Laurel & Hardy appreciation thread

[Bill S.]

The title says it all...here's some interesting L&H videos I found on YouTube:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=8HG2619C2nw (Living Famously - Laurel & Hardy)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=1qkv9ZbmMAk (Laurel & Hardy On Location - Culver City)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=rK1aQ14p-S0 (Colorized "Music Box" montage)

Enjoy!

[Mikado]

The Music Box ( Which i believe is also called "The Long Staircase" on some releases) is the very best L&H movie ever made....when I was a kid, my parents company had an annual Xmas party for all the employees kids, and this film was always the highlight of the day, I could watch this film over and over again.

[Skywalker]

I can't say that I'm a huge Laurel and Hardy fan, I've only seen a few of their movies, but I love the Music Box. It's one of the best short movies ever made, IMO.

[sbeamish]

In 1986, for the first time in my life, I attended a convention for The Sons of the Desert (The International Laurel and Hardy Society). Everyone was excited, when they ran the newly colorized The Music Box. While I have problems with colorizing films like Casablanca, I was okay with them doing some lighter comedies; especially when they do a good job as they did with The Music Box and March of the Wooden Soldiers (Babes In Toyland).

Later, when this version of the film was released to the general public on video tape, I was appalled that they'd monkeyed around with the soundtrack. They'd added new recordings of the old, Roach themes done by a contemporary group: The Nighthawks.

Colorizing is one thing, but this new music seemed to throw off the comedic timing IMO.

They didn't learn their lesson either. When they finally released the DVD of the feature Sons of the Desert a few years ago, they messed with the music again. I can't even bring myself to watch the thing.

[Mikado]

I'm totally against colourisation of films , but, interestingly , the process was invented here in Canada and, the first films to be colourised were Laurel and Hardy comedy shorts......Strangely, the "painter" miscoloured Stan Laurel's red hair and blue eyes, giving him brown hair and eyes. (Do your research, people! )

[tv star collector]

They did an excellent colorization job on some Three Stooges shorts recently.
One of the extras is an interesting documentary that explains just how
extensively they researched the colors to get it right (looking up props from
the period on eBay for instance). STOOGED AND CONFOOSED is the title of
the DVD and I highly recommend it (if you're a Stooge fan).

[Mikado]

Speaking of Colour, Stan Laurel made very few films in the silent era because he had eyes that were such a light blue that he appeared to have no iris on the early film emulsions, thus giving him a "blind eyed" look that was unappealing on film.

[Mikado]

Oliver Hardy made one of his earliest silent film appearances as the Tin Man in Larry Semon's 1925 retelling of "The Wizard of Oz"...A film that had little to do with the original book, it was however, the first time that Oz was portrayed as a "dream" ( As it was in the 1939 classic ), rather than a real place. Larry Semon wrote this film as a starring vehicle for his wife Dorothy Dwan, but, in only a few years, both their careers would be over, however, Oliver Hardys was just beginning. ( you can see Oliver Hardy as the Tinman below VVV )

[Mikado]

..They were members of Fred Karno's travelling music hall troupe. They were discovered in America during the troupe's American tour!

Here we see a rare photo of Stan Laurel (1) ( Known then by his real name Stanley Jefferson ) and Charlie Chaplin (2) posing with the Karno troupe's field hockey team!

[sbeamish]

Originally Posted by Bill S.

And speaking of DVD releases, have all the L&H shorts been released in the U.S. yet? I remember reading a while back that the German & Dutch sets were more complete than the U.S. ones, but I don't know if any other releases have come out since then.

Here in the U.S. we're still lagging far behind in the release of L&H on DVD.

[Bill S.]

Originally Posted by sbeamish

Here in the U.S. we're still lagging far behind in the release of L&H on DVD.

It's a real shame that this material still hasn't gotten a proper release. Amazon.com seems to be filled with DVD's labeled as "The Lost Films of Laurel & Hardy," priced at $27 a piece, and from what I can tell, those are only the silent shorts. I'm mainly interested in the 40 "talkies" they made from 1929-1935, and some of the features, like "Sons of the Desert" and "Block Heads." I have a few of the old Anchor Bay VHS tapes, but I'd love to be able to purchase them on DVD. If 39 episodes of a show like The Honeymooners can be released in a nice 5-disc set, at nearly the same price as a single disc of those so-called "Lost Films," I don't see why those 40 shorts, that don't even run 30 minutes each, can't be released the same way...

[Bill S.]

Originally Posted by tv star collector

They did an excellent colorization job on some Three Stooges shorts recently.
One of the extras is an interesting documentary that explains just how
extensively they researched the colors to get it right (looking up props from
the period on eBay for instance). STOOGED AND CONFOOSED is the title of
the DVD and I highly recommend it (if you're a Stooge fan).

I'm just seeing some of those colorized Stooges shorts for the first time myself. I found a clip from "Dizzy Doctors" (I think) on YouTube that was pretty good. At least the people working on these films are doing their research and not just guessing what color everything was. What other shorts are featured on that DVD? I might have to pick that up.

Originally Posted by Mikado

Speaking of Colour, Stan Laurel made very few films in the silent era because he had eyes that were such a light blue that he appeared to have no iris on the early film emulsions, thus giving him a "blind eyed" look that was unappealing on film.

I think I remember you mentioning something about this in another thread a while back. Do you know the names of any films in which he appeared to be "blind eyed," or have any stills you could post for me?

Originally Posted by Mikado

Here we see a rare photo of Stan Laurel (1) ( Known then by his real name Stanley Jefferson ) and Charlie Chaplin (2) posing with the Karno troupe's field hockey team!

Wow, thanks for posting this! Any idea when this might have been taken?

[tv star collector]

The four selected shorts on STOOGED & CONFOOSED (all classics) are:
"Violent Is the Word for Curly," "You Nazty Spy" (Moe Howard's personal
favorite), "No Census, No Feeling" and "An Ache in Every Stake." Before
the colorization process, each short was painstakingly restored from the
original negative for the best picture and sound quality. Each short can
be watched in either the original black-&-white (in high def) or in color.

[Mikado]

Originally Posted by Mikado
Here we see a rare photo of Stan Laurel (1) ( Known then by his real name Stanley Jefferson ) and Charlie Chaplin (2) posing with the Karno troupe's field hockey team!

Originally Posted by Bill S.

Wow, thanks for posting this! Any idea when this might have been taken?

The picture must have been taken between 1910 and 1913 as Stan joined the Fred Karno comedy troupe in 1910 ( 2 years after Chaplin who joined in 1908 ) and Chaplin left in 1913 to pursue a solo career in the music halls. (which led to Hollywood beckonning in 1914 )

[Mikado]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mikado
Speaking of Colour, Stan Laurel made very few films in the silent era because he had eyes that were such a light blue that he appeared to have no iris on the early film emulsions, thus giving him a "blind eyed" look that was unappealing on film.

I think I remember you mentioning something about this in another thread a while back. Do you know the names of any films in which he appeared to be "blind eyed," or have any stills you could post for me?

Well, interestingly enough, I found a fairly good example in 1917's "Lucky Dog", Ironically the first film that Laurel and Hardy appeared in together ( although, it would be another 9 years before they appeared on screen together again, this time as the team we all know, in 1926 )
While Stan's eyes arent totally "blind" there certainly isnt much iris to be seen, mostly you see the pupils.