CHARLEY CHASE AT HAL ROACH: THE LATE SILENTS 1927

 

Kit Parker Films and The Sprocket Vault continue their wonderful series of home video releases featuring comedy two-reelers made by the Hal Roach Studios. The latest one is CHARLEY CHASE AT HAL ROACH: THE LATE SILENTS 1927, a three-disc set containing 15 shorts starring (who else) Charley Chase. The set also includes three bonus shorts. (I purchased the DVD version of the set--it is also available on Blu-ray.) 

On his audio commentaries for this set Richard M. Roberts states that 1927 was the apex of Charley Chase's time working for Hal Roach. All the shorts on this set are consistently funny, and most of them are directed by Charley's brother, James Parrott. Among the supporting players in them are Roach mainstays Oliver Hardy and Anita Garvin, Eugene Pallette, Bull Montana, and Lupe Velez. BIGGER AND BETTER BLONDES has Jean Arthur, in her only appearance in a Hal Roach production, and A ONE MAMA MAN has Three Stooges foil Vernon Dent, in his only role for Hal Roach. A ONE MAMA MAN also got my attention for the fact that Charley's character in the short hails from my hometown of South Bend, Indiana. 

Among the more notable shorts in the set are WHAT WOMEN DID FOR ME, a risque tale in which Charley is a very bashful teacher who winds up working in a girls school, where all the nubile young ladies are more than willing to make him feel more comfortable. This short has a number of expressionistic visual montages. THE STING OF STINGS, which has Charley treating a bunch of orphans to an outing at a carnival, has plenty of wild stunts & gags, including a Model T winding up on top of a Ferris wheel. ARE BRUNETTES SAFE? has a charming dance routine with Charley and Polly Moran. (Despite the fact that all these shorts are silent, Chase still found ways to incorporate his love and dancing & music into many of them.) NOW I'LL TELL ONE, which only exists in an incomplete form, is also on this set--it also is included on Flicker Alley's LAUREL & HARDY: YEAR TWO. 

The bonus shorts include two in which Charley has cameo appearances, and one which is a remake of NOW I'LL TELL ONE. 

A lot of time and effort went into getting the best quality and the most complete versions of these shorts on this set. Some of the shorts look better than others, and a few of them have some scenes missing, but as I always say, the important thing is that these films are available on home video from a reputable company. 

As he usually does on these Sprocket Vault Hal Roach releases, Richard M. Roberts provides an audio commentary for each short. Roberts' knowledge of this era of film comedy is astounding, and while he obviously loves the Hal Roach output, he isn't afraid to point out whatever weaknesses some of the titles here may have. Roberts' talks add much to the viewer's appreciation of these shorts. Each short in this set has music provided by Andrew E. Simpson, and his work complements what is happening onscreen, instead of drawing attention to itself. An image gallery is also included. 

I'm a huge fan of the Hal Roach releases by The Sprocket Vault, and I've always written positive blog posts about them. The reason I do this is because I want people to know about these sets.....there's plenty of great and rare material in them, and they prove that the movie buff's best friend will always be physical media. 

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. 

REVENGE OF THE ZOMBIES On Blu-ray From Kino

 

I wrote a blog post on REVENGE OF THE ZOMBIES in 2023, but I felt I needed to point out that this new Kino Blu-ray of the movie is the best I've ever seen any feature made by Monogram look. The black & white image doesn't look as razor sharp as, say, something released by Criterion, but the transfer on this disc reveals plenty of detail, especially in the scenes which take place outside John Carradine's Louisiana outpost (which now come off as looking fairly atmospheric). The complete main titles are presented as well (a rare thing for any public domain film made in the 30s and 40s), along with a war bond advertisement after the end credits. 

Now....does the excellent visual quality make the film seem better?? As I pointed out in my original post on it, REVENGE is basically a semi-remake of another Monogram production, KING OF THE ZOMBIES. It's a tossup over which of the two films is better. Both have almost the same plot--a haughty scientist is trying to create unbeatable zombies for the Third Reich--and they both have the same deficiencies--the zombies in either movie are not very threatening or memorable. REVENGE does have John Carradine in the mad scientist role, but he plays it very low-key here. The best element that both REVENGE and KING share is the antics of Mantan Moreland, but plenty of Old Monster Movie geeks would say that isn't much of a plus. 

The main extra on this disc (other than a few trailers for other films released by Kino) is a brand new commentary by Tom Weaver. He discusses the relationship between REVENGE and KING, and he also talks about John Carradine's somewhat lackluster performance. Weaver also gets into the various issues the original script of REVENGE had with the censors and even the Office of War Information (one would think those folks had more important things to worry about in 1943). Gary D. Rhodes pops up twice in the commentary to offer a few insights. 

Personally I love the idea of Kino putting a title like this out on Blu-ray.....but one could question the idea of giving a mediocre low-budget black & white movie that is only an hour long a Blu-ray release. At least Kino has offered up a new audio commentary. If the company is planning on putting out more Poverty Row product, I would suggest having multiple titles on any future releases, and coming up with some worthy extras. The wild and wacky genre movies made by the likes of Monogram and PRC are entertaining in a crazy type of way, but it's often more fun to talk about them than actually watch them over and over again. 

DIRTY ANGELS

 

DIRTY ANGELS reunites Eva Green with her CASINO ROYALE director, Martin Campbell. The new movie belongs to the "Impossible Mission attempted by a motley crew" genre, this time set in the all too-real world of Middle Eastern conflict. 

Eva Green plays Jake, a U.S. Army special operative who has a Mt. Everest-sized chip on her shoulder due to a botched mission in Afghanistan which led to the deaths of her team. Jake takes up a chance for redemption when she joins a mission to save a number of young schoolgirls who have been kidnapped by ISIS forces. The military group which will partake in the mission is to be made up mostly of women, and the plan is to disguise themselves as medical aid workers. The terrorist who killed Jake's team before is the one who has masterminded the kidnapping, and this makes Jake even more determined to succeed--but her truculent attitude may tear the whole plan apart. 

The main reason I watched DIRTY ANGELS is that it starred Eva Green. She gives a totally non-glamorous performance as Jake, a woman who makes the phrase "strong bad-ass independent female" seem like an understatement. Jake is so filled with anger and determination that she borders on being unbelievable (in real life a person like her probably wouldn't have been allowed to go on any more missions). Green does have enough presence to prevent the viewer from not caring what happens to her, but Jake seems more interested in getting a chance to kill people than rescue a group of innocent girls. (Due to the film's main element being young women rescuing other young women, one expects a member of the military team to make a grand speech about how important it is to stop girls from being victimized....but it never happens.) 

As expected in an Impossible Mission scenario, there's plenty of conflict between Jake and the other members of the team. Those other members, however, are barely defined, and none of them sticks out. 

DIRTY ANGELS tries to be a realistic action thriller, and it is quite brutal. It doesn't spare much when it comes to detailing what happens to those who are caught up in the actions of ISIS and the Taliban. Director Martin Campbell (who is also credited with working on the script) is an expert at portraying action, and the battle scenes are the movie's best element, although there's a lot of dodgy CGI explosions. Campbell keeps things moving, and he makes the film's budget seem more than what it probably was (much of the production was shot in Morocco and Greece). 

I thought DIRTY ANGELS was a decent enough action film, but due to its topical brutality it isn't the type of film one wants to watch over and over again. The movie is in an in-between mode--it isn't outlandish enough to be a wild, entertaining violent flick, and it doesn't have enough depth to accurately portray the many complications and issues that make up the current state of Afghanistan. 

JUROR #2

 

I would have loved to have seen JUROR #2 in a theater, but Warners decided it didn't deserve a nationwide release, despite the fact that it could potentially be the last film directed by Clint Eastwood. One would think that Warners would take this opportunity to celebrate and promote their 50+ years relationship with a cinematic legend, but apparently that isn't trendy enough. JUROR #2 isn't all that trendy either--it's not based on an existing intellectual property, or a comic book, or a musical, and it isn't jam-packed with all sorts of CGI. 

What JUROR #2 happens to be is a good, solid contemporary drama, with a thought-provoking screenplay by Jonathan Abrams. The story contains the type of material that one usually finds in the best films Eastwood has directed. It's about everyday Americans facing the consequences of their actions, and the movie examines the thin line between what is supposedly considered right and wrong. The story also has plenty of ambiguity, an element that has attracted Eastwood all the way back when he was in his prime as a major movie star. 

In Savannah, Georgia, Justin Kemp (Nicholas Hoult) has been chosen for jury duty on a murder trial. Kemp doesn't relish this assignment--his wife is due to give birth any day now. The case seems cut-and-dried--a man with a violent past is accused of killing his girlfriend, and dumping her body in a ravine. During the trial Kemp remembers that he was in the exact area the same night as the woman was killed. That night Kemp thought he hit a deer....but he now starts to realize that he may have struck the woman. Kemp tries to sway his fellow jurors that the accused may not be guilty, while at the same time avoiding telling the authorities about his role in the incident. 

If you are familiar with Clint Eastwood's directorial style, you'll know what to expect from JUROR #2. Eastwood lets the story and the actors do most of the work, and he avoids flashy camera or editing techniques. The overall cast does very well, especially Hoult, Toni Collette as the ambitious district attorney, and J.K. Simmons as a juror who happens to be a retired police officer. What's most effective about JUROR #2 is that it offers up no easy answers, just like in real life. 

If this film had been made ten years ago, it would have absolutely gotten a major theatrical release, and it might even have been up for a few awards as well. The fact that JUROR #2 seems to have been passed over by Warners says more about the state of the entertainment industry than it does the actual merits of the film. If JUROR #2 is Clint Eastwood's last directorial effort, he's going out riding high. 

BATTLE OF THE COMMANDOS On Blu-ray From Kino

 

BATTLE OF THE COMMANDOS (1969) is considered a "Macaroni War" picture--that is, a film about World War II that was made or produced by Italians and shot in Spain. It stars Jack Palance and it was directed by cult filmmaker Umberto Lenzi. 

Just before the Allied invasion of Normandy, a tempestuous Scottish colonel named Charley MacPherson (Jack Palance) is tasked with secretly landing on the French coast and making a path for other British commandos to follow. MacPherson's bad attitude gets worse when he finds out he has to use a group of misfits for the mission. The dirty half-dozen make it to France and perform their duties, but the British commandos are wiped out before they make it to shore, so MacPherson decides to destroy their intended target--a giant cannon which is transported by rail. What makes the colonel even more eager to take on the assignment is his discovery that a German colonel named Ackerman (Wolfgang Preiss) is in the vicinity--a man MacPherson has tangled with before. 

I've written a few posts on Macaroni War films. They have a lot in common with their Spaghetti Western cousins. They both share many of the same actors and directors, and they both have a tendency to tweak the conventions of the main genres they belong to. BATTLE OF THE COMMANDOS is one of the better entries that I've seen of Italian WWII flicks. It moves along at a pretty good clip, and the action scenes are well staged. The movie obviously didn't have a large budget, but Umberto Lenzi made the most of what he had, and the giant railway gun is actually quite impressive. (One of the credited screenwriters is none other than Dario Argento.) Of course the story takes several aspects from the likes of THE DIRTY DOZEN and THE GUNS OF NAVARONE, but it least it doesn't spend a bunch of time on a "Getting to know and train the recruits" sequence. 

Jack Palance made a number of Euro Westerns, and he hammed it up big-time in all of them. Here, he's more determined than outrageous, and his attempt at a Scottish accent is....unique, to say the least. The rest of the cast has plenty of spaghetti Western veterans, including Thomas Hunter, Gerard Herter as the obligatory strutting SS officer, and Aldo Sambrell as MacPherson's right-hand man, a Sergeant from India. (If you think that the fact Sambrell is on the side of the Allies means he'll be able to survive to the final credits.....guess again.) Euro cult star Wolfgang Preiss once again almost steals a film from the bigger stars as Ackerman, a professional German soldier and a man of principle who realizes that the Nazi regime is doomed. Curd Jurgens has a cameo as (what else??) a German general. 

Kino presents BATTLE OF THE COMMANDOS uncut in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio. It's a fine transfer, although the color looks a bit faded at times. Umberto Lenzi expert Troy Howarth (who is on the audio commentary) states that it's the best version of the film he has ever seen. The dialogue track is the English dub, in which Jack Palance and Curd Jurgens provide their own voices. 

The main extra is the aforementioned new audio commentary, which features Steve Mitchell, Nathaniel Thompson, and Troy Howarth (who has written a book on director Umberto Lenzi). The three men interact well together, and they provide an engaging and informative talk, where they discuss such things as the historical & military aspects of the Macaroni War genre and the use of the zoom lens in Euro cult cinema. 

BATTLE OF THE COMMANDOS doesn't rank among the greatest WWII movies ever made, and it certainly isn't one of the most historically accurate (the Spanish locations look nothing like the area around Normandy), but it is an entertaining action movie that does what it is supposed to do. Kino has given plenty of spaghetti westerns nice treatments on home video, and perhaps they'll be covering other Macaroni War titles in the future. 

THE BAT (1926) On Blu-ray From Undercrank

 

This September I wrote a review of a special edition Blu-ray release featuring THE BAT WHISPERS. That film was a sound remake of the 1926 silent THE BAT--and now the original gets a restored Blu-ray, courtesy of Undercrank Productions. 

THE BAT has long been considered one of the best of the many mystery-thrillers made during the silent era, but due to the terrible condition of most available versions of the movie, it has been hard to fully appreciate it. This new restoration presented by Undercrank looks amazing, and it enables one to examine the atmospheric art direction by William Cameron Menzies and the striking photography by Arthur Edeson and Gregg Toland. 

The story elements in both THE BAT and THE BAT WHISPERS (1930) are nearly exactly the same--Roland West (who directed both features) uses many of the same shot compositions and dialogue lines in each. I believe that THE BAT is the much better film--the story seems to flow much better in the silent version, and the comedic elements are not as intrusive without sound. THE BAT is also enhanced by a new rollicking musical score by Ben Model. 

One notable point about THE BAT is the way that the title character is shown. The silent Bat wears a big-eared headpiece that at first glance seems to resemble a cheap Halloween costume, but it is so flamboyant it genuinely becomes unnerving. Roland West doesn't engage in as much camera trickery in THE BAT as he would in the remake, but the overall story comes off much better. The main manor setting is also far more extravagant in the original--the place looks more like a cathedral than an actual home where people would live in on a day-to-day basis. 

This release is actually a BD-R, but the quality is excellent. There are two extras on the disc. One is a 9 minute program detailing the life and movie career of Roland West. One wishes it had been longer and more detailed, but it does give the basic info on the man (and yes, it mentions his connection with Thelma Todd). The other is a 1926 comedy short called A FRATERNITY MIXUP. It's more frantic than funny, but it does name drop Lon Chaney and there is a guy running around in a gorilla suit. (This disc is Region-Free.)

An informative audio commentary for this would have been most welcome, and it might be something Undercrank may want to think about for future releases. 

One of the great things about physical media--and one of the things that makes me spend way too much money on it--is the amount of wonderful restorations of silent classics that a number of companies have released on home video in the 21st Century. The average person would never have a chance to watch so many great silents in uncut, restored conditions if it wasn't for these Blu-rays and DVDs. The original THE BAT has long needed and deserved a top-notch presentation, and Undercrank Productions has provided it.