Standing tall alongside Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin as pioneers of cinematic comedy, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are two of the most beloved comedians in the history of moving pictures. Having acted alongside each other for the first time in 1921, they officially teamed up later in the decade in a series of shorts made for producer Hal Roach – launching a wildly successful partnership that would survive into the sound era and last for another quarter of a century. This collection captures the duo’s earliest (mis)adventures on screen, chronicling their journey from their first films together...

Eureka Entertainment release Laurel & Hardy: The Silent Years (1927), fifteen silent shorts featuring Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy. Presented on Blu-ray in the UK from restorations sourced from the best available materials.

For Laurel & Hardy aficionados, Eureka's latest release is an essential purchase. It's common knowledge that Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy both had their own successful careers in Hollywood before starring in a number of Hal Roach short silent movies. At first their scenes didn't cross, but gradually the two began to interact in scenes before their onscreen chemistry became slowly cemented.

This release shows this gradual process through a string of movies, all produced in 1927. From Duck Soup and Sailors, Beware! to Do Detectives Think?, Putting Pants on Philip and The Battle of the Century (once available only in incomplete versions until its missing scenes were rediscovered in 2015), these films show the development of two independent comedians into the most influential and celebrated comedy duo of all time.

This collection contains the following shorts: Lucky Dog, 45 Minutes from Hollywood, Duck Soup, Slipping Wives, Love ‘em and Weep, Why Girls Love Sailors, With Love and Hisses, Sailors, Beware!, Do Detectives Think?, Flying Elephants, Sugar Daddies, The Second 100 Years, Call of the Cuckoo, Putting Pants on Philip, and The Battle of the Century.

Every movie comes with an optional audio commentary and stills gallery (with the exception of 45 Minutes from Hollywood and Duck Soup).

Extras include: Laurel & Hardy in the UK (8 min, 24 sec footage of the pair's 1932 visit to the UK. The audio is from a recording which was subsequently released as a 12" 78rpm record to promote the trip. The video is from the duo's visit to Tynemouth, North England); Stan Laurel 1957 Interview (1 hr, 10 min, 15 sec interview about Laurel's life. This was conducted just a week after Hardy's death); Stan Laurel 1959 Interview (8 min, 41 sec, with footage from Laurel & Hardy's 1932 UK trip to Edinburgh); Neil Brand Interview (7 min, 43 sec discussing the importance of 1927 in the formation of Laurel and Hardy); Super 8mm Shorts (20 min, 38 sec look at the release of the '60s/'70s release of Super 8mm releases of silent films. It includes some of the films on this collection, which for "home cinema" release were drastically cut. There's an interesting optional audio commentary).

This is an incredibly important release and represents the very best remastered prints of the original films available today. Spoil yourself, you won't be disappointed.

10

Darren Rea