Reviews (2)

Our Gang returns!
I loved "The Little Rascals" when I was growing up. I'm glad to see they have a nice mix of episodes with my favorite characters. Spanky, Alfalfa, Jackie, Buckwheat, Marianne, and Pete (the dog!) are all here!

If you are unfamiliar with the Little Rascals, it was a series of short comedies filmed in the 1920's and 1930's called "Our Gang". The films were about poor kids and their very funny escapades. (Note: there is racial stereotyping that was common at the time of filming, not that that is any excuse!) These were intended to be stand-alone films. In some films, the gang had parents. In others, they live in an orphanage. There were plenty of other inconsistencies like this from episode to episode. Hal Roach sold the original series to MGM, bought it back, and renamed it, "Hal Roach's Little Rascals". More episodes were filmed into the early 1940's. No episodes were ever produced for TV, but it started playing on TV in 1955 under the name, "The Little Rascals". Jackie Cooper played "Jackie". (Robert Blake played "Mickey", but not in any of these episodes.)

Here is an episode guide, with a tiny description:

Teacher's Pet: Jackie brags to a nice woman about the tricks they plan to play on the new teacher. Guess who their new teacher is?

School's Out: Jackie is worried that the new teacher, Miss Crabtree will get married and leave. So when the gang thinks she has a boyfriend, they try to discourage his interest.

Readin' And Writin': Brisbane tries to get kicked out of school after his mother reminds him that he can be president if he does well.

Spooky Hooky: Spanky and Alfalfa want to skip school and go to the circus, so they send Buckwheat and Porky to put a fake doctor's note on the teacher's desk. When they find out the teacher is taking the class to the circus, they do everything they can to get the note back.

Sprucin' Up: Spanky and Alfalfa show off to the new truant officer's daughter.

For Pete's Sake!: After Marianne's doll is destroyed by the local bully, the gang tries to get her a new one. They end up trading Pete, the dog, for a doll!

The Kid From Borneo: The gang decides that a wild man from Borneo wants to eat them up.

Dogs Is Dogs: Pete, the dog, ends up at the pound after he is accused of eating Mr. Brown's chickens.

The Pooch: Stymie steals a pie, but is forgiven when he gets the other kids' dogs from the dogcatcher.

Dog Heaven: Pete, the dog, is upset because Joe spent money on a girl rather than a promised dog collar. Pete saves the girl from drowning, but gets in trouble when Joe thinks Pete pushed her into the water.

CLASSIC LITTLE RASCALS
I am now 27 Years old From United Kingdom and these Kids where apart of my Youth, when i was about 7 Years old i remembered watching these kids and love how they had there Own Fire Engine..How much i wanted to be there with them, Remembering how they hated Girls at that youthful age, That Always made me grin Because at that age of 7, they where Public Ememy to me aswell..Since then years have gone By, and it look like i never see then again, But I check your Site and was made up to see that i was able to Own these classic Episodes again and even better on DVD.. Now i will be able to share these classic Little Rascals moment with my 3 Neices and let them see the Great Fire Engine....***CLASSIC** :o) ... Read more

Description

Mastered from the original 35mm material, this eighth volume of lost films from the great comedy team of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy includes all silent shorts: "Two Tars" (1928, 21 min.), "The Second Hundred Years" (1927, 22 min.), "Slipping Wives" (1926, 23 min.), "From Soup to Nuts" (1928, 22 min.), plus the Stan Laurel solo shorts "Scorching Sands" (1923, 15 min.) and "Should Tall Men Marry?" (1927, 19 min., color tinted). ... Read more

Reviews (3)

A Must with TWO TARS on this Disc!
Volume 8 in this fine series starts off with one of the greatest silent comedies of all time, TWO TARS. I've loved this film ever since I was a teenager in the 1960s and owned an 8 mm. print. Fortunately, this film comes down to us in excellent condition. Another big hit, FROM SOUP TO NUTS, is on this DVD. A hilarious film, SOUP is more "Low Brow" humor of rather predictable gags at a dinner party. However, I've seen this film in theater audiences and almost had to call for paramedics because some people were laughing so hard. (Incidently, if you've never seen an L&H film with an audience, you haven't really seen it. An audience transforms these films).

THE SECOND HUNDRED YEARS and SLIPPING WIVES show us the boys' early work as a team when producer Hal Roach was still trying to promote Jimmy Finlayson as a star. Fin would find his niche on the Roach lot, but as a supporting player in L&H films.

Two of Stan's earlier solo films without Hardy, SHOULD TALL MEN MARRY? - his final solo work - and SCORCHING SANDS, a spoof of the adventure film, Under Two Flags (this spoof is also known as UNDER TWO JAGS) show Stan as a comedian badly in need of a character. He does funny things but without much logic. SANDS is interesting because it also stars his then-wife, Mae Laurel, who was so tempermental, nobody wanted to employ Stan as a result of his association with her. His career took off when she went back to Australia.

Personally, I believe that L&H did their best work in their silent films so this series is a treasure trove. Highly recommended.

Some of the earliest silent shorts of Laurel & Hardy
This might be the eighth volume of lost films from the great comedy team of Laurel & Hardy, but these silent shorts represent some of the earliest work by the boys. In "Two Tars," Laurel & Hardy are a couple of sailors on leave who rent a car and pick up a couple of girls for a pleasant ride in the country in one of the absolute best silent comedies by the delightful duo. The boys and girls head off for a relaxing day only to end up in a massive traffic jam because of roadwork. With tempers already frayed, Stan and Ollie precipitate a riot amongst the motorists in general and Edgar Kennedy in particular before being chased into a train tunnel. Originally three reels and called "Two Tough Tars," this 1928 comedy directed by James Parrott was pared down to two reels and became this comedy classic. "The Second Hundred Years" finds Laurel & Hardy as convicts who escape from prison disguised as painters only to end up right back where they started when they are mistaken for a pair of French prison officials making an inspection tour. This 1927 film directed by Fred Guiol from a story by Leo McCarey, has the distinction of being the first "official" Laurel & Hardy film.

"Slipping Wives" stars Priscilla Dean who is trying to make husband Herbert Rawlinson jealous by flirting with handyman Stan Laurel. Hardy plays the family butler (without a moustache), who has a comic encounter with Laurel. This 1927 two-reeler directed by Guiol is one of the earliest film in which the boys appeared, however they are not a team at this point. "From Soup to Nuts" stars Laurel & Hardy as inexperienced waiters sent by an employment agency to help newly-rich Anita Garvin impress her new friends. This 1928 two-reeler, directed by foil E. Livingston Kennedy (better known as the famous comic foil Edgar Kennedy), is the first film in which the boys receive star billing. Also included in this volume are a couple of solo shorts starring Stan Laurel, 1923's "Scorching Sands" and a color tinted version of 1927's rather lame "Should Tall Men Marry?"

Another Great DVD Filled With Classic Laurel and Hardy Films
This DVD includes several classic Laurel and Hardy silent shorts. The first is "Two Tars" which many consider to be one of theire greatest works. It has Laurel and Hardy as sailors on leave who pick up two girls and go for a drive....with disaterous results.The next is "The Second Hundred Years" which finds the boys as convicts who try to break out of prison. The third films is "Slipping Wives" which is one of the earliest appearances of Laurel and Hardy together at hal Roach studios. Ollie is a butler and Stan is a paint salesman who is hired by Pricilla Dean (Who co-stared with Lon Chaney in "Outside the Law") to act as a great writer of fairy tales and make her neglectful husband jealous. Film highlights include Stan's pantomine of the story of Samson and Delialah and the final frantic chase.This films basic storyline was used several years later in one of Laurel and Hardys' last short films, "The Fixer-Uppers" Also included on the DVD is "From Soup to Nuts" in which Laurel and Hardy are hired to act as butlers for a swanky dinner party given by Anita Garvin (Who fans will remember from her performances as Mrs. Laurel in the sound films "Blotto" and "Be Big!") Ms Garvin is a great actress and is a welcome addition to any Laurel and Hardy film. In addition to these Laurel and Hardy teamed films there are also two additional shorts, "Scorching Sands", and "Should Tall Men Marry?" This DVD is a showcase of some of the best works of Laurel and Hardy during their silent film days and is highly recommended for any Laurel and Hardy fan. ... Read more

Description

Mastered from the original 35mm material, this fourth volume of lost films from the great comedy team of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy includes: "They Go Boom!" (1929, 20 min.), "Their Purple Moment" (1928, 21 min., silent), "Bacon Grabbers" (1929, 20 min., silent), "Unaccustomed As We Are" (1929, 18 min.) in an alternate silent version of their first sound short, the Clyde Cook/Oliver Hardy short "Should Sailors Marry?" (1925, 22 min., silent), plus the Charley Chase short "On the Wrong Trek" (1936, 19 min.) featuring a cameo by Laurel & Hardy. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Lost Films of Laurel & Hardy 4
This item has no spoken dialogue. Disappointed....

The early experiments of Laurel & Hardy with sound
The four Laurel & Hardy comedy shorts collected together on this fourth volume of "Lost Films" represents some of the boys' earliest work with sound. "They Go Boom" finds Ollie in bed with a bad head cold and his friend Stan waiting on him. Unfortunately, this ends up pretty much destroying their small rented room to the consternation of their landlord Charlie Hall. As with several other of these early Laurel & Hardy talkies, "They Go Boom" relies on a single situation exploited for comic effect because that made it easier for the microphone to pick up the sound. This 1929 two-reeler was directed by James Parrott from a script by the great Leo McCarey. In "Their Purple Moment," Laurel & Hardy simply want to go out bowling, but their wives never leave them any pocket money. Stan has been sneaking a little cash each week and hiding it in a special hiding place, which, of course, their wives are watching when he explains this to Ollie. After the wives replace the cash with cigar coupons, the boys are sent out on the town. Before they can discover the switch, they hook up with a couple of young ladies who have been stood up by their dates and decide to invite the boys to take their place. Laurel & Hardy taken them to a fancy restaurant, leaving the cab with the meter running. Once the boys discover they have no money, thinks quickly deteriorate until the climatic soup fight involving the boys, their wives, the waiter, the cabbie and everyone else in sight. This 1928 two-reeler was also directed by James Parrott.

"Bacon Grabbers" is pretty much a unique Laurel & Hardy film because when it was first released it had a musical score and special sound effects recorded on a disc. So it was not a "talkie" per se, but something in between. Without those sound effects, this 1929 silent two-reeler directed by Lewis Foster is obviously missing something. In the first reel the boys try to serve Edgar Kennedy with a summons for his radio, while the second finds them pursuing him in and around his house in high slapstick style. As is true of many Laurel & Hardy comedy shorts of this period, the story is be Leo McCarey and George Stevens is behind the camera. Kennedy's wife in this film is another one of Hal Roach's stable of players, Jean Harlow. "Unaccustomed as We Are" is the alternate silent version of the first full talkie by Laurel & Hardy. Hardy brings Laurel home for a home cooked meal by his wife (Mae Busch), who storms out of the apartment at this imposition. Thelma Todd plays the friendly blonde next door who takes pity on the boys and makes dinner for them. Unfortunately she accidentally burns her dress and as soon as she has taken it off both her husband, cop Edgar Kennedy, and Ollie's wife suddenly return. Thelma hides in the trunk and then the comedy takes an interesting twist. Kennedy figures out what is going on and decides to have some fun of his own, making Laurel & Hardy bring the trunk over to his apartment. In the end both wives go after their husbands with pretty much everything in the kitchen. This 1929 two-reeler was directed by Lewis Foster from a story by Leo McCarey, who was writing most of the boys' comedies at this point. Also included on this disc are the 1925 Oliver Hardy solo short "Should Sailors Marry?" and a cameo appearance by the boys in the Charley Chase 1936 short "On the Wrong Trek."

Sound Problem Fixed
The newly-digitized and restored soundtrack for THEY GO BOOM! had slipped out of synch during the compression process (this can happen with DVD--and you can't even tell that it has done so--and this happens more than one would think). But, the disc has been completely remastered and the soundtrack of THEY GO BOOM! is now perfectly in synch as it should be.

the best
i think they are so funny can anybody tell me the name of the film where they have to get a piano up loads of stairs (does it really matter if the sound is not that good)

Buy the OTHERS in this series, not this one
Volumes 1, 2, and 3 are excellent. This one has a mojor problem. "They Go Boom" is WAY out of sync. Word has it that these discs have been recalled and a new corrected one is on the way. Wait for it! ... Read more

Description

Created by producer Hal Roach, The Little Rascals (aka Our Gang) starred in more than a hundred shorts from 1922 to 1944 (one of which, Bored of Education, won an OSCAR®) and one feature, General Spanky.With the Gang aching to hit the gridiron, team captain Spanky’s got to play Little Papa and mind the baby, while Pete is framed by Wheezer’s hateful stepbrother, Sherwood, and sent to the pound in Dogs Is Dogs.Sherwood’s dog kills a chicken, so he blames Pete, but Wheezer and his sister Dorothy have the last laugh; then Spanky and the Gang try to impress the daughter of Mr. Jones, the new truant officer, by Sprucin’ Up. Black & White. 56 Minutes ... Read more