Laurel & Hardy

[aashton]

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

[Evan L]

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!)

[-Ben]

Long-time fan too.

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

BC

[Claus]

Sons of Desert is great... I love their movies.

[ZIPGUN99]

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

[Evan L]

How could I have forgot "The Music Box"?!:laugh:

[aashton]

Originally posted by ZIPGUN99
"The Music Box" is one of the funniest things ever.

I couldn't remember the name - but I remembered the piano :D

Just added that to my order :)

All the best - Andrew

[guy incognito]

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.

[Jamie Tate]

Big Business is brilliant stuff. Reciprocal violence at it's best.

[-Ben]

Originally posted by yesman
Big Business is brilliant stuff. Reciprocal violence at it's best.

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

[Gary]

So.... are these classics available on DVD? From where?

[aashton]

Originally posted by Gary
So.... are these classics available on DVD? From where?

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

[dbryant]

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!

[Togo]

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.

:)

[aashton]

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

[Evan L]

Originally posted by guy incognito
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.



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.

[Togo]

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.

[Evan L]

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.

[mne563]

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...:(

[Jamie Tate]

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).

[Evan L]

Originally posted by yesman
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).

You can still get them here:

www.moviesunlimited.com