that you have to buy films you already own jut to get one that had not been released yet. And once again the series was padded out with a lot of non-L&H films.



Which brings us to this curious DVD called "Laurel & Hardy and Friends" with no volume number. However, when the DVD is played the title "Lost Films of Laurel & Hardy Vol. 10" shows up.



This is not the tenth volume the series, although from a legal standpoint it could be called that. But it was released long before volumes 7, 8, and 9 were [ by about a year ] and it's only two L&H films are "Be Big" and a cameo in "Stolen Jools", both of which had been available on VHS for years.



It is clear what has happened. "Hats off" and the second reel of "Battle of the Century" are still missing. So is the film "Rouge Song". Image had begun to release the films hoping that before volume #10 came out copies would be rediscovered. But just in case that never happened, here is a substitute volume #10. You can also tell that they held off on releasing the short version of "Battle of the century" until volume #9, just in case a full version was rediscovered. If some time in the future "Hats Off" is rediscovered then I am sure that there will be a volume #10. But until that happens, here is what is suppose to be on that disc:



Hats Off - Laurel & Hardy

Battle of the Century [ uncut ] - Laurel & Hardy

Now I'll tell one - Charlie Chase [ L&H both in this film ]

The Rent Collector -- Larry Semon [ possible L&H film ]

On the Loose -- Thelma Todd & Zasu Pitts [ L&H cameo ]

The Tree in a Test Tube [ educational short with L&H ]

The Rouge Song -- Lawrence Tibbett MGM color musical with L&H as the comedy relief.

And as an Easter egg: "That's that", a gag reel of L&H out takes



Until that happens [ and we can only hope it does ] what we have are a bunch of public domain films as Vol. #10 The one true L&H film on this disc, "Be Big", has been available on home video for years as a public domain print. The same can be said for everything else on this disc. However, the disc does have one thing in it's favor. The Our Gang short "Bear Shooters" is from a pristine print and is far better than the version found on the official release of the Our Gang/Little Rascals Hal Roach sound series. Just about the only reason why any L&H fans would want this is for L&H's brief cameo in "Stolen Jools" on DVD for the first time.

"

A Great tribute to the Hal Roach Stable of stars now on DVD!

forrie | Nashua, NH United States | 03/08/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Hal Roach & Max Sennett Studios dominated the 2 reel comedy's in the early (silent era) years of Hollywood. Hal Roach Studios stable of stars included; Laurel & Hardy, The Little Rascals - Spanky, Darla & Alalfa /Our Gang - Jackie Cooper & Farina, Charley Chase & Thelma Todd(who are all included on this wonderful DVD), Harold Llyod, Zasu Pitts, Patsy Kelly, Will Rogers, and a young JEAN HARLOW to name a few. In the early 1930's Hal Roach Studios was aquired by MGM Studios and all the control of the "Talkies" movies went over to their control. Thank goodness that Hal Roach & company maintained control over his old silent & a few talkies pictures. Alas, the "Lost Films of Laurel & Hardy" Series. Ten DVD's containing 60 of Hals early 2 reeler (shorts). Films from 1915 to 1931. All these films have been remastered & digitalized from master 35mm nitrate film located from all over the world!!! Seven years of restoration!!! It proved to be well worth the wait! "Laurel & Hardy and Friends" is the tenth and final DVD of the "Lost Films of Laurel & Hardy" Series. A great tribute to Hal Roach's genius. (he died in 1992 at the age of 100). The final six movies are all talkies and include his most famous stars.Summary: Be Big (1930)& The Stolen Jools (1931)(cameo filled) are with "Laurel & Hardy". School's Out (1930), Bear Shooters (1930)& The Stolen Jools have "Our Gang" the early years with Jackie Cooper (before Spanky). Our Gang Follies of 1938, with "Spanky" (later to be "The Little Rascals"). Finally, Whispering Whoopee with "Charley Chase & Thelma Todd - who was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts."This DVD runs over 2 hours and the quality of picture & sound is outstanding!! The DVD also includes original lobby poster art & with histories of each film. This is a definite collectible DVD. Enjoy."

This is Vol 10 of the Laurel & Hardy Collection

Dr. Ercole Spiteri MD | Qala,, Gozo, Malta, Europe. | 11/19/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"For those who are collecting the ten volume series of the Lost Films of Laurel & Hardy this is Volume 10 of the series. In fact the 6 films present in it are those that are supposed to be present in volume 10. The films are a good restoration of the old classics, there are 2 films out of the 6 in which Laurel & Hardy take part, the rest are Our Gang & Charlie Chase ones."