Reviews of silent film releases on home video. Copyright © 1999-2024 by Carl Bennett and the Silent Era Company. All Rights Reserved.

Laurel & Hardy Year One (1922-1928)

Contents: The Lucky Dog (1921), 45 Minutes from Hollywood (1926), Duck Soup (1927), Slipping Wives (1927), Love ’em and Weep (1927), Why Girls Love Sailors (1927), With Love and Hisses (1927), Sailors, Beware! (1927), Do Detectives Think? (1927), Sugar Daddies (1927), The Second Hundred Years (1927), Call of the Cuckoo (1927), Putting Pants on Philip (1927), The Battle of the Century (1927) and Flying Elephants (1928).

This Blu-ray Disc collection has been mastered from archival and private collection prints. The collection has been curated by L&H historians Randy Skretvedt, Richard W. Bann, Serge Bromberg, Eric Lange and Ulrich Ruedel.

The films are accompanied by music scores composed and performed by Neil Brand, Antonio Coppola, Éric le Guen and Donald Sosin. Optional musical scores include soundtracks for the 1930s French rereleases of Slipping Wives, Why Girls Love Sailors, and Flying Elephants.

Supplementary material includes audio commentaries for each film by L&H historian and author Randy Skretvedt; audio commentary for The Battle of the Century by Randy Skretvedt and Serge Bromberg; “Restoring Laurel & Hardy,” a documentary by Serge Bromberg and Eric Lange; “Laurel & Hardy On-Location,” a video essay by historian John Bengtson on selected location exteriors — always fascinating information and worth many viewings (11 minutes); a self-guided slideshow presentation of Hats Off (1927), a presumed lost film (48 images); multiple image galleries containing original publicity materials, press reviews and rare production stills (284 images total); and an insert booklet featuring an introduction to the collection by Serge Bromberg, a new essay by historian Richard W. Bann on the Blackhawk Films story and the company’s stewardship of the Laurel & Hardy film materials, and notes on each film by historian Randy Skretvedt.

For reviews of the individual films, see our Call of the Cuckoo on home video, Love ’em and Weep on home video, and Putting Pants on Philip on home video pages.

This is our recommendation for the best home video editions available of these films.

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