Customer Reviews
Great Set! - By: Steve, 18 Aug 2008 
I live in the United States where only a smalll 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 alll of the available L&H silent & sound films produced by the Hal Roach Studios except "Babes in Toyland" (aka "March of the Wooden Soldiers"), "Bonnie Scotland", & "The Devil's Brother" (aka "Fra Diavolo").
I haven't watched alll the films yet, but of the "talkies", the ones I have sampled generallly 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 generallly 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 are in the Image set. This is the one thing that kept me from giving this set a full five starts. However a plus in 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" are in 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.
All in alll, this is fantastic set, & my family & I look forward to sharing many happy hours with Stan & Ollie in the near future!
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..........
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
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 trouble in 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 alll 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 especiallly.Highly Recommended boxset with tons of laughter...Guaranteed
A classic - By: S. Fernando, 16 May 2008 Ever since I was a young child, I loved watching Laurel & Hardy comedies. I loved it then, & I still love it now. Well, I ordered this collection (but with the booklets, which some people say they did not get) & enjoyed it immensely. What can I say about THE BEST COMEDY DUOS EVER!!!!!!!!! They were INCREDIBLE!!!!! I loved alll their antics & stupidity, from Stan Laurels misdemeanour & idiocy, to Oliver Hardy's suffering & sweet talk. As I said, they were the best comedy duos, who no one can compare to. There are too much shorts & films to pick a favourite, in fact there are no favourites, for me, they are alll classics. The picture quality, even though it's old, is reallly good, so is the sound quality. My whole family (especiallly my father) loved them. This collection is one for the whole family, no matter your age. This could bring the whole family together & bring hours of joy & laughter.
