The Best of Abbott & Costello, Vol. 3 (Abbott & Costello Go to Mars / Abbott & Costello in the Foreign Legion / Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein / Abbott & Costello Meet the Invisible Man / Abbott & Costello Meet the Killer / Comin' Round the Mountain / Lost in Alaska / Mexican Hayride)

Description

Includes the following movies,
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein
Mexican Hayride
Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff
Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion
Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man
Comin' Round the Mountain
Lost in Alaska
Abbott and Costello Go to Mars

Customer Reviews:

Hey Abbott!.......2007-09-02

Abbott and Costello are the best comedy duo, ever. This collection has some of their funnier movies as well as some of their "quieter" ones. Family fun for everyone. It's pure comedy and has non of that "blue" that's so popular with people today. If you want "funny", this is it! Enjoy!

Great Movies!!!.......2007-08-23

Great movies that my kids love. I had forgotten how funny Abbot & Costello are. Highly recommended.

Classic.......2007-08-11

Two DVD's, 8 films. Picture and film quality is as good as technology can make something this old. The balance between the films is uneven, but I guess every movie can't be a gem. A little pricey for what you get, actually. I remember watching these movies as a kid and being absolutely thrilled with them. Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein and Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer will have you laughing in the aisles. The other movies have their moments, but don't expect more than an occasional chuckle.

Great classic comedy!.......2007-06-27

I used to watch these guys every Sunday morning when I was a kid. When I seen they finally came onto DVD and especially 8 episodes per volume, you just can't go wrong for the price. In my opinion, they were the best comedy duo there ever was. Some of their best movies exist within this volume including my favorite, Abbott & Costello meet Frankenstein. I ordered via standard shipping and received them within a weeks time, packaged nicely, and in great condition. If you love classic, clean comedy, then this is for you.

FUNNY MOVIES .......2007-06-06

WORTH THE MONEY
I LOVE THIS DVD, BRINGS BACK LAUGHTER AND MEMORYS AND YOU NEVER GET BORED WITH IT,

The Pink Panther Classic Cartoon Collection, Vol. 3: Frolics in the Pink

Average customer rating:

Kids love it!
Pink Panther
NEVER GOT IT
your 2-5 yr olds will love it
Perfect

The Pink Panther Classic Cartoon Collection, Vol. 3: Frolics in the Pink
Starring: Pink Panther Classic Cartoon Collection
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0009S4J50
Release Date: 2006-01-31

Description

Get ready for more cat-astrophic adventures as the wily Pink Panther stows away on a ship, waits tables, evades a tax collector and hits the slopes in this delightful collection of 27 classic animated shorts!

Customer Reviews:

Kids love it!.......2007-09-02

I hadn't seen Pink Panther since I was a kid. Of all places to see Pink Panther again, was on our trip to Mexico. Of course all the cartoons were in spanish, but when they saw Pink Panther... They loved it! They could understand him perfectly because there really is little to no talking at all in Pink Panther cartoons. Perfect if you don't understand the language! As soon as we got home we bought the DVD's. Also my oldest son was a late talker and now will narrate to his younger brother everything he thinks Pink Panther would be saying. It's great to hear him build his vocabulary.

Pink Panther.......2007-08-23

What can I say, these are classics!! Even my two year old grandson goes around humming the theme song. It's priceless!! He will watch it as long as I will let him. We are all fans!!

NEVER GOT IT.......2007-05-13

Oh yeah this one was great, except for the fact that i never actually got this one!

your 2-5 yr olds will love it.......2007-05-12

i wanted my kids to see the cartoons i grew up with....and i and they weren't dissapointed it.....infact my 2.5 yr old LOVES it and recites the music ....

my 5 yr old enjoys it alot too

Perfect.......2007-03-24

Exactly what I wanted and how I expected it. Very fast delivery, thank you

TV Comedy Classics, Vol. 1: Love That Bob/Our Miss Brooks

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TV Comedy Classics, Vol. 1: Love That Bob/Our Miss Brooks
Starring: TV Comedy Classics
Manufacturer: Platinum Disc
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B000E0ODKO
Release Date: 2006-02-28

The Lost Films of Laurel & Hardy: The Complete Collection, Vol. 3

Average customer rating:

Out of Sync
Disappointing and misleading silent comedy volume
The Laughs Continue!
STUNNING!
Good material with only minor flaws

The Lost Films of Laurel & Hardy: The Complete Collection, Vol. 3
Starring: Stan Laurel , Oliver Hardy , Vivien Oakland , Bess Flowers , and Kay Deslys
Director: Leo McCarey , Richard Wallace , and Fred Guiol
Manufacturer: Image Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: 6305462224
Release Date: 1999-06-15

Description

Mastered from the original 35mm material, this third volume of lost films from the great comedy team of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy includes all silent shorts: "Liberty" (1929, 20 min.), "We Faw Down" (1928, 21 min.), the very first on-screen pairing of Stan and Ollie in "The Lucky Dog" (1919, 24 min.), "Love 'Em and Weep" (1927, 24 min.), the Glenn Tryon/Oliver Hardy short "Along Came Auntie" (1926, 24 min.), and the Charley Chase/Oliver Hardy short "Bromo and Juliet" (1926, 24 min.).

Customer Reviews:

Out of Sync.......2007-04-22

To the point: for much better quality, buy the U.K. version. Not only is the picture clearer, but the synchronization between picture and sound is maintained to end of Liberty. Yes, you'll have to buy an inexpensive Region 2 DVD player, or use your computer, but sooner or later you'll have to do this anyway if you want to see your favorite films before you die. In this LOST series version of "Libery", for some reason the title "I wasn't nipping!" was re-filmed 3 times for a grand total of 17 seconds, putting the sound way, way ahead of the picture for the rest of the movie. How could the distributors not notice this? I always wonder how people stay in business these days with incompetence so rampant, and no one ever double-checks their work...

For historians, this is an interesting collection to watch once, mostly because it contains the first film L&H were in together.

Disappointing and misleading silent comedy volume.......2007-04-15

I adore Laurel and Hardy comedies, both silent and sound shorts. But Volume 3 of THE LOST FILMS OF LAUREL ANDHARDY from Hal Roach Studios is a major disappointment. The prints are gorgeous studio prints with lively Jazz Age music scores. But too few of the six silent shorts are true Laurel and Hardy comedies.

LIBERTY (1929) is up first and a true Laurel and Hardy classic. They are escaped convicts who end up with each others' pants on and fish inside on top of an under construction building site in Culver City. Leo McCarey directed and George Stevens photographed this comedy gem.

The other five shorts are a mixed bag. WE FAW DOWN (1928) has a variation on the SONS OF THE DESERT (1934) plot, where the boys tell their wives they are meeting with The Boss at a theater, then getting hilariously involved with two women in a plot too convoluted to describe here. Suffice to say, the theater burns down and Laurel and Hardy have wet clothes in the apartment of the two beautiful women. The wives find that out and wait for the boys to confess. It is good fun.

BROMO AND JULIET (1926) has Oliver Hardy as a chauffeur in one of Charley Chase's funniest comedies, a parody of ROMEO AND JULIET with seemingly everyone drunk except the leading lady. Of course, it has a happy ending and is a very good introduction to Chase's comedy persona.

THE LUCKY DOG (1919), the first real Laurel and Hardy movie, has Laurel starring and Hardy in a small role as a crook. Shown for decades in only a heavily cut version, we owe this complete 24 minute print to the late William K. Everson. It is a rare and fascinating curio, not bad.

ALONG CAME AUNTIE (1926) stars someone named Glenn Tryon, along with Oliver Hardy without Laurel. Tryon is the current husband and Hardy the first husband of a woman who will inherit a fortune from a rich aunt if she can prove she has never been divorced. So Tryon has to masquerade as a roomer and not a husband. Again, not a real L & H comedy at all, but with hilarious slapstick moments.

The film that gives me the most trouble here is LOVE `EM AND WEEP (1927). If you did not know this was a Laurel and Hardy comedy, you would swear it was a full-fledged film noir--happily married Jimmy Finlayson is being blackmailed by nasty Mae Busch, with whom he had a fling in his younger days. Busch wants money, or she will tell the wife everything. Laurel plays Finlayson's secretary, and Hardy has a small role. Laurel and Hardy remade this as a sound short called CHICKENS COME HOME a few years later, with Hardy in Finlayson's role and Busch repeating her villainous role. I did not laugh very much and would love to see LOVE `EM AND WEEP in a theater with an audience to see if they laugh at it.

Again, the print quality is magnificent in this whole LOST FILMS OF LAUREL AND HARDY series, and the music scores are nostalgic. Volume Three is wildly uneven, but sometimes great. Don't start your collection with this one, unless it sounds wonderful to you from my review. There are better volumes.

The Laughs Continue!.......2006-01-04

We all experience many important "firsts" in our lives that stay with us. First love, first kiss, first Christmas..ect. Well one of the things I remember was the first thing I saw that made me laugh. It was Laurel and Hardy. It wasn't one of the shorts presented here but their movie "Way Out West". From a young child I've always been a fan of their comedy. Knowing this recently I was given several of these DVD collections featuring Laurel and Hardy's silent works, and even solo pieces. I will review each short individually.

LIBERTY (1929, 20 Mins.) - The "boys" were known for their "mixed-up" derby gag, well here they play a variation of it, the "mixed-up" pants gag. While escaping jail the two mix up their pants in a get-a-way car. Only afterwards do they realize what they have done that they seek a place to change pants. This leads the two to find themselves high above a construction site where they are several stories high. In a way the piece is like "Puttin' Pants On Phillip", a short the team made in 1927. But many claim it resembles a Harold Lloyd short. Back in the 1920's daredevil or "thrill" comedies were quite popular and Lloyd, along with Buster Keaton, were known for these comedies. In fact Lloyd did appear in a short where he too was atop a construction site, "Never Weaken (1921)". While the daredevil comedy is not really Laurel and Hardy's strong suit the "boys" turn this into one of their best silent comedies. I'd say one of the top three. *** 1/2 (out of *****)

WE FAW DOWN (1928,21 MINS.) - "We Faw Down" has the boys lying to their wives in order to go out to a poker game. They tell the wives they are going to meet THE BOSS at a theater. Well as things turn out that very theater burns down but the wives see the "boys" with two women whom they innocently helped out when one of the ladies lost their hat.
The theme was later reused in the 1933 film the team made "Sons of the Desert" and the ending was also reused in "Block-Heads (1938)". In fact what Laurel and Hardy did, along with other silent comedians, was simply repeat all of their material for sound, not that there's anything wrong with that. Here is a good idea that simply doesn't seem developed enough, maybe it just needed to be seen in a longer format, but it does have some laughs. *** (out of *****)

BROMO AND JULIET (1926,24 MINS) - On these "Lost" DVD'S not all of the shorts star Laurel and Hardy as a team, this is one of them. These DVD'S sometimes have Charley Chase shorts which Oliver Hardy acted in. I'm glad that we can see some of Chase's shorts, but keep in mind not all of them are good. Though there is a good one on volume 5 of the series. This one can get kind of boring and doesn't really show Chase at his best. ** (out of *****)

THE LUCKY DOG (1917,24 MINS) - The DVD says this was made 1919, IMDB says 1917, I'm going with IMDB, you can chose which one you like.

"The Lucky Dog" has Laurel and Hardy appearing together in a short for the first time, though they are NOT a team. They are rivals. In seems this piece has never been available in its "complete" form until now, aren't we "lucky"? Actually though the short is funny. It moves along briskly, at times I was a little confused as to what exactly was going on, but I went along with it and had some mild fun. Plus fans of the team I'm sure will be curious to see this if only for "historical" purposes. *** (out of *****)

ALONG CAME AUNTIE (1926, 24 MINS) - Harold Lloyd once said that between Stan and Oliver, Stan would have made it as a single. Having seen more shorts with only Stan I think he may have been right. "Auntie" shows how Oliver didn't really have a fully developed persona until Laurel came along. Stan could carry a short by himself I think, but Oliver couldn't. "Auntie" is pretty funny at times, and has a really good situation, sometimes though the slapstick comedy gets in the way, too much beating each other up. But I laughed enough to recommend it. A little crude but funny. *** (out of *****)

LOVE 'EM AND WEEP (1927, 24 MINS) - Like "Auntie" this is a fast-paced comedy that doesn't waste any time getting into things. It was remade in 1931 as "Chickens Come Home". If you've seen that one, James Finlayson plays the Oliver part with Stan playing the same role in both. Oliver has a brief role as a guest at the party. This is actually pretty funny, but I think dialogue was needed. Between the two I think most people will agree "Chickens" is better. Also worth mentioning is Mae Busch plays the same part in both versions. *** (out of *****)

So there you have it. A pretty solid collection of early Laurel and Hardy shorts and solo pieces. Some of the stuff on here is really funny, and the Chase short kind of disappoints. In the end though this is worth seeing, especially if you're a fan. This DVD'S were really designed for us, the devoted fans of the greatest comedy team of all-time. It is very interesting to see how the team grew and chemistry was put in place the more they worked together.

Bottom-line: Mostly good collection of early Laurel and Hardy shorts. These are really essentials for the devoted fans, others I'm afraid may not be interested enough to watch all of them. "Liberty" is the best in the set.

STUNNING!.......2005-03-16

I will not go into a synopsis of the material as that is readily available but will comment on the series itself having viewed them all.

This is a stunning collection of the early work of the `boys` and is presented from restored 35mm material much of which is taken from the original surviving negatives. Several of the titles in the series, have until fairly recently, been considered lost forever.

Each disc has detailed information on the titles and every film is presented with either the original vitaphone sound on disc (again recently discovered) synchronised with the picture or with a composite vitaphone soundtrack.

Even for those who don`t normally view `silent` movies these are astounding prints of what is now the historic formation of one the most inventive and forever lasting comedy teams ever to grace the silver screen.

Each disc deserves five stars for content, quality and value.

Good material with only minor flaws.......2005-02-16

The shorts presented herein are very fine and funny material, even the shorts that aren't real L&H shorts per se because they either appeared together but hadn't been teamed yet or because only one of them were appearing. The strongest material of course comes from the two proper L&H shorts, 'Liberty' and 'We Faw Down'; I also very much like 'The Lucky Dog,' the film in which they first appeared together, even though they were nowhere near getting teamed yet. 'Love 'Em and Leave 'Em' is the original silent version of what later became 'Chickens Come Home'; but for the difference of roles (Ollie and not Jimmy Finlayson plays the blackmailed husband running for mayor in the sound version), it's such a practically word-by-word and gag-by-gag retelling it's uncanny. 'Bromo and Juliet,' the Charley Chase short in which Ollie appears as a police officer, is very funny and enjoyable too; it's a criminal shame that today this great funnyman and performer is all but forgotten. 'Along Came Auntie,' which was rescued from near-decomposition, is also enjoyable, but overall I'd peg it as the weakest of the six shorts presented here. Of course the material on the discs in this collection are fantastic, but it just seems like they were assembled without rhyme or reason, like by theme or chronological order.

There are however a few minor flaws; it appears that this DVD is like the others in this collection in that it just starts playing right away, or at least it does so on my computer's DVD player. You have to click the Menu button on the control bar to be brought to the main menu to select the short you want to see yourself, and if you're only interested in seeing one, four, and six, say, you have to repeat this every time instead of having it automatically start and the beginning and not display the menu by itself until the final short is over. The background music, even if some of it may have been the original backing soundtrack in theatres, can also become repetitive and monotonous. Sure it's not EXACTLY the same throughout every short, but it's not very varied either.

TV Comedy Classics, Vol. 2: The Adventures of Topper

Average customer rating:

What's in it

TV Comedy Classics, Vol. 2: The Adventures of Topper
Starring: TV Comedy Classics
Manufacturer: Platinum Disc
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000E0ODKY
Release Date: 2006-02-28

Customer Reviews:

What's in it.......2007-06-27

This DVD contains the following episodes (9):
Decorating 1.29.54
George's Old Flame 7.2.54
Henrietta Sells The House 4.9.54
The Proposal 2.19.54
Second Honeymoon 1.8.54
Sweepstakes (A Ghostly Joke) 5.7.54
Topper Goes to Las Vegas 4.23.54
Topper Goes West 4.30.54
Trip to Lisbon 2.12.54
This is A Platinum dual layer disk (DVD9), so there is a Platinum leader on each episode as well as the logo in the lower right corner.
Video quality is good to very good as is the sound.
I bought it for the first episode (Decorating). If not for that go with Critics Choice Volumes One and Two. They contain 8 of the 9 episodes above with the exception of Decorating.

Average customer rating:

This DVD was great, but the new restored 90th Anniversary Edition is better.
You have to watch it silently
Good quality!

The Chaplin Mutuals, Vol. 3
Starring: Albert Austin
Manufacturer: Image Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: 6305075832
Release Date: 1997-11-19

Amazon.com

By 1916 Charlie Chaplin was the most popular comic actor in America, but it was the 12 brilliant comedy shorts he directed during his 16 months at Mutual Studios that turned Chaplin from an inventive comedian to one of the greatest directors of the American cinema. "Fulfilling the Mutual Contract, I suppose, was the happiest period of my life," he wrote in his autobiography, and no wonder: with unprecedented freedom, an enormously lucrative contract, and a company of creative artists at his personal disposal, Chaplin turned the studio set into his creative playground. Always one to latch on to the comic possibilities of inventive props, he turned an escalator into the centerpiece of The Floorwalker, his first film for the studio, where his rapscallion clerk continually incites the store's crooked manager (Eric Campbell). In One A.M. , Chaplin steps out of the Tramp persona to play an inebriated gadfly at war with his home, battling everything from a staircase to a suit of armor to a resistant Murphy bed, all seemingly set on keeping him from getting to sleep. The Pawnshop shows the Tramp in a more aggressive role than we're used to, goofing and playing practical jokes on his coworkers, while The Rink puts him on roller skates for a burlesque ballet on wheels. Each short becomes a comic workshop as Chaplin investigates the slapstick possibilities of an array of props and situations while refining his persona as the down but not out everyman. --Sean Axmaker

Description

Features four films made for the Mutual Film Company: One A.M., The Pawn Shop, The Floorwalker, The Rink. Includes new digital stereo scores by Michael Mortilla.

Customer Reviews:

This DVD was great, but the new restored 90th Anniversary Edition is better........2006-06-25

Up until 2006, these were the best copies on DVD. But now David Shepard and Image Entertainment have restored the missing footage and re-mastered the films , addressing the complaints mentioned below.

So buy the "Mutual Restored 90th Anniversary Edition" instead of this edition.

You have to watch it silently.......2000-09-25

If you start wondering in the middle why this isn't remotely funny (as I did), it's because of the time gap in the Barney-like music juxtaposed with a film of some 80 years ago - because it was really meant to be viewed in a nickelodeon.

But you have not lost your sense of humor. In "The Rink" you will see that these comedies are the result of Chaplin's tireless choregraphy and perfectionism. And it's not just for film,English, or theatre students, but any curious person watching these films to judge if he was truly a genius or not -in lieu of his personal life. It would be hard not to find something enduring and unexplainable about them. END.

Good quality!.......1999-09-30

Unlike Madacy, Image Entertainment obviously cares about quality. The prints are good, though I'm sure some film archive somewhere has better. The DVD doesn't have any extras to speak of except a short essay on the box, but all in all it's a good DVD because of the video quality. I only wish they'd put the films in chonological order across the three volumes.

Average customer rating:

This DVD was great, but the new restored 90th Anniversary Edition is better.
Slapstick as an art form
The best of Chaplin's Mutual comedies are on Volume 1
Curleycue_82 has it down!
Also in defense of the Little Fellow...

The Chaplin Mutuals, Vol. 1
Starring: Albert Austin , Henry Bergman , Kitty Bradbury , Eric Campbell , and Frank J. Coleman
Manufacturer: Image Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: 6305075522
Release Date: 1997-11-19

Amazon.com

Charlie Chaplin entered a period of tremendous artistic freedom and creative growth when he embarked on his 12 films for Mutual Studios in 1916. As he neared the conclusion of his contract, he became increasingly more ambitious and mixed his tried and true comic formula with social commentary for two of his most enduring works. The Immigrant finds the promised land less than rosy for peasants herded like cattle on the ship and wandering the streets of New York looking for work and food, but the Tramp's ingenuity and resilience make him into a symbol of hope for the future as well as a comic riposte. Easy Street is Chaplin's most successful mix of social issues and slapstick comedy. As a rookie cop in the city's toughest neighborhood, a slum overrun with bullies, drug addicts, and gangsters, the goodhearted Chaplin isn't above a little unconventional policing--when his billy club proves ineffective on gargantuan Eric Campbell's thick skull, he resorts to gassing him with a compliant street lamp. The balance of the tape emphasizes lighter fare: The Adventurer finds Charlie as an escaped convict who hides out in a high society party crawling with cops. When the Tramp decides to take The Cure, he comes prepared with a trunk full of alcohol, which quickly inebriates the guests and staff of the sanitarium. The revolving door becomes a comic centerpiece (like the escalator in The Floorwalker), which befuddles the inebriated Chaplin and infuriates gout-stricken nemesis Eric Campbell. --Sean Axmaker

Description

Charlie Chaplin was the biggest star in film when he signed with the Mutual Company in 1916 for the then-unheard-of sum of $670,000. The twelve films he made for Mutual reflect Chaplin's attempt to use comedy not just as a series of gags, but as a search for genuine, universal truths. Digitally mastered from early generation 35mm negatives, these works provide considerable testimony to Chaplin's skills as both a comedian and a filmmaker. This volume includes the shorts "The Immigrant," "The Adventurer," "The Cure" and "Easy Street" (all 1917).

Customer Reviews:

This DVD was great, but the new restored 90th Anniversary Edition is better........2006-06-25

Slapstick as an art form.......2005-06-21

This is the best single volume of Chaplin you can own -- 4 masterpieces from his most creative period, the Mutual films of 1916-1917. Later films like The Circus and The Gold Rush are to a large extent refinements of the ideas first produced here, and are not significantly more satisfying to watch.

The Cure and The Adventurer are in the style of classical two-real slapstick comedy -- not much of a story, but a small number of ideas mined for considerable comic potential. The Cure is somewhat a throwback to Chaplin's Essanay period, where the humor tends to derive from his character's inability or unwillingness to abide by social rules. In this case, Charlie (not appearing as the tramp character) is a recovering alcoholic in a sanatarium who arrives with a suitcase full of liquor, fights with the staff and other patients, and flirts with, and eventually wins, the heart of a fellow patient, played by Edna Perviance. The Cure demonstrates Chaplin's creative growth since the Essanay years by having more diversity in the comic situations, from the classic "rub down" by the sadistic masseur to various encounters with the staff.

The Adventurer's comic roots are closer to the Keystone years, with two long police chase scenes, including one at the beginning, probably unprecedented in the history of films at the time. The chases, however, are light-years away from the crude, chaotic Keystone versions. Here the humor arises from with the ballet-like grace with which the tramp eludes his pursuers.

By contrast to these films, The Immigrant and Easy Street are so dense in comic possibilities that they could easily have been successful feature-length films -- they compress suspense, drama, pathos and character development into 20 minutes of non-stop eye candy. These films replace non-stop comic situations with a combination of memorable comedy and genuinely moving encounters, such as at the end of The Immigrant, where Charlie persuades a playfully reluctant Edna to seek out a Justice of the Peace, all while being caught in a pouring rain. The best comic moments in The Immigrant involve Eric Campbell as the sadistic waiter. Again there is humor heightened by suspense, as we but not the tramp know he has no money to pay the bill. Chaplin perfectly builds the suspense to its satisfying climax, as the tramp once again uses his wits and quick reaction to avoid disaster.

Easy Street is justly viewed as the best of this series, which makes it the best of Charlie's best. Like The Immigrant, it is perfect in economy and execution, but has arguably the most memorable scene in all of Chaplin's movies, the encounter on the street with Charlie the cop and Eric Campbell the king of the street bullies. Again there is humor blended with suspense, as Charlie shyly enters the scene after we have witnessed the carnage that Eric has caused. The encounter again builds flawlessly and climaxes with Charile using a gas light to subdue his nemesis. The rest of Easy Street, from the opening scene in the ghetto mission, to the hopeful conclusion, combines refined humor with compassion for the poor without being preachy.

The only disappointing aspect of this collection is the background music -- it consists of an amateur score performed on an annoying synthetic piano which often does not match well with the action. Turn the volume down and, if you must, listen to some good jazz of the same period while you enjoy the films -- maybe King Oliver. Or leave it quiet -- Charlie will inspire music in your head.

The best of Chaplin's Mutual comedies are on Volume 1.......2004-10-15

The two-reel comedies that Charlie Chaplin made during his one-year contract with the Mutual Film Corporation are considered his best shorts. Having been offered $500,000 from Essanay to stay, Chaplin signed with Mutual for $10,000 a week for one year and a $150,000 signing bonus. More important, Mutual gave Chaplin virtually complete control over his shorts as writer, director, and star. It was during this period that Chaplin refined his filmmaking techniques and set the stage for moving on to longer and better films, from "A Dog's Life" and "The Kid" to his silent feature films such as "The Gold Rush" and "Modern Times."

Fortunately Kino started restoring Chaplin's work with both Essanay and Mutual, tracking down the best surviving 35mm negatives, digitally mastering the prints to clean them up, and then adding re-orchestrated musical scores. "The Chaplin Mutuals, Volume 1" actually offers the last four of the dozen two-reelers Chaplin did for Mutual, all of which were released in 1917 and all of which co-starred Edna Purviance as the Tramp's leading lady and had Eric Campbell in the role of the heavy:

"The Immigrant" (Released June 17, 1917) is arguably the best of Chaplin's shorts. He filmed 24 hours of footage over two months to produce a 21-minute film when most two-reelers were shot in two days. When Chaplin began, filming the restaurant scene (with Campbell as the head waiter), the film was going to be about the bohemian life, but the scene was too short and he decided to make the Tramp and the young girl immigrants, creating the opening sequence on the boat and the happy ending. Starting with the simple gag of the Tramp leaning over the ship's railing turning out to be something other than what we think, "The Immigrant" is classic Chaplin.

"Easy Street" (January 22, 1917) would be my choice for the second best of the Chaplin Mutuals. Reformed by Edna, the Missionary's daughter, Chaplin plays a cop whose beat is a wretched slum area, hence the irony of the title. There is a short but intricate chase scene before Edna is kidnapped by a dope addict and has to be rescued by Charlie. On the one hand there is lots of slapstick in this one, but you also have a depiction of urban poverty and violence that is a bit unsettling if you can stop laughing long enough to think about what you are seeing.

"The Adventurer" (October 22, 1917), the last of the films Chaplin did for Mutual, has him Chaplin a convict who escapes after a lengthy chase scene and end up rescuing not only the lovely Edna, but her mother and obnoxious fiance. Hailed as a hero, and presumed to be a wealthy yachtsman as is so often the case in these comedies, Charlie is invited to a dinner party at the Judge's mansion where it is just a question of time before his true identity is revealed.

"The Cure" (April 16, 1917) has Chaplin as a wealthy inebriate who is trying to dry out at a sanitarium where once again the lovely Edna catches his eye. If you have ever seen a clip from this one it is probably Chaplin's comic use of the revolving door and the poor guy with the gouty foot. The big joke is that the supply of booze he has brought in a trunk to survive the experience of sobering up ends up being dumped into the mineral spring, which makes for a lot of happy people in the end.

With "The Immigrant" and "Easy Street" this collection offers two of the very best of Charlie Chaplin's two-reelers. If, for some reason you wanted to only pick up one of the three volumes in this set then this would definitely be the one. But I think the whole set is worthwhile, certainly superior to everything Chaplin did with Keystone and Esssanay and clearly setting the stage for what would follow. I had a class once where I showed one work from each of the five periods of Chaplin's career, defined by the studio he worked for, to show how he progressed from simple reelers like "The Fatal Mallet" to my favorite, "City Lights."

Curleycue_82 has it down!.......2003-07-18

I agree with you Curleycue_82. I couldn't wait to write a review to these people!

Also in defense of the Little Fellow..........2003-07-18

In response to this review: "I don't believe that Chaplin achieved comedic excellence until his features. These shorts are crude physical humor and totally unfunny. Dated stuff."

Amazon.com

Charlie Chaplin refined his trademark character the Little Tramp through his short films at Mutual Studios with the help of his two key costars: burly, barrel-chested Eric Campbell, his hulking physical opposite who forever played the bullying nemesis (often behind a positively demonic beard), and sweet-faced Edna Purviance, the alternately demure and plucky innocent he's forever courting, saving, or simply mooning over. In The Count, Chaplin and Campbell crash a society bash under false identities to woo a rich lovely, but Chaplin soon reverts to his impulsive instincts and turns the posh gathering into an anarchic free-for-all. The Vagabond, Chaplin's second Mutual short, is a rural melodrama of a young girl saved from abusive guardians by the resourceful Tramp. Favoring pathos over slapstick, it looks forward to the sentimental melodrama of his features to come. As a lowly menial in The Fireman, Chaplin is cheerfully oblivious to the chaos he causes to the ordered firehouse and still manages to emerge a hero. Finally, Behind the Screen thumbs a nose at the movies in general and Mack Sennett (Chaplin's old boss) in particular with a lampoon of the studios that concludes with the invention of the pie fight ("I don't like this highbrow stuff," comments one victim). Equal parts class clown, downtrodden social outcast, and sentimental softy, Chaplin's continued appeal lies not merely in his comic invention but his dogged defiance of authority, class, and convention, and these classic shorts preserve the edginess he smoothed out in later features. --Sean Axmaker

Description

Features four films made for the Mutual Film Company: The Count, The Vagabond, The Fireman, and Behind the Screen. Includes new digital stereo scores by Michael Mortilla.

Customer Reviews:

This DVD was great, but the new restored 90th Anniversary Edition is better........2006-06-25

Quite a dvd!.......2002-03-05

First of all, I am actually reviewing The Chaplin Mutuals, Vol. 2 DVD, not a vhs tape or collection. I'm expecially NOT reviewing any videotapes by the Madacy corporation, which are very poor quality, difiicult to watch, and an embarassment to the Chaplin legacy.

Anyways, to the DVD in question. These four short films have been carefully restored by Davis Shepherd, and it shows. The prints are well done, there is footage restored that had been missing for years, the image is sharp, and most of the film flaws have been minimized as much as humanly possible without detracting from the film itself.

Sadly, these are amongst the first dvds produced, and the quality of the video compression leaves something to be desired. Zooming in on the image at all produces an appalingly distorted picture. People with high-definition tv sets may notice a lot of compression artifacts in the picture. These faults are not the fault of David Shepherd - the discs simply need updating, which is sadly unlikely since they probably don't sell that well.

But the material on the dvd is fantastic. The films are mostly very funny, though you have to adjust your tastes a bit for the humor of 1916 - 1917.

Product Description

Beverly Hillbillies Classics Vol. 3 1. Elly's Animals 2. Elly's First Date 3. Getting Settled 4. Duke Steals a Wife

Average customer rating:

Comedy Classics, Vol. 3
Starring: Comedy Classics
Manufacturer: Platinum Disc
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

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ASIN: B000BF0E2S
Release Date: 2005-10-04

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