Laurel & Hardy

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by aashton, Apr 18, 2003.

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  1. aashton

    aashton Here for the waters... Thread Starter

    Location:
    Gortshire, England
    I must admit to loving Laurel & Hardy - they were one of the staples of my childhood :) I've just received Way Out West on DVD - the disc includes the original B&W and a colo(u)rised version as well as the short Big Business. Way Out West was one of my favo(u)rites but I will be acquiring more in the near future to re-acquaint myself.

    Just wondering if anyone else is a fan and if so what are you favo(u)rites ?

    All the best - Andrew
     
  2. Evan L

    Evan L Beatologist

    Location:
    Vermont
    I am a long time fan. I have all of the silent shorts from Nostalgia Archive, and I taped (almost)all of the sound shorts and features off of AMC in the 90's.

    Favorite Shorts: Two Tars, Big Business, Them Thar Hills, Tit For Tat, Liberty
    Favorite Features: Sons of the Desert, Way Out West, Pardon Us

    Their comedy is sublime and timeless. A classic example of opposites enhancing and enriching each other. I can't wait to start collecting their stuff on DVD(as soon as I get a job!)
     
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  3. -Ben

    -Ben Senior Member

    Location:
    Washington DC Area
    Long-time fan too.

    My favorites: The Music Box and Sons of the Desert.

    BC
     
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  4. Claus

    Claus Senior Member

    Location:
    Germany
    Sons of Desert is great... I love their movies.
     
  5. ZIPGUN99

    ZIPGUN99 Active Member

    "The Music Box" is one of the funniest things ever.
     
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  6. Evan L

    Evan L Beatologist

    Location:
    Vermont
    How could I have forgot "The Music Box"?!:laugh:
     
  7. aashton

    aashton Here for the waters... Thread Starter

    Location:
    Gortshire, England
    I couldn't remember the name - but I remembered the piano :D

    Just added that to my order :)

    All the best - Andrew
     
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  8. guy incognito

    guy incognito Senior Member

    Location:
    Mee-chigan
    I, too, am a L&H admirer. Most of my favorites have been mentioned already but I also love their vesion of "Babes In Toyland", and the short "Brats" (which features Stan and Ollie as themselves and as children, thanks to some clever oversized props).

    I also noiminate Jimmy Finlayson as the best straight man/foil ever.
     
  9. Jamie Tate

    Jamie Tate New Member

    Location:
    Nashville
    Big Business is brilliant stuff. Reciprocal violence at it's best.
     
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  10. -Ben

    -Ben Senior Member

    Location:
    Washington DC Area
    Jamie you are right!! You made me laugh like crazy just remembering this one :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

    Here's a description:

    One of Laurel and Hardy's last silent films, this film is one of the funniest short comedies of all time. Stan and Ollie are selling Christmas trees door-to-door. Stan unintentionally insults their first customer (a single woman) when he asks "If you had a husband, would he buy a tree?" The second house has a sign up that says "No Peddlers". Ollie rings the bell anyway and gets a couple of knocks on the head with a hammer. When they come to Jimmy Finlayson's house, he tells them that he doesn't want a tree, and he closes the door — on a tree branch. They ring the bell again, and Finlayson says that he still doesn't want a tree. He closes the door again, and Stan's coat is stuck in it. So they ring the bell again. Soon, tempers begin to flare, and the orgy of destruction starts small. Finlayson chops their tree in half and cuts Ollie's tie with scissors. Laurel and Hardy rip out Finlayson's phone and the door-bell. By the end of the movie, Finlayson has destroyed our boys' trees and their car. They have smashed his furniture, dug up his yard, and cut down all of his landscaping, as a crowd forms to watch the spectacle. A policeman tries to stop the destruction... This movie was filmed right before Christmas in 1928 and released the following year. There is no truth to the story that the wrong house was destroyed during filming.


    BC
     
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  11. Gary

    Gary Nauga Gort! Staff

    Location:
    Toronto
    So.... are these classics available on DVD? From where?
     
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  12. aashton

    aashton Here for the waters... Thread Starter

    Location:
    Gortshire, England
    Not sure if they are available over there Gary - but all the titles mentioned so far are available on Region 2 discs :)

    All the best - Andrew
     
  13. dbryant

    dbryant Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cambridge MA
    Two good ones that haven't been mentioned yet—Block-Heads and A Chump at Oxford.

    Years ago, maybe in the '80s(?), I remember seeing a syndicated television series that paired L&H shorts and features with extras like interviews with surviving co-workers and family members, newsreel footage, etc. It was great!
     
  14. Togo

    Togo Same as it ever was

    Location:
    London UK
    Hi Andrew,

    My late father introduced me to the delights of Stan and Ollie as a child with "Way Out West".

    Here is a true story -

    My Dad was a radio producer at the time and taped the "Trail of the Lonesome Pine" song from a TV broadcast on his trusty reel to reel recorder.

    He loved the song so much that he played the tape on his weekend show soon after. This generated so much interest that the song was officially released and became a Top 5 hit in the UK in 1975!

    I love all the L&H films - particularly the shorts. They always make me feel happy even when I'm down...and the great thing is my own kids now love them.

    :)
     
  15. aashton

    aashton Here for the waters... Thread Starter

    Location:
    Gortshire, England
    Hi Greg,

    great story - I remember the song well :) especially the change in pitch after the bash on the head :D :laugh:

    All the best - Andrew
     
  16. Evan L

    Evan L Beatologist

    Location:
    Vermont
    James Finlayson was also the source of Homer Simpson's "D'oh!"; His was somewhat longer, as in, 'D'ohhhhh". A little source of trivia.

    Has anyone seen the non-Hal Roach features from the 1940's? Dreadful.
     
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  17. Togo

    Togo Same as it ever was

    Location:
    London UK
    Yep, Matrixman, you are spot on, James Finlayson was the original "D'oohhh" boy! :)

    Think it is time to watch a few of their films again...making me smile just thinking about it.

    One thing I always thought..the endings to their films (particularly the shorts) were generally really weak IMHO.
     
  18. Evan L

    Evan L Beatologist

    Location:
    Vermont
    The only ones that stood out were the "freak" endings, like "Going Bye-Bye", where the protagonist threatens to "rip off your arms and tie them around your necks", and the ending has him doing just that.
     
  19. mne563

    mne563 Senior Member

    Location:
    DFW, Texas
    My favorite would have to be "Towed In A Hole"; the one where they buy a dilapidated boat in dry dock, and fill the boat with water to find the holes...still gets me laughing!

    I almost always prefer the earlier stuff, it's just more irreverent.

    I taped a few of the foreign language films from AMC a few years ago, and they are pretty interesting. They actually re-filmed entire movies with the boys carefully phonetically re-speaking their parts. Some even included different scenes compared to the English language counter-part. Interesting if you get a chance to see them.

    I only wish we could get a nice DVD issue of the early films...:(
     
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  20. Jamie Tate

    Jamie Tate New Member

    Location:
    Nashville
    Are the Lost Films Of L & H DVD's out of print now? Haven't seen them in a while. I know Image had some problems a few years ago (which is why all the Marx Brothers' stuff is gone).
     
  21. Evan L

    Evan L Beatologist

    Location:
    Vermont
    You can still get them here:

    www.moviesunlimited.com
     
  22. Scope J

    Scope J Senior Member

    Location:
    Michigan
  23. The Wanderer

    The Wanderer Seeker of Truth

    Location:
    NYC
    My favorite will always be 'Toyland' which combines their skills at their best, a great musical score and created a Christmas Classic.
     
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  24. dirwuf

    dirwuf Misplaced Chicagoan

    Location:
    Fairfield, CT
    [​IMG]
     
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  25. JamieC

    JamieC Senior Member

    Location:
    Detroit Mi USA
    Biggest bang for your buck(in the US) is the RHI essential collection.
    http://www.amazon.com/Laurel-Hardy-...keywords=laurel+and+hardy+complete+collection
    [​IMG]

    This 10-disc set includes most of Laurel & Hardy's talkie shorts and features produced by Hal Roach between 1929 and 1940. These are among the funniest comedies ever made, as many vintage-film buffs will agree. Laurel & Hardy were often capable of carrying the action almost entirely by themselves: BRATS has Stan and Ollie as themselves and their own sons (with giant sets and trick photography); THE MUSIC BOX is the Oscar-winning featurette with the boys as the world's worst piano movers; HELPMATES has Stan helping Ollie to clean house after a wild party; THEIR FIRST MISTAKE has our heroes adopting a baby; TOWED IN A HOLE has them rehabbing a boat; BUSY BODIES turns them loose in a carpentry shop. You'll see dozens of examples of how inventive they were with pantomime and dialogue. Their short subjects were so successful that they branched out into full-length features, including their famous hits WAY OUT WEST and SONS OF THE DESERT, the prison comedy PARDON US, the "gypsy" comedy THE BOHEMIAN GIRL, the hour-of-sight-gags BLOCK-HEADS and SAPS AT SEA, and several others, including both versions of A CHUMP AT OXFORD (the standard 63-minute print of 1940, and the 42-minute, differently edited "streamliner" released in 1943). The supporting casts read like a who's-who of familiar faces: Edgar Kennedy, Billy Gilbert, Charlie Hall, James Finlayson, Mae Busch, Anita Garvin, Walter Long, Harry Bernard, Eddie Dunn, Daphne Pollard, and a host of others. You'll be laughing through 58 L & H comedies.
     
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