Customer Reviews

Another Fine Mess - By: C. Burton, 13 Oct 2008
With apologies to Amazon I bought this set recently from HMV for under £50
and without a doubt it is the best purchase that I`ve ever made. I grew up
watching Laurel & Hardy so it takes me back to my boyhood days as much as
anything possibly could. The presentation box is well made & the contents just fabulous. Don`t bother with the coloured remakes as they
aren`t particularly good, stick to the Black & White films, &in any
event it gives the movies more of a historical feel to them.

The look that both Oliver & Stan give the cameras when something has gone wrong is pure gold. I`m sure Morecambe & Wise used Laurel & Hardy
as their role models. In this day & age of stress & financial worry
this set will put the smiles back on everybody`s face. Unforgettable and
mores the pity that the great duo disliked each other intensely at the
end of their careers.

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Great Set! - By: Steve, 18 Aug 2008
I livein the United States where only a small handful of the Hal Roach produced Laurel & Hardy films have ever been released on DVD. Not caring to wait any longer for the current U.S. rights holder to issue a comprehensive set of these classics, I decided to order this collection & purchase a region-free DVD player to view them. I'm very glad I did! This set has all of the available L&H silent & sound films produced by the Hal Roach Studios except "Babesin Toyland" (aka "March of the Wooden Soldiers"), "Bonnie Scotland", & "The Devil's Brother" (aka "Fra Diavolo").

I haven't watched all the films yet, but of the "talkies", the ones I have sampled generally have great picture & sound. The only one I've seen so far that appears not up to the this excellent standard is "Be Big".

The silent films are more of a mixed bag as far as their restoration is concerned. These silent films are also found on "The Lost Films of Laurel & Hardy" collection from Image Entertainment, & comparing that with this Universal set, I found the former to generally have a better picture. In addition, the Universal set is missing the opening titles for some of the pictures (e.g. "From Soup to Nuts") that arein the Image set. This is the one thing that kept me from giving this set a full five starts. However a plusin favor of the Universal set is the music accompanying the silent films. Only the last half-dozen or so of L&H's silent shorts were released with a Vitaphone disc containing music & sound effects to match the on-screen action. Happily these still exist, & both the Universal & Image sets use them to accompany their respective films. For those older silents which never had a Vitaphone disc, Universal uses newly recorded music, & did a great job with it. The Image set, on the other hand, resorts to using portions of music from other Vitaphone discs, & the result is uneven at best, monotonous at worst (the different music "moods" don't segue into one another, & sound effects are heard that don't match the visuals). If there was just a way of using Image's picture with Universal's music, I would have had no problem giving this set a full five stars!

I do have one other minor complaint which was most likely a problem with the source material Universal used. The opening titles for "The Chimp" arein the wrong order. The first card reads, "Mr. Laurel never got any further than the monkey cage." & the second reads, "Mr. Hardy's aesthetic nature thrilled at the beauties of circus life." The cards should be switched.

Allin all, this is fantastic set, & my family & I look forward to sharing many happy hours with Stan & Olliein the near future!

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Be laughin for ever with this ledgend box set!! - By: Mrs. Anne Prior, 21 Jul 2008
Laurel & Hardy are the funniest people & there not even alive anymore!!
Everyone of the episodes are brilliantly put together & they make me laugh so hard.
glad i got it for £40 which is soo cheap from hmv!
FANTASTIC..........

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a bargain - By: Mr. M. R. Torrington, 22 Jun 2008
a bargain...bought this at hmv 50 quid....dont worry about no booklets...new edition of The Laurel & Hardy Encyclopedia is better..and is republished end of month & available at Amazon

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Sheer Genuis from the World's Vintage Comedians - By: M. C. Crawley, 09 Jun 2008
I remember watching Laurel & Hardy as a kid & now looking at this boxset as an adult my view hasn't changed they are still hilarious as the slapstick vintage do-gooder comedians who have a nose for troublein the most hilarious boxset of the black & white genre anyone is likely to find.The scene that stands out most to me is The Blue Ridge Mountain of Virginia song & dance routine played on all 21 dvds menu introduction which is both innovative & hilarious.This boxset has a colourised option which I didn't care for as the black & white seems to catch the time period. Young & old will love these comic pair of pure genius with good clean fun that children would love especially.Highly Recommended boxset with tons of laughter...Guaranteed