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That visual Easter egg is a poster of Laurel and Hardy, perhaps the screens most beloved comedy team.
They survived the transition from silent to sound films and made more than 100 shorts and features together.
Hardy died in 1957, Laurel in 1965.
But they have never gone out of style.
Even sick comic Lenny Bruce was charmed by them.
You really feel a sincere love there.
They were caricatured in 1930s Warner Bros. and Disney cartoons.
They are in Vladimir and Estragons DNA in Samuel BeckettsWaiting for Godot.
Hanna-Barbera created a short-loved animated series,The Laurel and Hardy Show,in 1966.
Baby boomers discovered them on television.
In 2018, John C. Reilly and Steve Coogan brilliantly portrayed them in the affectionateStan & Ollie.
OnThe Definitive Restorations, the films themselves dont look like theyre pushing a century.
Weve chosen 25 essential shorts, presented alphabetically.
Unless noted, all are in the Blu-ray collection.
(The videos included are not indicative of the pristine Blu-ray restorations.)
Edgar Kennedy is their killer landlord, from whom they take a stab at hide their new companion.
Not on the Blu-ray set.
The short ends with a fleeting moment of triumph in which the boys almost get the last laugh.
Not on the Blu-ray set.
I mean, that really got out of hand fast.
A reported 3,000 actual pies were harmed in the making of this picture.
Big Business(1929)
Stan and Ollie are door-to-door Christmas-tree salesmen in Southern California.
They have a go at sell Jimmy Finlayson a tree.
They inadvertently infuriate him to the point where he takes a clipper to their tree.
And then things jump up a notch.
Not on the Blu-ray set.
See alsoTwice Two(1933), in which Laurel and Hardy portray each others wives.
The sound effects are the real star here.
The Hal Roach stock company shines in this frantic farce.
Not on the Blu-ray set.
A surreal capper anticipates by decades John Lennons bathtub gag inA Hard Days Night.
And then Stan shows up.
The plan: Oliver will pretend to be her lover, thus making the husband jealous.
But first she must teach him how to kiss her convincingly, which she demonstrates with Stan.
Not on the Blu-ray set.
He calls in Laurel to help him restore order.
Do you mind if I help you?
I dont mind, Oliver responds, that is, as long as you help me.
And so the die is cast.
Not on the Blu-ray set.
Prior to that, were treated to two of the teams best dialogue-driven scenes.
The first involves a misunderstanding over a found pair of bloomers and one of the ladies lost gloves.
(Good thing its warm weather, isnt it?
Oliver coyly asks like a naughty schoolboy.)
Not on the Blu-ray set.
Perfect Day(1929)
Oh, shit.
Yes, Edgar Kennedy does indeed utter this epithet in one of this near-perfect shorts more frantic moments.
An escalating series of disasters shut this outing down.
Atypical for a Laurel and Hardy short, the wives here act as peacemakers.
Accidents will happen, Olivers wife sagely observes.
Not on the Blu-ray set.
(1932)
An ill-tempered judge orders vagrants Laurel and Hardy to leave town within the hour.
Unfortunately, its the wrong house.
Guess whose it is?
The Second 100 Years(1927)
Stan and Ollie had made 11 shorts together.
Not on the Blu-ray set.
Wouldnt you know they choose to camp next to a well where bootleggers have stashed their liquor?
He returns to find them all engaged in a bacchanal.
Of course you know this means war.
Repairing the boat illustrates how Alfred Hitchcocks theory of shock vs. suspense can be applied to comedy.
But its funnier still if we hear the sound of Laurels offscreen sawing and anticipate the imminent disaster.
Not on the Blu-ray set.
Not on the Blu-ray set.
