It’s the Sabbath, and a grand day out is planned with the Laurels, the Hardys, and Kennedy’s Uncle Edgar, who is suffering mightily with gout. Laurel and Hardy have aged remarkably well with their emphasis on physical humor and slapstick, the universal language of laughter.

The set contains 2K and 4K digital restorations of the team’s two best features, Sons of the Desert and Way Out West, plus 17 mostly essential shorts, along with over eight hours of commentaries, interviews, archival photos, posters and studio files, and rarities, such as “That’s That,” an outtakes reel compiled for Laurel’s birthday in 1937.Along comes a stranded motorist (Charlie Hall) and his wife (Mae Busch), who proceeds to join the boys in many glasses of “water” while her husband departs to retrieve their car. We use cookies to give you the best possible experience on our site, provide personalised content and advertising, analyse our traffic, and ensure you see more of what you love. Repo men Stan and Ollie are dispatched to retrieve an unpaid-for radio from “tough guy” Edgar Kennedy. Yes, Edgar Kennedy does indeed utter this epithet in one of this near-perfect short’s more frantic moments.

C. Fields, and Mae West, whose subversive, anti-authority personas resonated with rebellious college students. The Music Box” wears its “certified classic” status well both as an introduction to the team and as the pinnacle of their art: This is what we talk about when we talk about Laurel and Hardy. A classic collection of 34 vintage Stan and Ollie films, including early silent shorts, made between 1928 and 1940. When Oliver Hardy falls into the works at a woodworking plant, it’s all in the name of paying homage to the slapstick gods.The late actor was best known for Friends but brought his signature wit to plenty of characters not named Chandler. The jewel in the crown of the Blu-ray collection is this long-lost short, which, along with the Marx Brothers’ 1921 short Humor Risk, was long considered the Holy Grail of silent comedy. This ceaselessly inventive gagfest is elevated by atypical grace notes — Laurel distracted at the wheel by the sight of a woman adjusting her skirt, and Hardy’s wife allowing herself a smile as she observes his futile rooftop efforts.

In Laurel and Hardy’s world, out of chaos comes only more chaos, leaving Hardy sitting alone and rained upon in the burnt-out shell of what was once his home, maintaining what is left of his dignity with a look that says, “This might as well happen. Sailors Laurel and Hardy pick up a couple of willing young women in the park and embark on an ill-fated afternoon that ends with a massive rowboat mêlée.

But it’s funnier still if we hear the sound of Laurel’s offscreen sawing and anticipate the imminent disaster.

Serving him a summons is only half the battle; next comes thwarting his efforts to keep them from getting the radio.Products labelled '*item fulfilled by Exertis on behalf of hmv' will be supplied to you directly by Exertis via their approved couriers. Musicians Stan and Ollie make a shambles of their orchestra concert, are evicted from their boarding house, and are reduced to busking. And then he sits down to do a jigsaw puzzle with Stan, and it’s all downhill from there in this exercise in exquisitely prolonged frustration.