LAUREL & HARDY: YEAR TWO On Blu-ray From Flicker Alley

 

Last year Flicker Alley's LAUREL & HARDY: YEAR ONE Blu-ray set made my 2023 top five video releases list. This year brings LAUREL & HARDY: YEAR TWO from the same company, and it's sure to make my top five list as well. This two-disc set presents 10 Laurel & Hardy silent two-reelers made by the Hal Roach Studio in 1928, along with bonus shorts and plenty of extra material. 

By 1928 Laurel & Hardy were a fully-fledged team, and most of their familiar mannerisms and character traits were on display. It does need to be pointed out that Stan Laurel is much more aggressive here, and he acts with more assurance than he would during L & H's classic sound period. In one of the shorts on this set, EARLY TO BED, Ollie inherits a fortune, and becomes a playboy, while Stan winds up being his butler and has to put up with his partner's antics, instead of the other way around. 

One thing about the 1928 series of shorts is that most of them feature a climax that resembles THE BATTLE OF THE CENTURY, where a number of folks who happen to be in the area get caught up in a wild melee due to L & H's antics. My favorite of the shorts in this set is THE FINISHING TOUCH, where Stan & Ollie are hired to "finish" a yet-to-be completed house--and they most emphatically do so. 

Four bonus shorts are also included, with one of them being the surviving footage of a Charley Chase entry called NOW I'LL TELL ONE,  in which Laurel and Hardy make solo appearances. One other bonus short is A PAIR OF TIGHTS, which features Anita Garvin and Marion Byron, who were briefly a team for Hal Roach. This short was supposed to have a guest appearance by Laurel & Hardy, but the completed film didn't need them, for it's one of the funniest two-reel comedies ever made, as Anita, Marion, and their dates Edgar Kennedy and Stuart Erwin vainly attempt to buy some ice cream cones. (I do wish that in his audio commentary for this short, Randy Skretvedt had revealed at the end how many total cones were ruined and what the equivalent price for them would be today.) 

Before each of the shorts starts in this set there is an onscreen text detailing how each production was restored and reconstructed. As in LAUREL & HARDY: YEAR ONE, a tremendous amount of work was put into this set, and film buffs should be very thankful for that. Some of the shorts look better than others, but having them all restored as best as possible, and included all together, in the order in which they were shot, is the most important thing. 

The numerous extras include a 36-page booklet, heavily illustrated, that gives info and cast & crew credits for each short in the set. The booklet also has an article written by Imogen Sara Smith which details the efforts and the talents of the men and women who worked in front of and behind the camera at Hal Roach when these shorts were filmed. Randy Skretvedt contributes to the booklet with an examination of how the Hal Roach Studio made the transition to sound. 

Skretvedt also handles most of the audio commentaries for each short, with the remainder being handled by Richard W. Bann. The commentaries are very informative and full of insight about Laurel & Hardy and what was going on at the Hal Roach Studio in 1928. Each short has an image gallery, and some of these have dozens of pictures. Some of the shorts have multiple music tracks, and two of them have the original 1928 Vitaphone tracks created specifically for them (these include some sound effects). Also included are vintage audio interviews with Hal Roach, Anita Garvin, Thomas Benton Roberts, and Stan Laurel. 

Rounding out the extras is one of John Bengston's fascinating programs examining the locations used for some of the shorts in this set, and a home movie shot by George Mann during the making of SHOULD MARRIED MEN GO HOME?, showing Laurel & Hardy behind the scenes, with a cameo by Charley Chase on the Hal Roach lot. This set is Region-Free. 

This set is simply an amazing collection, brimming with all sorts of detail about Laurel & Hardy and how these shorts were made and received by the general public. Just a set with the restored shorts alone would be welcome, but Flicker Alley and Blackhawk Films have gone out of their way to make this a full-course viewing meal with all the worthy extras. Putting all the historical background on this set aside, the shorts themselves are very funny (especially for those who appreciate and are used to classic screen comedy), and these discs showcase how talented Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy were as performers. After these two sets there's not many more Laurel & Hardy silents left to be covered, but I'm fervently hoping for a LAUREL & HARDY: YEAR THREE from Flicker Alley.