Laurel & Hardy (Sons of the Desert/The Music Box/Another Fine Mess/Busy Bodies/County Hospital) [DVD]

"The Boys" as Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy were affectionately called are finally on DVD thanks to Artisan Home Entertainment. Artisan does a grand job bringing us 5 of The Boys 100 movies to this Digitally Remastered DVD. Including their only Oscar film performance in "The Music Box (1932)".Hal Roach introduced these two comedic genius' in 1926 from then on for the next 25 years they charmed us with 100 films. These timeless comedy feature films (greater than 60 minutes)and shorts have been enjoyed by millions and generation after generation have laughed endlessly. Even today after 50 years since their last film scores of die hard fans gather monthly to share the joy of this teams genius. The "Sons of the Desert" Tent Society/club named after one of Laurel & Hardy (L&H)finest movies (included in this marvelous DVD) is a world wide organization. Each "TENT" (there are hundreds) is named after one of their films or significant film event. Some of these "Tents" are listed in the Special Features.Summary: These films are presented beautifully on this DVD with digitalized picture & sound. "The Sons of the Desert" is their most famous feature film. L&H belong to this exclusive boys club (spin off of the Shriners)of the movie title name. They need to go to the annual convention but must go on a planned vacation with their wives. L&H now come up with the perfect scam to get to the convention. But as all Laurel & Hardy comedies all things go haywire and we laugh endlessly to their predictable fate. "The Music Box" is their only Oscar winning film short. L&R go into business as movers. Stairs & piano provide us with the hilarity. "Another Fine Mess" This phrase was used by Ollie frequently in L&H movies. Escaping from the police our hereos seek refuge in a mansion & as only the boys can do end up as butler, maid & owner (briefly). "Busy Bodies" L&H work as construction factory assembly workers. In a very short time they destroy the place innocently only as the boys can. Finally "County Hospital" Ollie is in the hospital bed with a full leg cast recouperating. Along comes Stan for an innocent visit. You can only imagine what happens? This is a funny short.Special Features: Artisan does a great job giving us background information of "The Boys". Key to Laughter Tribute - several stars comment on L&H genius & timeless comedy. Then And Now Tour - Culver City pictorial of Hal Roach Studios, famous L&H film locations then and now. Hal Roach Articles, Photo Montage, Tent Sites and Biographies of Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy & Hal Roach.This is a great DVD for everyone who loves timeless comedy and to watch one of the greatest comedy teams ever. Enjoy.

Like most baby boomers, I grew up with Laurel and Hardy -- at least the Film Classics versions of their Hal Roach shorts "as seen on TV".I loved "the boys", of course, but envied my father (also a great fan) who told me often, "you should have seen these two-reelers on the big screen when they were new." The TV prints, run once too many times through a station's film chain, left much to be desired.During the 1970's, many Laurel and Hardy films were available as 8mm prints from the legendary Blackhawk Films. As a young man I bought a Super 8mm sound projector -- at great expense -- and collected many of the Blackhawk releases -- at even greater expense -- just so I could enjoy Stan and Ollie's work on my own little version of a big screen.Eventually, the projector, the films and my interest went into long-term storage, but I never lost affection for Laurel and Hardy. A few years ago as I waddled into middle age, nostalgia took a toe-hold and I purchased a few VHS copies of the Roach studio shorts. Mostly what I got were bad video dubs of ragged prints with soundtracks that sounded like a distant AM radio station signal during a fierce thunderstorm. Mostly what I got was disappointed.So, as soon as I saw this DVD advertised, I pre-ordered it and waited with no small bit of anticipation for its arrival. I have not been disappointed. While the quality of the presentation -- the "feature" add-ons and clarity of the films themselves -- is not astonishing, this DVD is a vast improvement over any previous video release of these wonderful entertainments. The picture quality is very good; much better than VHS. The soundtrack -- digitally reworked and cleaned up -- is even better.The selection of films is decent. "Sons of the Desert", of course, is an acknowledged favorite and "The Music Box", is arguably the best of the L&H "talkie" shorts. The others: "Another Fine Mess", "Busy Bodies" and "County Hospital" are fine, though not necessarily part of a "best of" collection. Hope springs eternal, though, so I take this good but not great selection (and their alphabetical order) to be a good omen. I am hoping, as are many of us nostalgic baby boomers, that this will be only the first of a long series of equally pleasant DVD releases from Hallmark Entertainment. All in all, this new DVD is well done and very welcome!

Somewhere I saw stated that this is volume one, which hopefully means more are on the way. These are some of the best transfers of these classic comedys I've ever seen. I give a lot of credit to whomever put this together, as they did a superb job, and it looked more like a labor of love rather than another attempt to cash in on the greatest comedy duo of all time.The films are sharp and crisp, and about as good as you can expect from source material that's about 70 years old. There is two audio tracks available, original and enhanced (which I think means cleaned up a little). There are also some fine extra features including a short retrospective of Hal Roach and the duo with narative by Mel Brooks, Dom DeLuise, and John Hughes, a comparative look at the locations using photos of the past and present where some of these movies were made that was very interesting, a still gallery with excellent photos, and fairly thorough yet concise biographies of Stan, Ollie, and Hal Roach. The menus are set up beautifully, including chapter stops. Even the text is in the classic art deco style from the period. My only minor little gripe is some of the text a little smaller than I would like, making it hard to read.There are five features included, starting with 'Sons of the Desert' which runs a little over an hour. The rest are shorter features, but, in total, you are getting close to three hours of stuff here, and it's definately worth the price.My favorite feature on here is 'The Music Box' in which Stan and Ollie are movers and have to lug a piano up a huge flight of stairs. This particular feature won an academy award in 1932.I give this set my highest recommendation, for what it's worth.