Cheap Laurel and Hardy Giftset (Great Guns / Jitterbugs / The Big Noise) (DVD) (Malcolm St. Clair, Monty Banks) Price

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Customer Reviews of Laurel and Hardy Giftset (Great Guns / Jitterbugs / The Big Noise)

The worst of Laurel & Hardy...
...is, sadly, not "worth seeing anyway", as some folks claim. These are sad, dull, humorless films with two dull, humorless characters who don't look or act like Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy, all the more sad because they ARE Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy. Fox crushed all of the humor out of them and put them in weak Abbott & Costello ripoffs (GREAT GUNS) or gave them scripts that the Bowery Boys would've rejected. In 1938, they made one of their best pictures, the hilarious BLOCK-HEADS, for Hal Roach, and within 3 years they were washed up in films, thanks to horrible movies like these. As another reviewer mentioned, a week later Warners is releasing an L&H DVD collection with one of their best films, THE DEVIL'S BROTHER (FRA DIAVOLO) and some very funny sequences from other films. Skip this and buy that, but by all means order a copy of Randy Skretvedt's essential book on Stan & Ollie to go with it.

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1940s features aren't so bad!
The 1940s Laurel & Hardy movies have gotten a real bum rap in several books about the team, but in truth, few people have actually watched these pictures in the past 40 years. They may not be classics, nor the "best" work of L&H, but they're amusing comedies and perfect family entertainment, especially compared to the "comedies" of today. <
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>One of the movies in this set, "The Big Noise," has been listed as one of the worst movies of all time, but in no way is that really true. It's in fact a great introduction to Laurel & Hardy for kids. I recently showed this picture to some kids and they loved it. I thought it had a lot of laughs as well. <
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>"Great Guns" was very successful when it came out and when I saw it recently, I laughed so hard I cried. I haven't seen "Jitterbugs" in about 30 years, but I thought it was funny when I saw it on TV in the '70s. <
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>So, give this set a chance and you'll be glad you did! And I can't wait for Part II. And then let's reissue the two 1940s MGM L&H movies as well. <
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Beware of outdated opinions - form your own!
When it comes to the films Laurel & Hardy made for Fox, among the last films of their career, various books on the duo, as well as books on movies in general, seem to share the same opinion: only one or two of the movies (with "Jitterbugs" being the most often-cited) have any merit; and "The Big Noise" is singled out as the "worst" the team ever did. <
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>For many years, readers of these opinions took them as fact and even parroted them... until they actually SAW the films. In many cases, they were pleasantly surprised, and in recent years, these films have undergone a much-deserved reevaluation. For example, among many die-hard Laurel & Hardy fans, "The Big Noise" is NOT considered the team's worst... that dubious dishonor is mostly reserved by another Fox film, "A-Haunting We Will Go" or a later film for MGM, "Nothing But Trouble," depending upon who you speak to. And "Jitterbugs" is not the first choice of many die-hard fans as being the best of the Fox films... there are many fans who champion "The Bullfighters," "The Dancing Masters" and yes, "The Big Noise" much, much more. "The Big Noise" has been the big winner in the reevaluation process - it has been vindicated by many who have seen it in recent years as not only being undeserving of its poor reputation, but actually deserving kudos as a worthy effort in general. <
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>Furthermore, Randy Skretvedt, author of the excellent book, "Laurel & Hardy: the Magic Behind the Movies" was tough on these films in his book, but has himself softened on them in subsequent years... in fact, so much so that he even does the commentary tracks on this volume! <
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>So then, here are my own opinions on the films featured in this set: <
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>"Great Guns": this was the first film the team did for Fox. Personally, it is not one of my favorites, however, among Laurel & Hardy fandom this one does have its champions. The studio was obviously trying to recapture the success of Abbott & Costello's smash hit, "Buck Privates" released months before. There are many echos of "Buck" in this... but as Scott MacGillivray, author of the fantastic book, "Laurel & Hardy: From the Forties Forward" points out, one of the scenarios that seems like a direct rip-off is not - Stan Laurel gave Lou Costello the flour sack motif over dinner one night, when Lou was asking Stan for advice! So, pros and cons for me: the cons are uncharacteristic dialogue (snappy banter and insults that seem out of character for Stan and Ollie) and an exaggerated portrayal of L&H's lack of smarts - everyone else in the movie is portrayed as "normal" and L&H as dimwits. In the Hal Roach movies, Laurel & Hardy were not bright bulbs, but at least the supporting casts were peppered with comical characters on the same plane as Stan & Ollie's existence. That's missing here. The pros: despite everything, there are a few funny moments where it seems the old L&H are trying to slip through, such as a when the crow flies down Ollie's pants, drill practice, Stan in the mess hall. <
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>"Jitterbugs": I haven't seen this one in years, so I'm reserving judgment. Perhaps I will weigh back in once I've seen it. Maybe it will even kick up my star rating! <
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>"The Big Noise": Most of the stars I've given to this set stem from this film alone. This film has a loopy charm that will just carry you away if you let it. It is filled with reprises of some classic L&H routines from yesterday (some think that's desperation, but I see it as an homage) and an absurd, farcical plot. This is a film that I had not seen in about 25-30 years, but had vivid memories of. When my Sons of the Desert tent (the Laurel & Hardy aficianado club) ran the film at one of our meetings, I was shocked: my memories were absolutely right on target! So unlike "Jitterbugs," which I only have spotty memories of, "The Big Noise" stuck with me for many years. And rightfully so. One area in which it improved on "Great Guns" is that it featured some supporting characters who were supposed to be comical, like the Roach films. <
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>I will forever be baffled over this film's bad reputation. If you stack it up against some of the other '40s L&H films, at least the boys are IN the action-- they're not taking a back seat. They're also not portrayed so much as doddering old fools ("Air Raid Wardens," "A-Haunting We Will Go") or servants ("Nothing But Trouble"). They are quite close to their Roach personas, in my opinion. The only compromise seems to be less slapstick, but that is in obvious deference to their advance ages, it seems-- I think it's okay to have a "pill as a meal" gag instead of Ollie falling in the mud since they're older here. Also, it's just absolutely crazy (in a fun, entertaining way, in my opinion) that they happen to wind up parachuting over the water and somehow there's an enemy sub in it, but that's part of the loopy charm of this movie, and I feel it has one of the best closing shots of any of the "bizarre endings" Stan favored for a lot of the films. This is a really fun film that was perfect for the times in which it was made and still can produce laughs today. <
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>From all reports, there will be a volume 2 with the 3 remaining Fox films, "A-Haunting We Will Go," "The Dancing Masters" and "The Bullfighters." And Scott MacGillivray, foremost authority on the '40s era of Laurel & Hardy's career, recently recorded commentary tracks for those 3 films, so we have something really special to look forward to. Thanks for all the fun, Stan & Ollie! :) <
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