Derived from the UCLA restorations. 17 shorts, 2 features, including "The Battle Of The Century." Full list of contents here: https://www.hometheaterforum.com/community/posts/4831977/
YAY! I'll take it, but I hope that this is a first volume. There's so much more. The youtube comparisons linked in the HTF thread are terrific looking.
Terrific news and a start! Thank you for hard work by Restoration team at UCLA first, hope that there are more opportunities for this beloved Comedy Team to be appreciated once again.
The team at UCLA is top notch, and thanks to their hard work, many of these titles will look and sound better than ever. I've seen many of these from their new 35mm elements, and I'm still blown away how great The Music Box restoration is by UCLA!!!.....here is a little video from Scott MacQueen, the head of preservation who did much of the heavy lifting putting these films back together. Laurel and Hardy Preservation | Interview with Scott MacQueen
Unfortunately, (according to reliable sources), most of the nitrate camera negatives for the silents (that still existed) turned to mush in Michael Agee's garage after he used them for past VHS, Laserdisc and DVD projects. This complicates things considerably for any possible HD release of the silent films.
Scott MacQueen is a good guy and an extremely knowledgeable film expert, and I have no doubt if he's on this, the shorts will look the best they have in history.
I’m looking forward to this new set, preordered it. It would be interesting to see a catalogue of original sources for Laurel and Hardy films available to UCLA. I’m especially interested in the so-called “work prints.” My underatanding is that these are non-finalized versions. Does that mean there are extra shots, extended scenes, outtakes and other extra footage in these compared to the final versions? If so, these would be great to see. Are there any details known about the specifics of any such extra footage? Another question, are any additional Laurel and Hardy restorations currently in progress? In addition to what is on the UCLA site for L&H, it seems as though they have already completed Perfect Day, some Spanish language films, and some trailers. But I don’t see where it says which, if any, additional restorations are in progress. I hope there will be additional Laurel and Hardy restorations performed and released in the not extremely distant future!
This looks absolutely brilliant Is the release still going ahead or has it been delayed due to virus.
They are indeed They did the quiet man. It took over a year. For some reason that reconstruction is locked away in the vaults and has never been released nor is there any intention to release it That restoration will have cost a small fortune so it makes no sense to lock it away unreleased. Ucla are as good it gets when it come to this kind of work
This is worth getting for the restored "Battle Of The Century" alone....But just to have L&H on Blu-Ray.....Wowza!