Odd Pairings
Laurel and Hardy - The Silent Years: 1928
Laurel and Hardy - The Silent Years: 1929
Various directors for Hal Roach
USA 1927
Eureka Masters Of Cinema
Two separate sets.
I’ve been putting off writing this review of these two Eureka sets for a while now, following on from Laurel and Hardy - The Silent Years: 1927 (reviewed here).
One reason is because I really don’t have too much to say about them. They were both comic geniuses and these films reflect that in no uncertain terms. But, the other reason is... okay here goes...
I bought the first set and then the second set as gifts for my father. We’d just about finished watching the second set, the 1928 set, when my dad’s ongoing illness got a lot worse and, within a month or two, he passed away. I felt like I couldn’t write about this set for a good long while because, the idea of sitting down and watching a Laurel and Hardy movie without him being around seemed like a heavy stone hanging around my heart (and obviously still does).
Just over a year on now and, I bought the third Eureka collection, the 1929 set, in honour of his memory and watched them all with my mum. I guess it’s about time I wrote something about these but, not sure I have too much to contribute. But I need to get the review down on paper...err...on screen so, yeah. Skip this if it’s not to your taste, obviously.
Both these volumes are absolute gold (although I still prefer The Marx Brothers) and the pairing of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy in their more familiar roles is pretty much established now... the studio finally realised what they had when these two got together! And like most of their films, the two characters leave a lot of inadvertent destruction in their wake.
Well, not entirely inadvertent. One of the recurring themes every now and again has them picking a fight, or somehow getting one started for them, with a character of opposing views, which usually escalates until everyone else in their slapstick ecosystem gets drawn into the action and gets something torn, something kicked or something custard pied until the free for all really gets going. Then a cop will probably turn up, often played by the great Edgar Kennedy, who will then also get drawn in and get involved in the carnage.
Other films will see the bumbling Stan just doing something wrong or getting the wrong end of the stick (while throwing in little absurdities like doing the manual work required for a scene and ‘then’ putting his gloves on to do the task with) and it all ends in chaos... again often involving any onlookers who seem to be standing by, or in the general vicinity of the ticking time bomb of the chaos. It’s always great to watch and, sometimes, will have you laughing out loud (if you have a pulse).
But, as I said, it’s a short review by me for these two Eureka Masters Of Cinema Blu Ray sets but, I would say the restorations are mostly wonderful and these are definitely the versions to get (and in some case, due to rediscovered film elements, the only game in town). I only hope that Eureka decide to carry on with these sets and start giving the duo’s wonderful talkies the deluxe treatment too.
