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

Love ’em and Weep (1927)

This James Finlayson vehicle features Stan Laurel in a major supporting role. Stan’s character is much closer to his lovable L&H standard but is also something of a ladies’ man.

This Blu-ray Disc edition 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; Hats Off (1927) slideshow presentation of this presumed lost film; multiple image galleries containing original publicity materials, press reviews and rare production stills; and an insert booklet featuring a new essay by historian Richard W. Bann on the Blackhawk Films story and the company’s stewardship of the Laurel & Hardy film materials, an introduction to the collection by Serge Bromberg, and notes on each film by historian Randy Skretvedt.

This is likely to be the best home video edition of the film available.

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This early DVD edition features a very-good transfer of Love ’em and Weep from a high quality 35mm print, and is a delight to watch. This is the most intact print utilized in this collection, until the restaurant scene where, occasionally, a good 35mm positive print is used for the transfer.

While the films on this disc are silent films, each have a musical accompaniment. The other films have scores cobbled together from synchronized soundtracks originally recorded for other Hal Roach sound productions. At times, during several of the films, sound effects or music cues play randomly out-of-sync to the action of the picture. This can be ignored to a large degree, but occasionally is distracting from the film at hand.

Overall, the disc is quite watchable and, while the condition of some of the surviving footage is rough, the disc is only compromised by the annoying pauses between cuts in some of the transfers.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.