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If you’re a Laurel and Hardy devotee it’s most likely outdated information that the second quantity of fantastically restored shorts has been launched on Blu-ray and DVD by Flicker Alley. Covering the 12 months 1928, the second 12 months of their official partnership, this two-disc set options such silent-comedy classics as THE FINISHING TOUCH, SHOULD MARRIED MEN GO HOME? and TWO TARS. The bonus options are well worth the worth of admission, particularly the fact-filled commentary tracks by Randy Skretvedt and Richard W. Bann. Dick may even let you know the present tackle of a home seen within the background of THE FINISHING TOUCH!
But wait—there’s extra. Kit Parker has scoured the globe—actually—to current a two-disc DVD/Blu-ray set referred to as CHARLEY CHASE AT HAL ROACH: THE LATE SILENTS 1927. Most of the 35mm negatives for these two-reelers now not exist so we now have to make do with one of the best 16mm copies that survive. Most of them are fairly good, though a handful require forbearance on the a part of the viewer. Charley is at his greatest in such shorts as FLUTTERING HEARTS, A ONE-MAMA MAN, and THE LIGHTER THAT FAILED. Oliver Hardy turns up in supporting roles and Charley’s main women embrace Jean Arthur, Anita Garvin and a startlingly younger Lupe Velez. Dr. Andrew Simpson gives full of life and entertaining piano accompaniment. Among the “extras” are a well-known sequence from the Max Davidson brief CALL OF THE CUCKOO that includes an prolonged cameo look by James Finlayson, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, with their heads nonetheless shaven from making the jail comedy THE SECOND HUNDRED YEARS. If you select to, you’ll be able to hearken to commentary tracks on all the shorts by Richard M. Roberts.
And that’s not all! David Kawas at ClassicFlix has labored his restoration magic on a handful of Our Gang comedies from the Nineteen Twenties for a disc referred to as THE LITTLE RASCALS: THE RESTORED SILENTS, VOLUME 1. It is obtainable for pre-order now on Amazon.com (due January 21) and I’ll focus on it at additional size when it’s formally launched…however suffice it to say that that is trigger for celebration.
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