Laurel & Hardy: The Definitive Restorations [Blu-ray] [2020] [NTSC]

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Deadend45 True, but Flicker Alley has shown they have better standards than most of the companies who released Laurel and Hardy content to Blu-Ray so far.

These are on the same disc as the relevant film, so it is very easy to watch the film and then move pretty seamlessly to the gallery while you are still ‘in the zone’. Purchase our many box-sets and feature films featuring this duo of undeniable genius, and find out what all the fuss is about!What is thick DNR I'm guessing non technical people like me wouldn't ever notice if that's even a bad thing? I don't know what went on in the other threads and if I am not allowed to offer an opinion on my own forum then go ahead and delete this. And in many cases, the simpler the task, the better the results, as evidenced by perhaps their most beloved short film, The Music Box, which for nearly 30 minutes follows the boys doing nothing but attempting to lug a player piano up a long and intimidatingly steep set of stairs.

If much of this seems to be less about the specifics of this set itself versus the virtues of the title performers, well you’re right. The accompanying booklet credits Blackhawk Films, archives around the world, “dozens of collectors,” and a group of “Laurel and Hardy specialists,” including Randy Skretvedt, author of Laurel and Hardy: The Magic Behind the Movies, for compiling the materials, discovering long-lost treasures and meticulous restorations. Please note – none of the stills featured in this review represent the actual image quality from these blu rays in any way whatsoever. What this four-disc Blu-ray set may lack in diversity of extras, it more than makes up with the inclusion of commentary tracks for every last film, even That’s That, a clip reel created primarily as a gift to Stan Laurel. There’s also a near-absence of grain in many of the shorts, giving them a slightly waxy, overly digitized look.I don’t think the quality and content of the set is just the result of hard work: There clearly is a lot of love that has gone into the project too and it really shows. Given the disparate qualities of the original prints, the results are a bit uneven, with some films like Sons of the Desert and Brats appearing crude with their blown-out whites and overall lack of detail, particularly in characters’ faces in the medium-to-wide shots. Almost like 2 shorts pressed together, this one ends in one of the greatest pie fights ever committed to celluloid. All of the films feature optional subtitles in English, aside from Battle of the Century, of course. The Battle of the Century-Die Schlacht des Jahrhunderts", liegt hier nach fast 90 Jahren, wieder fast komplett vor.

The films of Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton have been getting the attention they deserve, but for some reason – none of them good – those of Laurel and Hardy have collected dust on the back shelf.

Skretvedt’s encyclopedic commentaries are enthusiastic and informed with rest-of-the-story background on now obscure players and shooting locations. Of course, this only scratches the surface when it comes to Laurel and Hardy’s output, but it’s a fine primer, containing some of their best work. To make matters worse, I would often stay for the weekend at my grandparents’ house and, in the room in which I slept, there were two ceramic statues of the boys on the floor across from the bed. This set really does need to be seen to be believed and I hope that more Laurel and Hardy aficionados get the opportunity to see these versions sooner rather than later. I bought the DVD version from the US as the Beau Chumps meeting venue only has a DVD player, and I really want to introduce these versions to the tent, but I understand from others that the Blu-Ray content is the same, though over four, rather than six discs.