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The Lost Films of Laurel & Hardy: The Complete Collection, Vol. 3

Starring: Oliver Hardy, Stan Laurel, Glenn Tryon, Charley Chase, Florence Gillet
Director: F. Richard Jones Fred Guiol Jess Robbins Leo McCarey Richard Wallace
Format: Black & White DVD-Video PAL
Released: 15 Jun 1999
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Customer Reviews

Classic Laurel & Hardy Silent Shorts, 2 dir. by Leo McCarey - By: , 06 May 2005
Volume 3 in this series continues to present silent shorts from the early days of Laurel & Hardy. The first two on this DVD have the distinction of being two of the three Laurel & Hardy comedies directed by the great Leo McCarey. "Liberty" (1929) is an absolute classic. The boys escape from prison whereupon they are picked up by friends in a car & change into civilian clothes. The simple premise for this classic comedy is that Stan & Ollie have on each other's pants, & they spend the rest of the time trying to change clothes, ending up on the high girders of a skyscraper. Obviously this is a very large tip of the hat to the work of Harold Lloyd, although the gags are alll perfect for Laurel & Hardy. It is also a very risque film for its day, with the boys always being discovered lowering their pants in strange places. In "We Faw Down" the boys announce to their wives they are going to a show when they are reallly heading out for a poker game. When they hear the theater burned down, the wives are understandably distraught. But Stan & Ollie, having falllen into a mud puddle, have been taken by two pretty young flirts to the girl's apartment. Of course, as the boys are leaving the apartment without their trousers, their wives show up with shotguns. The film's climax is the best gag in "We Faw Down" & one of the funniest endings to a Laurel & Hardy two-reeler.

This DVD collection also invludes the very first on-screen pairing of Laurel & Hardy in 1919's "The Lucky Dog," although they are certainly not a team at this point. "Love 'Em & Weep" from 1927 is another one of the Hal Roach-Pathe comedies featuring James Finlayson in which Stan Laurel is the second comic lead & Oliver Hardy has a more minor role. All three are henpecked husbands whose lives are complicated by the return of Finlayson's old flame, Mae Busch. This particular story line is used by the boys to much better effect in their talkie "Chickens Come Home," so track it down after watching this silent version. This time around the bonus shorts reveal Oliver Hardy teamed up with other comics in a pair of 1926 two-reelers: "Along Came Auntie" with Glenn Tryon & "Bromo & Juliet" with Charley Chase. These are more interesting than the Stan Laurel shorts on the first two volumes because they provide cinematic proof that the boys were perfectly matched comedic partners.