TCM Archives: The Laurel And Hardy Collection 04.18.06
 

I mentioned this over in 12-disc Laurel and Hardy: The Definitive Edition blurb but thought it should get its own thread. The TCM archives series have been wonderful. I just wish they would step up the pace a bit.


from dvd times

Warner Home Video have announced the Region 1 DVD release of TCM Archives: The Laurel And Hardy Collection for 18th April 2006 priced at $39.92 SRP. Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, Hollywood’s most-beloved comedy duo, let loose on DVD April 18 in a brand-new release built around two of their best, but rarely seen, feature films -- TCM Archives: The Laurel And Hardy Collection. This deluxe two-disc set from Warner Home Video features the slapstick team’s The Devil’s Brother and Bonnie Scotland, (both newly restored from original nitrate film elements) and a number of bonus features.

Highlights of the bonus features are a full-length documentary Added Attractions: The Hollywood Shorts Story, narrated by Chevy Chase, which showcases not only the early films of Laurel and Hardy but also dozens of stars who developed a huge following from appearing in short subjects, such as The Little Rascals (Our Gang) and The Three Stooges. Also included in the extras are excerpts from several of the pair’s movies, including the only surviving footage from the “lost film” The Rogue Song.

Laurel and Hardy -- enduringly popular, perhaps because their irresistible antics were underscored by an indomitable optimism -- made 104 full-length features and shorts together, never running out of comic ideas or insane inventions. Accidentally paired up in the mid-twenties’ silent era while both were under contract to Hal Roach, their comedy styles meshed so well that they gained immediate popularity with audiences. Unlike many of their peers, they easily survived the talkie revolution to become even greater stars during the Great Depression of the 1930s, when audiences craved escapist fare.

Stan Laurel (the thin one) did much of the writing and some of the directing. Oliver Hardy, known as "Babe" to his friends, mostly golfed when away from the movie set, leaving the more creative work to his partner Stan.

Some of Laurel and Hardy’s other classics include The Battle of the Century (1927), the Academy Award®-winning The Music Box (1932), Sons of the Desert (1933) and Way Out West (1937).

The Devil’s Brother (1933) (AKA “Fra Diavolo”)

Laurel and Hardy set the tone for their musical romps to come (The Bohemian Girl, Swiss Miss, Babes in Toyland) with this delightful comic interpretation of the 1830 Auber operetta “Fra Diavolo.” Co-starring Dennis King and frequent foil James Finlayson, the film’s leading lady is Hal Roach favorite Thelma Todd – also known for her appearances opposite comedy legends Jimmy Durante, The Marx Brothers, Wheeler & Woolsey and Joe E. Brown.

Blundering blunderbusses – “Stanlio” and “Ollio,” destitute, would-be bandit scourges of 18th-century Italy, decide to restore their wealth by becoming armed highwaymen. Comedy highlights include Stanlio “spiffed” on too much wine, Ollio’s masterminding a boneheaded kidnapping attempt and Stanlio’s “finger-wiggle” and “kneesie-earsie-nosie.”

Bonnie Scotland (1935)

With a tip of their derbies and a twirl of their kilts, Laurel and Hardy bring comic chaos to the British empire. When Mr. MacLaurel (and his companion Mr. Hardy) arrive to inherit the vast MacLaurel fortune, the swag turns out to be a snuffbox and a set of bagpipes. The impoverished lads end up joining His Majesty’s Service to do manly battle on the frontier of India where they manage to set an entire marching regiment out of step, turn a clean-up detail into a charming soft-shoe routine, defeat a bloodthirsty warlord’s palace guard using a most unusual weapon and help a lovely lassie find love.

DISC 1
The Devil's Brother (1933) - (New to DVD)
Bonnie Scotland (1935) – (New to DVD)
Commentaries on both movies by Laurel and Hardy aficionados Richard W. Bann and Leonard Maltin
Introductions by Turner Classic Movies Host Robert Osborne

DISC 2
2002 TCM Feature-length documentary Added Attractions: The Hollywood Shorts Story, narrated by Chevy Chase and showcasing Laurel and Hardy, The Little Rascals, The Three Stooges and dozens of others
Vintage Laurel and Hardy excerpts from feature films:
Magic act segment from The Hollywood Revue of 1929
Fragment from Rogue Song (1930)
2 Segments from Hollywood Party (1934) including one with Lupe Velez
3 Segments from Pick a Star (1937)
Theatrical trailers
Subtitles: Français & Español (feature films only)