WayOutWest/TheBohemianGirl/SapsatSea/SonsoftheDesert Oliver Hardy 2013 DVD

Laurel and Hardy classics packaged into one fantastic boxset, ensuring hour upon hour of chuckles. Regarded as the most popular of Laurel and Hardys feature-length films – not least for the song The Trail of the Lonesome Pine – Way Out West sees Stan and Ollie visiting the town of Brushwood Gulch to deliver the deed of a gold mine, only to be deceived by James Finlayson, playing a villainous saloon-keeper. A great favourite among Laurel & Hardy admirers, Finlayson is featured elsewhere in this compilation through the classic Laurel and Hardyshorts One Good Turn and Thicker Than Water. A classic full-length Laurel & Hardy film, The Bohemian Girl is based on the opera by Michael W. Balfe. Stan and Ollie play gypsies in Europe as it was centuries ago, earning their living by an ingenious means of picking pockets. When Mrs. Hardy disappears with her lover, they become guardians to a small girl who is really the daughter of an aristocrat. The Bohemian Girl was the last Laurel and Hardy film to feature Thelma Todd, who had worked with the team since their first talkie in 1929. This compilation includes one of her starring short comedies with ZaSu Pitts, On the Loose, to which Laurel & Hardy contribute a guest appearance. Also included is Thats My Wife, a classic silent Laurel and Hardy film that at one stage was going to be reworked as part of The Bohemian Girl, plus the earlier Hardy solo film that inspired its plot, Along Came Auntie. A collection of classic Laurel and Hardy, including the feature-length comedy Saps at Sea – Laurel and Hardys last film for Hal Roachin which Stans trombone-playing aggravates Ollies newly-acquired allergy to the sound of horns! Continuing the musical connection are two short comedies in which our heroes struggle to earn a living as musicians: Below Zeropresented in both its original version and in its rare Spanish-language edition, with Laurel and Hardfy speaking their own dialogueand one of their best silents, Youre Darn Tootin. A classic feature filmregarded by many critics as Laurel and Hardys bestplus the silent short that inspired it, another attempt by Stan and Ollie to escape their wives, plus Laurel and Hardy returning a guest appearance with Charley Chase. In Sons of the Desert Stan and Ollie attend the Chicago convention of their lodge but tell their wives they are going on an ocean voyage for the sake of Ollies healththen discover that the ship has sunk! The silent short We Faw Down anticipates this story, with Stan and Ollie claiming to have attended a stage showunaware that the theatre has burned down. In Their Purple Moment Stan and Ollie go out for an evening without their wives, only to discover that their money has been replaced with useless coupons. Sons of the Desert includes a guest contribution from fellow-Roach comedian Charley Chase; On the Wrong Trek sees Laurel and Hardy returning the compliment in one of Chases own films.