Slapstick Symposium Too: Oliver Hardy Collection [DVD] [1916] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

THE OLIVER HARDY COLLECTION is part of a priceless seven-disk SLAPSTICK SYMPOSIUM series from peerless Kino Video. It affords fans of silent film comedy in general, and Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy in particular, a chance to see Hardy working with other screen partners. The eight silent comedy shorts here have "Babe" Hardy in a variety of mostly supporting roles to such starring and forgotten screen clowns as Larry Semon, Clyde Cook, Glenn Tryon, and Bobby Ray. Each short is about 25 minutes, and a few are making their debut here in complete form.

THE SHOW (1922) is a starring vehicle for pasty-faced Larry Semon (who also directed) as the prop manager for a vaudeville show. Hardy plays a villainous stage manager. And the very elaborate THE SAWMILL (1921) has slapstick antics in and around a sawmill that was built for the movie. Semon stars and co-directs (with Norman Taurog). Larry is a dumb-bell logger competing with foreman Hardy for affections of the boss's daughter.

STICK AROUND (1924) teams Oliver with Bobby Ray as hilariously inept wallpaper hangers at an insane asylum. And HOP TO IT (1925) has Ray and Ollie as bellboys who can't tell one room from another, mistaking them when the room numbers are switched.

ALONG CAME AUNTIE (1926) involves one woman, an ex (Hardy) and current husband, and an eccentric aunt who has $100,000 to give to the woman if she is really married to the ex-husband.

45 MINUTES TO HOLLYWOOD (1926) is the first comedy that has both Hardy and Stan Laurel in it, though not in the same scene. The movie stars Glenn Tryon as a country boy who tries to make it in Hollywood; Hardy as a confused hotel detective; and Stan as a cross-dressing thief. CRAZY TO ACT (1927) marked Hardy's final film for producer Mack Sennett. Ollie plays a rich suitor financing a movie for his future wife.

Finally, SHOULD SAILORS MARRY? (1925) stars Clyde Cook has a former sailor who cannot settle down with his new bride because she has a pesty brutal wrestler ex-husband living with them!

Several of these mint-condition 35mm shorts have exhilarating and hair-raising stunts, while many also feature fun glimpses into 1920's improvisational filmmaking with some long-forgotten screen comics. The print source is Lobster Films in Paris, and the lovely jazzy piano scores are by Eric Le Guen. As expected, Kino has done flawless transfer work. If you like THE OLIVER HARDY COLLECTION, Kino has even more wonderful silent comedy short compilations starring Stan Laurel solo, Harold Lloyd, and Charley Chase. The prints are magnificent, again from Lobster Films. The volumes sell individually, NOT as a boxed set, from Kino or Amazon.com for about $20 each on DVD.

Finally some of these titles are making their first appearance on DVD from 35mm film masters! And some are complete for the first time!

These are the early works of Oliver Hardy, before he met Stan. They vary in style & script quality, but they give a good example of Oliver's variety of work from character actor to comedian. You will also see him as part of another comedy team which, had it taken off, would have deprived us of his perfect pairing with Stan Laurel. I'm talking about the two Bobby Ray films here, they are very enjoyable and show a team that might have been. Another comedian presented here is LARRY SEMON, his films are purely his own with Ollie appearing in supporting roles as a villain/heavy.

1) THE SHOW (1922) Larry Semon - Ollie is a villainous stage manager & Larry is the prop manager. This has the classic Car chasing a train sequence. FIRST TIME FROM 35MM.

2) STICK AROUND (1925) Bobby Ray - Great! For the first time in DVD history we get to see the complete 25 minute film! All other DVDs present a soft, grainy 10 minute cut-down called 'Paperhangers Helper'. Now we get to see this classic Oliver Hardy-Bobby Ray teamed comedy with the horse-drawn delivery wagon battling a hill sequences intact (almost a decade before The Music Box). FIRST TIME FROM 35MM.

3) ALONG CAME AUNTIE (1926) - Ollie is a ridiculous musicial who must pretend to be married to his ex-wife so that she may inherit some diamonds.

4) CRAZY TO ACT (1927) Keystone - I believe this is the first time on DVD for this one. Ollie has little to do in this, he wants to marry an actress but the only way she will agree to it is if he produces a movie with her as the star. This is the weakest of the bunch on this DVD.

5) THE SAW MILL (1921) Larry Semon - Classic Semon comedy with Larry as a Logger and Ollie as the forman, both competing for the boss' daughter. FIRST TIME FROM 35MM.

6) SHOULD SAILORS MARRY? (19250 Clyde Cook - Clyde settles down with his new bride only to find the ex-husband still living at home.

7) HOP TO IT (1925) Bobby Ray - (aka Hop To It, Bellhop) - Another classic teaming of Ollie & Bobbie, this time as bell hops at a busy hotel. FIRST TIME FROM 35MM.

8) 45 MINUTES FROM HOLLYWOOD (1926) A hotel with Oliver Hardy as a detective and Stan Laurel as a cross-dressing thief. Their first apppearances in a Hal Roach Comedy, but individually.

Members of the "Son's of the Desert" and devoted fans of Stan & Babe must not pass this DVD up!

Norville Hardy (he added the Oliver later in honor of his father) began his film career in 1914 in Jacksonville, Florida where he appeared in literally hundreds of films. He was known as Babe Hardy because of his babyish face (the famous toothbrush moustache would come later). By 1920 he had come to Hollywood as a member of Larry Semon's stock company. In the early 20's Semon was a big comedy star known for his outrageous gags that were carried out on a grand scale. Two of Semon's comedies on this disc THE SHOW and THE SAWMILL (with Hardy as the principal villian) bear this out.

In 1925 Ollie was teamed with diminutive comedian Bobby Ray in a clear precursor to the Laurel & Hardy films. In STICK AROUND they even wear derby hats. In 1927 on loan out from Hal Roach, Hardy made the amusing CRAZY TO ACT for Mack Sennett. But it was with Roach that Hardy would find steady employment and eventual screen immortality when he was teamed up with Stan Laurel. That was in late 1927. In 1926 he appeared with Laurel in 45 MINUTES FROM HOLLYWOOD. Both had supporting parts to star Glenn Tryon (who?). 45 is also noteworthy for the last film appearance of silent screen vamp Theda Bara who has a very brief cameo as herself. There are eight shorts total in this collection and it's great to have these examples of early Oliver Hardy as it gives us the chance to see him develop the Ollie character that we know so well.

This is part of Kino's second installment in the SLAPSTICK SYMPOSIUM series (Charley Chase and Harold Lloyd are featured once again in the other two offerings). The prints from Lobster Films are very high quality and the piano accompaniment by Eric Le Guen serves them well. Perfect for fans of silent comedy and/or fans of the duo. Others shouldn't have too bad a time of it either.