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As with Eureka’s Laurel & Hardy: The Silent Years – 1927, the films here have all been painstakingly reconstructed and restored, this time exclusively by Blackhawk Films using materials from a variety of sources, the full details of which are captioned at the start of each film. Collectively, this gives an indication of the considerable work and dedication that must have gone into remastering these films.

Inevitably when reconstructing films of this vintage from various film formats in a range of conditions, there is going to be sometimes substantial variation in the final image quality, sometimes on a scene-by-scene and even shot-by-shot basis, but as with the films in the previous set, this matters little when the restorations are this good. Yes, some films have more visible film grain than others, there ius some veriation in the sharpness, and despite the best efforts of the restoration team there are a couple of films in this set where the evidence of wear and damage remains stubbornly visible, and is sometimes extensive. Yet these are minor gripes (that I don’t see as gripes at all), as the standard is generally very high here and the best material looks genuinely astonishing for film material of this age. Having seen Two Tars on the big screen absolutely dancing with dust and jittering in the projector gate, I can attest to just how glorious it looks here by comparison. There is some minor variance in the sharpness and the grading, which once again was likely affected by the range of the source material, but for the most part the films here look terrific, with nicely balanced contrast and clearly defined detail – despite some visible wear and the use of colour tints on Leave ‘Em Laughing, for instance, in the mid-shot of Ollie as he realises the water bottle has burst, you can clearly see a small fly briefly land on his head. I’ll go out on a fairly stout limb here and suggest that the films haven’t looked this good since their initial cinema release almost a century ago. The framing is the original 1.33:1 and the corners are slightly rounded.

The musical scores that accompany the films have been mastered in Linear PCM 2.0 stereo, except for Habeas Corpus and We Faw Down, whose original 1928 Vitaphone soundtracks have been restored and are presented in Linear PCM 2.0 mono. The newly produced stereo tracks sound unsurprisingly excellent, but the restoration work carried out on the two mono soundtracks – which were produced by Serge Bromberg and Eric Lange – is absolutely top notch, with the results as impressive as the image, being consistently clear and free of obvious traces of damage of wear, despite the inevitably narrowed tonal range.

DISC 1

Commentary on Leave ‘Em Laughing by David Kalat
One of only two commentaries in Eureka’s second set of Laurel and Hardy silent shorts by film historian and author David Kalat, whose knowledge and appreciation of his subject is, as ever, matched by his upbeat energy. Here he deconstructs how, by telegraphing gags and making them persona-specific, Stan and Ollie’s screen comedy still feels fresh, and goes on to justify his claim that dentists were “a limitless wellspring of comedy” for silent comedians with a slew of examples and commonly recycled tropes. He also provides a little info on nitrous oxide and the career and unfortunate passing of director Clyde Bruckman, who it turns out was the inspiration for the main character in one of the most fondly regarded episodes of The X-Files.

Commentary on The Finishing Touch by Patrick Vasey
Patrick Vasey of The Laurel and Hardy Podcast gushes enthusiastically over what he admits up front is one of his favourite Laurel and Hardy silents, a film he feels has been somewhat overlooked and hasn’t received the praise that it deserves. He notes that it’s the first film that has the boys in overalls and tasked with doing a job that you know they’re going to make a complete hash of, highlights the use of the comedy rule of three in which you repeat a gag three times only, and confirms that the house featured in the film was constructed on a vacant lot by Roach set builders. He also reads extracts from positive reviews of the day, a letter sent by Hal Roach to fellow producer Fred Quimby, and one sent by Stan Laurel to a fan expressing his and Ollie’s dissatisfaction with the film.

Commentary on From Soup to Nuts by David Kalat
David Kalat is back to provide information on From Soup to Nuts and those involved in its making, notably actress Anita Garvin, noting that she and fellow actress Marion Byron had previously played female versions of the Stan and Ollie roles in the almost identically plotted 1928 comedy short Feed ‘Em and Weep (in which this film’s director Edgar Kennedy had a supporting role, by the way). He highlights a line that was more widely used in the Stan and Ollie feature A Chump at Oxford (1940), clarifies what he means by a L’Arroseur Arrosé gag and explores how Jacques Tati adapted it to his own distinctive comedic style, and reveals why a publicity image of Anita Garvin and Stan Laurel did not appear in the finished film.

Commentary on You’re Darn Tootin’ by Neil Brand
If I you asked me in advance who I’d most want to hear from on a commentary for You’re Darn Tootin’, it would absolutely be Neil Brand, who composed the wittily interactive score that accompanies this presentation of the film. Clearly the good folk at Eureka felt the same way, because that’s exactly whom they tasked with the job, and the result is everything I hoped it would be. Brand reveals that he was first exposed to this “cracker” of a film when he was commission by comedian and silent comedy enthusiast Paul Merton to write a score for its inclusion in his Silent Clowns series, and it’s that score that accompanies the film here. He explains his thought process for the composition and arrangement of the opening orchestra sequence, and reveals that when the film was screened with this music for a live audience, two of the attendees were handed a drum and a bell to hit in time with the punches and kicks in the finale, and everyone present was given a piece of cloth to tear when trousers were ripped from their owners. I’d seriously have loved to have been there for that. Brand also makes some really interesting comments on the film itself and Stan and Ollie’s comedic style, also noting that their appeal is that they do what we would have done ourselves as kids, and that despite their moments of conflict, their affection for each other always shines through.

Commentary on Their Purple Moment by Neil Brand
Neil Brand returns to comment on a film that this time he did not compose the score for (the pipe organ music here is by Andrea Benz), and he is thus focussed instead entirely on its two stars and their comedy chops. He notes that this is the first film in which Stan and Ollie have wives, and that both marriages are based on antagonism, which meant that the two men no longer had to walk down the street to get into trouble. He praises the stacking up of conflict gags to be unleashed on the initially unaware duo, observes that both men had grown into their characters by this point, and shares details of an alternative ending of questionable taste that was written but apparently never filmed.

Commentary on Should Married Me Go Home? by Glenn Mitchell
That this commentary is primarily fact-based is hardly surprising when you consider it is delivered by the author of The Laurel and Hardy Encyclopaedia, Glenn Mitchell. We thus get a slew of details on the performers – including the fact that Ollie was a keen golfer who used to win tournaments in studio matches – as well as info on the locations and elements that were repurposed from earlier films. He also identifies a sequence that was reworked for the later Men O'War (1929) and compares the two. Mitchell does pause the factual stream briefly to pertinently observe that Stan is like a child unaware that he’s being a pest to Ollie’s father figure, and that the Roach studio was changing its approach to comedy by this point to allow these films to take their time.

Commentary on Early to Bed by Chris Seguin & Kyp Harness
Lifelong Laurel and Hardy fan and comedy programmer for the Toronto Silent Film Festival, Chris Seguin, is joined by writer, musician and author of The Art of Laurel and Hardy: Graceful Calamity in the Films, Kyp Harness for a Stan and Ollie film that Harness previously described as “one of the strangest films they would ever make, and ghostly and vaguely disturbing.” It’s a viewpoint he and, to a lesser degree, Seguin expand on here, noting the duo’s role reversal and commenting negatively on the abusive master-servant relationship at the heart of the film, the lack of familiar Stan and Ollie gags and, for Harness at least, the absence of funny moments. Seguin reveals early on that it remains a divisive film and quotes from positive and negative commentary on it, and there’s interesting speculation on one-time Stan and Ollie director Emmett J. Flynn and the influence and involvement of supervising director Leo McCarey. This is particularly pertinent to the fountain finale, which McCarey had used previously in the 1927 Mabel Normand short Should Men Walk Home?, in which Ollie also appeared as “Party Guest at Punch Bowl”.

Interview with Neil Brand (22:19)
Composer and Laurel and Hardy enthusiast Neil Brand provides a concise and acutely observed overview of the films in this collection, as well as examining how the duo’s style has evolved since their earlier, more slapstick driven days. He notes that the speed of the comedy has slowed down, that it was in 1928 that they were advertised as a comedy team for the first time, and reiterates that the introduction of wives for the boys means that they no longer have to go anywhere to find conflict. He then covers each of the films in this set in turn, which in theory would make for a fine introduction were it not for a spattering of inevitable spoilers.

Let ‘Em Rip – Super 8 presentation (2:06)
An 8mm film release consisting of the punching, kicking and clothes-ripping climax of You’re Darn Tootin’.

Out of Step – Super 8 presentation (2:06)
Another 8mm release consisting of a single sequence from You’re Darn Tootin’, which this time has Stan and Ollie busking and coming into conflict with a policeman and the orchestra leader who fired them

The Car Wreckers – Super 8 presentation (7:20)
A more substantial 8mm release consisting of a slightly cut down version of the second half reciprocal damage traffic jam sequence from Two Tars.

A Right Mess – Super 8 presentation (6:00)
The final sequences from Their Purple Moment that runs from the moment when Stan weepingly reveals to Ollie that his wallet is empty of cash and he cannot pay the increasingly large restaurant bill that they are running up. Includes a couple of basic explanatory captions.

Stills Gallery
A rolling gallery, set to pipe organ music, of 82 immaculate quality monochrome promotional stills for the films on this disc, including two from the deleted final scene of Their Purple Moment.

DISC 2

Commentary on Two Tars by Glenn Mitchell
Although stating up front that Two Tars is one of Stan and Ollie’s greatest films, Mitchell’s focus once again is the technical detail, with information provided on the production, the locations, and even the individual cars that take damage in the film’s second half. He explains a contemporary gag in one of the intertitles that I certainly hadn’t picked up on, confirms that the second half appears almost intact in one of Robert Youngson’s comedy compilation films (there’s more on Youngson below), reveals how difficult it was to crush the policeman’s motorcycle flat, and notes that when intermittently giggling whilst being balled out by the cop, Stan and Ollie are like children who know that they’re in trouble but are amused by what they’ve done.

Commentary on Habeas Corpus by Patrick Vasey
Noting that Habeas Corpus is both a fun and important film in the Laurel and Hardy canon, Vasey here devotes quite a chunk of his commentary to outlining the various technologies that were developed in the early efforts to add synchronised sound to movies, and how the various studios responded to the arrival and impact of the 1927 The Jazz Singer. He cites other early entries in the then new horror-comedy genre, points out a continuity error and how it relates to the film’s originally intended finale, quotes from a letter written by Stan Laurel about the film, and notes that not everyone enjoyed the lengthy climbing the wall scene as much as he does.

Commentary on We Faw Down by Chris Seguin & Kyp Harness
Seguin and Harness are back to comment on a film they are not in complete agreement on, Harness having previously described it as the least impressive of the three Stan and Ollie films directed by long time supervising director Leo McCarey (the other two being the 1927 Should Men Walk Home? and the 1929 Liberty). He then counters this a little by praising the things that the film gets right, noting that it’s the best of the silents that has the boys with their wives, and that there’s a psychological reality underlying the jokes, while Seguin reveals that when he screened the film at the Toronto Silent Film Festival a few years ago the audience was screaming with laughter. They comment on the soundtrack and the inclusion of laughter amongst the sound effects, praise the pantomime acting in the second half sequence when Stan is attempting to assist Ollie to spin a convincing yarn their wives, and hail the superb final gag as one of the greatest in any movie.

Commentary on Now I’ll Tell One by Chris Seguin & Glenn Mitchell
Here, Chris Seguin is teamed with Glenn Mitchell, and with the running time reduced to ten minutes they are a little limited on how much they can cover, so after outlining the plot, they draw links between the film and the 1927 Sugar Daddies and the 1923 The Whole Truth, and examine the comedy style of Charley Chase and how it compares with that of Stan and Ollie.

United We Fall (76:15)
This is a serious bonus, having not been announced in the original Eureka press release and could thus be considered an additional special feature. And it’s a substantial one, being a near feature-length video essay written, directed and narrated by husband and wife film writers David Cairns and Fiona Watson. They kick off in a manner dear to us at Outsider by individually recalling how they first discovered Stan and Ollie’s films and the sometimes surprising impact that they had on them as children. There are some intriguing comments here, with Watson frustrated in her youth by both men’s inability to learn from their mistakes and the fact that they are too dumb to succeed and too conscientious to give up, while the young Cairns found their wanton destruction exciting but scary, his nightmare being that these two clumsy men would come to his house and wreck all his stuff. Tellingly, after not being able to see their films on TV for many years due to copyright issues, Cairns recalls attending an open-air screening of some of their shorts and finding them not only so much funnier than he remembered, but funnier than anything else around. They deconstruct the duo’s specific style of comedy and examine what makes it unique, then move on to the films in this collection, which they examine one-by-one in chronological order in a similar manner to Neil Brand, but in considerably more analytical depth. Cairns and Watson’s words are richly illustrated with archive photos, film clips, on-screen quotes in the style of the intertitles of the day (nice work), posters and more, while lengthier quotes from Stan, Ollie and influential supervising director Leo McCarey are read out by actors attempting to imitate their voices. Aside from a hugely annoying and uncharacteristically crude use of title cards and an ear-splitting noise to shout “Simpering!” and “Fatuous Gallantry!” at us as in a manner that plays like (and probably wasn’t intended as) hostile mockery, this is terrific stuff, and alongside the various commentary tracks, one of the best inclusions in this excellent collection.

A Tribute to Robert Youngson (19:23)
Author of Laurel & Hardy: From the Forties Forward, Scott MacGillivray, recounts the career of director Robert Youngson, whose silent film compilation features such as The Golden Age of Comedy (1957), When Comedy Was King (1960) and Days of Thrills and Laughter (1961) were for many their first exposure to some of the giants of silent comedy cinema. A key work in relation to the films in this collection was his 1965 Laurel and Hardy’s Laughing 20’s, which I have little doubt I lapped up in my youth, and the impact Youngson’s films had back then was such that by the time I hit my teenage years I was almost as familiar with his name as those of the comedy stars that his films introduced so many of us to.

The Laughing 20’s Trailer (3:12)
A contemporary trailer for Robert Youngson’s Laurel and Hardy’s Laughing 20’s compilation movie, complete with a cheesy score and graphics, overenthusiastic narration, drum and slide-whistle sound effects, and the rather specific claim of “253 solid laughs actually clocked in sworn survey!”

The Further Perils of Laurel & Hardy Trailer (2:55)
More of the same for the trailer for Youngson’s follow-up compilation to Laurel and Hardy’s Laughing 20’s, this time with an overuse of a cartoon “boi-yoi-yoing!” sound effect to accompany the inevitable slide-whistles and impact splodges, while the narrator from the previous trailer invites us at to “join battling platoons of jazz age amazons in this 98-minute feature the whole family will enjoy.” Excuse me?

Stan Laurel Home Movies (24:53)
These consist largely of shots of Stan’s then-young daughter Lois at play either alone or with other children, though we do occasionally get to see other family members and even Stan and Ollie themselves, a couple of times in the costumes of their screen characters. The films appear to have been restored and are in fine shape, and are accompanied by a silent movie style piano score. Personally, I would have welcomed some subtle on-screen text to contextualise the footage and identify the participants.

Stills Gallery
A rolling gallery of 33 pristine promotional photos for just three films on this second disc, Two Tars, Habeas Corpus and We Faw Down.

Also included with the release Blu-say set is a Limited Edition Collector’s Bookletfeaturing newly written notes on each film by writer and comedian Paul Merton and new essays by silent cinema expert Imogen Sara Smith and film historian Sheldon Hall, but this was not available for review.

What more can I say? A superb collection that every fan of Stan and Ollie’s work should immediately add to their collection, assuming, of course, that they have not already done so. Together with its predecessor, these releases chart how two talented comedy actors came together to form and refine what for so many of us remains the greatest comedy partnership in cinema history. The restorations are remarkable, the special features terrific, and the work and care that Eureka has put into this set is awe-inspiring. Another phenomenal release that gets out highest recommendation.