It's Been a Hard Day's Blog....

The Beatles are obviously one of the most influential bands of all-time. They have made a massive impact on more than just music but pop culture too. Four men from Liverpool took the world by storm and the brand of The Beatles is still making a ton of money.  On the other side of things, I have been a massive fan of the Beatles since the late 1980s. As a teen, the music was influential and seemed timeless. I became a massive fan of Paul McCartney and seen him in concert 3 times. There once was a time where I almost was part of Ringo Starr’s posse when he was in town for a concert. A neighbor to my girlfriend at the time asked her if she knew anyone that would help him out on a security detail for Ringo. They needed someone to sit with him in his limo with him. He asked if she knew anyone. She said she didn’t. We didn’t last much longer after that as a couple.

Now as much fun as it is to talk about my failed love life, it is also equally fun to talk about how The Beatles transverse from music into film. Their first film was A Hard Day’s Night. Like I said, I am a massive fan of this group. I have all their albums, T-shirts, Bootlegs, etc. I even have the laserdisc set to The Beatles Anthology. I got it for Christmas in 1996. The laserdisc edition of The Beatles Anthology was about $250 at the time. Amazing. Well, here is another fun fact:

I had never seen A Hard Day’s Night before now.

As a “supposed” fan of this group, there is no explanation for this. I have seen all their other movies from Help! to Magical Mystery Tour. I even saw Let It Be and that hadn’t been released. Yet, for some reason, I never got to see A Hard Day’s Night. I even had to order the Criterion Collection Blu-ray because I never even owned it. When I sat down and watched it, I became a little sad because I think I missed something pretty special for my youth.

Everyone on the planet Earth, except for me, knows all about A Hard Day’s Night. This is the film that is pretty much a day in the life of the Beatles with a little bit of plot thrown in to the film for god measure. It starts out right the beginning with 3 of The Beatles running down the street from a crazed group of fans. We have seen this shot many times over the last 50 years. It is iconic. They are trying to get on a train to go to London for a television appearance. I said three of the four? Paul is missing. He is in the train station with his granddad John McCartney. John is played by Wilfrid Brambell who is best known to us as Albert Edward Ladysmith Steptoe from Steptoe and Son. By the time the film was made, Brambell had already become a household name for appearing in the BBC series.

They all get on the train and make the journey. Everything on the train is wonderful. Its actually interesting to see this so long after I have seen the members appear as themselves elsewhere because writer Alun Owen nailed The Beatles personalities perfectly. It feels like a conversation the four of them are having and a film is just crafted around them.

Occasionally in the film they break into song which of course is album A Hard Day’s Night which is pretty awesome. The lip syncing isn’t perfect but it is wonderfully shot where it doesn’t matter. Everything about this film is simply fun.

Once the action gets to London, the plot shows up. I make that sound like a criticism but it really isn’t. The train ride is basically the Fab Four walking around and we see what kind of situations they get into depending on who else is on the train. It really is enjoyable. In London, we see The Beatles sneak out to go to a club, rescue Paul’s granddad from a casino and the next day as they get ready for their broadcast, they go into a reception where they are interviewed by many people. Basically like some sort of press party. This is a famous sequence where the press asks them all-sorts of questions and they give some very oddball responses. Basically, it’s The Beatles taking the piss out of the press party and it’s a blast.

Reporter: How did you find America?
John: Turned left at Greenland.

Reporter: What would you call that hairstyle you're wearing?

George: Arthur.

Reporter: Are you a mod or a rocker?

Ringo: Um, no. I'm a mocker.

Reporter: Do you often see your father?

Paul: No, actually, we're just good friends.

Reporter: What do you call that collar?

Ringo: A collar.

As they edge closer to their live broadcast, things start to happen such as the Fab Four sneaking away from the theatre and start exploring, running around. We get the famous sequence to “Cant’s Buy Me Love” where they are jumping and we get a lot of really cool shots of a very unique time. Once again, this is iconic. It is so cool to see this in context.

Just as they get back to the theater, Granddad McCartney starts filling Ringo’s head with all sorts of things about him doing his own things and to live his own life. He thinks Ringo is treated poorly by everyone and he should do something about it. In fact, that is exactly what Ringo decides to do. It’s unfortunate he decides to do this prior to this live broadcast.

Granddad McCartney is constantly being referred to in the film as being “so clean” which is a take off from his alter ego on Steptoe and Son with Harold crying to him all the time “youre a dirty little man”. The thing about John McCartney (which John is Paul’s actual first name) is that he isn’t actually too far from Steptoe. The only difference is that he is a little more refrained but that really is about it. John McCartney is a trouble-maker. Trying to talk people into things or just giving them a sly (Steptoe –like ) look when they talk with him. He is constantly going after Ringo about his nose. In fact a lot of people do.

Granddad McCartney: It's your nose, you know. Fans are funny that way, they take a dislike to things. They'll pick on a nose.
Ringo: Aw, you pick on your own.

While Ringo is out to explore the world, he needs to dress down so the screaming girls won’t recognize him. He looks a little more like a vagrant and becomes a bit of a klutz. The problem with that is although it is just human nature, a constable starts to think he is a trouble maker.  The police man that follows Ringo around and eventually nicks him is palyed by Roger Avon. Avon had made a career of playing Policemen on TV and film including the BBC Benny Hill, Vacation Playhouse, Sergeant Cork, The Cuckoo Patrol, Harry Worth, Dr. Finlay’s Casebook, My Partner the Ghost, On the Buses, Bachelor Father, Mutiny on the Buses, Dead of Night, Yus My Dear, Sykes, Second City First, and of course two episodes of Steptoe and Son: The Piano and Any Old Iron.

Like I said, Ringo gets nicked and put into the police station but so does Granddad! He is brought in for selling forged autographs of The Beatles. His own grandson! Of course he can leave the police stations when he likes but doesn’t know it and creates an elaborate disturbance so he can run away while the Police Sergeant just kind of looks at him.

As Granddad gets back to the theater, everyone is in a panic because everyone is looking for Ringo. Once Granddad tells everyone where Ringo is, you would think the rest of The Beatles would sit back and have someone else go get him since there is hardly any time before their concert. Wrong, they leave to retrieve him.  Once they get to the station, they do something to try and get Ringo out and next thing we know, about 10 Police officers are running after them. All the running around does get a bit too Benny Hill for me. The only thing I felt was a little off in this film was during this sequence “Can’t Buy Me Love” is played again. It seemed a little repetitious.

Eventually everything is good and they get back to the theater in time for their concert and in time for the live television broadcast. All is well. This film even has David Langton from Upstairs Downstairs and even Jeremy Lloyd who is uncredited but I recognized him immediately.

Unlike what we see with Help! later, A Hard Day’s Night is not a story with a villain. It’s more of an expose on a day in the life. There isn’t a villain. The closest we get to is a protagonist of their manager Norm. He is not a bad guy but needs to keep them on task. Watching them, it is easy to see that they wander off very easily or lose interest on a whim. Norm kind of comes across as someone who has to control them and is almost like a parent but also has an inferiority complex especially about his own height. Something Granddad plays into during the film.

The most interesting aspect of the film are The Beatles themselves. As I mentioned above, it captures their personalities. I have no problem believing this I what they are really like in person. It obviously is such a blessing that all four members have not only amazing personalities but they are naturals on film.  Just as I think George is the least gregarious in front of the camera, he will say something or do something that is funny. It really is crazy how they just worked out perfectly.

I feel like I missed out not seeing this as a kid. I think part of the problem is that I would have rather watched The Beatles movie that was in colour over the one in black & white. A view I do not hold these days or for decades. The movie is decisive and creative. This would have influenced me a great deal from how it was made and how visually stunning it is as a kid. I love the closing credits with all the pictures of The Beatles. They were perfect for the camera. This was a lost film for me. One that passed me by and now as I am older, have enjoyed it but think if I were to only watch one of the 2 Beatles films again I would have chose this one without any hesitation.

While Help! is very enjoyable, it plays like an episode of Gilligan’s Island. The crazy villain played by Leo McKern is trying to get the ring off of Gillgan’s….I mean Ringo’s finger. In A Hard Day’s Night, it is real. Yes, it is a comedy with over the top situations like the car thief who keeps getting interrupted by the chase sequence and eventually decides to not care to break into the vehicle but the film is grounded in truth. It’s very true that the Fab Four were chased everywhere they went.  This was Beatlemania and it was only going to get bigger. Watching this film, for me, was like opening a wonderful time capsule; a window into a time that no longer exists.

It is easy to see why this film inspired so many people. It’s a product of its time in a good way. It’s a sweet innocent view of these 4 lads from Liverpool before the mega fame, before the break up and never-ending lawsuits and before they aged and for some of their deaths. This was The Beatles when they were forever young.

Next week: I am going to take a look at the 1977 BBC version of Count Dracula. Produced in the standard way the most BBC series were made at the time, I think this version of Count Dracula is one of the most wonderful adaptions every made and one of the most creative.

Have a great week!

Do you have feedback, article requests or want to talk about a program but do not want to leave a public comment? Feel free to drop me an e-mail at FTA13867@gmail.com

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DVD Review: Lovejoy Series 6

Lovejoy Series 6
DVD 3-Disc Set  (approx. 500 minutes)
Released by Acorn Media on June 16, 2015. SRP $49.99
Subtitles: English SDH 4:3

I have stated on a few occasions how much of a fan I am of the BBC series Lovejoy. Remember that loveable rogue who works in the antique business. Perhaps once in a while, he dips in the underground world of dirty dealing but generally he is on the up and up with a big heart of gold. He’s a divvy which means he can instinctively know if a piece is legit and if it is worth money.

As I profess my love for this series, there is one thing I need to disclose. I had never seen the final series of Lovejoy. By the time we get to the final series, which is Series 6 and what this review is about, I felt that the series had changed enough where some of my favorite characters were gone and I lost interest in the series. That was 20 years ago.

As I had been making my way through the Lovejoy series, I decided I would give the final series a chance. When I saw this was coming out from Acorn Media, I wanted to see what I missed. I think what I was most concerned about was the thought of the fun witty writing that was mixed in with some fairly serious situations for our favorite antiques dealer made me uninterested in watching any further.

When I sat down to watch Series 6, the thing I noticed was that we have different writers than before but I feel the character of Lovejoy is tweaked. What I personally see as the series progressed over the years was how Ian McShane (Lovejoy) had gotten himself in better shape over time. Now, I have no problem with anyone who wants to get themselves in better shape and that is not a reason to not like a series but it felt to me that Lovejoy was becoming a bit of an action hero opposed to an accidental hero which I found so charming. There is a scene in the Series 6 episode Breaking the Broker where Lovejoy needs to steal back a painting belonging to Tinker. Lovejoy needs to basically jump over fences and climb up walls of a house to steal it back. He does it so effortlessly he almost looks like Spiderman. Lovejoy is not Spiderman.

By this point in the series, Lady Jane Felsham had left the series. As I said in my review of Series 3, she may have been one of the most patient people in history based on how many times she needed to bail Lovejoy out of some problem. She is replaced for lack of a better term by Charlotte Cavendish. Charlotte and Lovejoy do have a “thing” going but she can be easily exasperated by Lovejoy. She’s not afraid to tell him to push off. I think the bigger hole in the cast was when Eric Catchpole left the series. He was sort of our conduit of comedy into the series. That was the starting point of the series when Lovejoy was paid by Eric’s father so Lovejoy could show Eric how to be an antiques dealer since Eric had absolutely nothing else going on in his life. Eric was replaced by Beth. Although not as funny, it was a wise move by the producers of this series was to not make Beth comedy relief. Eric was often what caused some of the problems in the series for Lovejoy and Tinker. Beth was not. She was actually competent which is wise but just not as funny. Now, since is the first time I have seen Series 6, did I like it?

Of course I did. It is Ian McShane playing Lovejoy. To me, it is new episodes of Ian McShane playing Lovejoy since I haven’t seen these before now. I actually thought when I started to dig into this set that some of the storylines would look familiar to me but it was all actually new. I never caught these on A&E during its original run or repeats.  I don’t like Series 6 nearly as much as Lovejoy in its heyday but no series maintains the same quality throughout. I think the series has Lovejoy too confident and less frantic. It’s funny I say that because the blurb that Acorn provides for the series says, “Ian McShane's raffish antiques dealer may have finally found some professional and personal stability.” I think that is the problem I am having with this period of the series. Maybe I don’t like Lovejoy to have stability. I like the more rogue sort of character from the earlier episodes. He is just scraping to get by and needs to find ways (some not so legal) to survive. I also thought that some of these episodes took themselves a little too seriously. Episodes such as Day of Reckoning sees an old enemy of Lovejoy’s (played by John Castle) kidnap Charlotte in a plot to kill her just to hurt Lovejoy for revenge. This episode does not fit in with what I think Lovejoy was about. Obviously that is a personal observation yet I do feel this episode is not right. Another one I feel this way about is the one I mentioned above which was Breaking the Broker. I don’t dislike this episode because Lovejoy can easily scale walls. I think it’s worse than that.

This episode sees Tinker set up Lovejoy, yes I said Tinker, to steal back a painting he sold to another dealer. Lovejoy is then caught by the Police and is forced to help them. Tinker was in on this too.  I’m sorry, I just don’t buy for a minute that Tinker would do this to Lovejoy. It actually sort of depressed me. That just wasn’t right. There was a point where Lovejoy told Tinker to never speak to him again. The mood does lighten up on this episode but it just still isn’t right.
Do I like any of the episodes?  Absolutely! I really like Fruit of the Desert as this is one of those classic episodes of Lovejoy where he is looking to make a ton of money from a deal, working with other parties (robbing Peter to pay Paul) to secure funding only to find once he has the money and paid for the goods, he has been scammed! Now he needs to figure out how to find a way to make good on the other promises. To me, that is a good episode of Lovejoy. I don’t think the series should be confused with what it is, it should stay true to itself.

A real treat for me on this set was taking a look at the final episode of Lovejoy, Last Tango in Lavenham. I had never seen it before and it even got the original writers back to write the episode, Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais. It is a nice combination of closure and sweet reminiscing which also brings Lady Jane back into the storyline along with a little cameo with Eric at the end. It is a satisfying ending to a series I cared a great deal about while growing up.

As keen as I am about British television, there are some great performances from some wonderful actors found in episodes on this set: John Castle, David Ryall, Richard Vernon, Dinsdale Landen, Julian Glover, Julia Sawalha, Richard Marner, Martin Jarvis, Gary Waldhorn, Terence Rigby, Christopher Benjamin, Gavin Richards, Donald Pickering, Earl Cameron, and Brian Croucher.

Quality:

The quality on this is the same on the other sets which is simply OK looking quality. The film footage didn’t look that great on original broadcast. As I have stated previous times, this would look amazing restored in HD but there isn’t much luck of that happening. I still contend that the BBC Home Entertainment release of this series on DVD looks a little bit better, this is still watchable. It evens says on the packaging due to the age of the program, it may not look great. I have always heard is that due to the way the series was post-produced back in the 1990s is why it is not that stellar looking. It’s not the fault of Acorn. These masters would have been passed along by Fremantle.

Extras:

There are no extras on this set. There were some extras on the BBC set but it needs to be understood from a consumer standpoint that if a studio buys a series to put out on home media that was previously released by another studio, they are generally only buying the right to the series and not to the extras that may have been previously produced. It’s important to understand. On the BBC Home Entertainment set that is now out of print, they include an excerpt from a BBC program that Ian McShane did at the time of the series on the air and also a newly recorded interview. That’s not easy to get. Once again, I don’t fault Acorn for not having any extras on any of these releases. Always to me, the important thing is to get the episodes in the best quality generally as originally seen.

DVD Breakdown:

Disc 1: Fair Exchange, Day of Reckoning, Somewhere: Over the Rainbow, Double Edged Sword
Disc 2: Guns and Roses, The Last of the Uzkoks, Breaking the Broker
Disc 3: Fruit of the Desert, Holding the Baby, Last Tango and Lavenham

It also should be pointed out on the same day as Series 6 being released, Lovejoy: The Complete Collection got a release. This is a 21-disc box set that includes all 6 series. The SRP on it is $199 but I have seen it on Amazon for as low as $117. This is a really good deal for a very good series. As a box set, this is a Highly Recommended purchase.

As for Series 6 of Lovejoy, if you have been a fan of the series and you want to see where it goes and how it ends I would consider this a Recommended purchase. If you are new to the series, do not start here. The series is not at its best at this point. In my opinion you could start anywhere between Series 1-4 and find it highly enjoyable. If you plan on grabbing a few series at once to try out, I would recommend the entire series boxset or there is also AcornTV which is currently (at the time of this review published) streaming the whole series. Lovejoy as a series is too good to be missed.

Next week: Not British television but British film and damn good British film. I am going to look at the film A Hard Day’s Night starring The Beatles! In the article, I will make a startling admission!

Have a great week!

Do you have feedback, article requests or want to talk about a program but do not want to leave a public comment? Feel free to drop me an e-mail at FTA13867@gmail.com

I am on Twitter: @FromtheArchive Please follow and re-tweet these article if you like them.

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Blu-ray Review: The Flying Deuces

Laurel and Hardy: The Flying Deuces
Blu-ray (also available as a DVD)  (Main Feature: 65 min)
Released by Network on June 15, 2015. SRP £14.99 (Blu Ray) & £12.99 (DVD)
Subtitles: English SDH 1.33:1 black & white Audio: LPCM Mono  HD: 1080p

This is a Regions A, B, and C Blu-ray only available from the UK. This release is BBFC classified U for Universal. This film is suitable for audiences aged four years and over.

Although not a British television series, I was thrilled to be invited by Network to do reviews for their body of work. I have long been a fan of their output of British television which ranged from mainstream to the obscure and virtually everything they put out they made sure was in the best quality they could give us in a release.

I decided that I needed a laugh. Over the past few weeks I’ve suffered a major loss in my family and one thing that I think most people can agree on is when you face these challenging times, one thing can make it better and that is laughter. I saw that Network was going to release a Blu-ray of the Laurel and Hardy film, The Flying Deuces, and I thought that would be the best recipe for what has been going on in my life. I found that this was going to be an intriguing release.

To start with, I feel that Laurel and Hardy is not represented well on the home media front. Just looking at the US and UK releases available, it can be daunting to figure out what is the most complete vs. what would be the best quality. There is not one studio that handles the entire body of Laurel and Hardy material and you run into a situation where a film like The Flying Deuces has fallen into public domain which could complex the situation even more because you don’t know who is handling the material or even if the material is the best a studio can get a hold of for a release. I will go into great detail in my “Quality” section of this review but just to put everyone at ease, Network has done right by this title.

By the time this film was made in 1939, Laurel and Hardy were basically done with making shorts with the Hal Roach studios and moved on to making feature films. This part of their career saw them making features for multiple studios such as 20^th Century Fox and MGM. The Flying Deuces was an RKO Production.

The film starts out with the duo on holiday in Paris France. How on Earth they end up there is anyone’s guess. They are just about to leave to go back to Des Moines when Ollie makes a startling announcement. He is not going to go back with Stan. In fact, he may never leave Paris again because he has fallen in love with Georgette who is the daughter of the innkeeper where the two are staying. He is quite smitten with the young lady and it is very cute how much of a shy little boy Ollie can be when he is around her. He is going to ask for her hand in marriage. He feels pretty strongly that this going to work out. Unfortunately, he doesn’t know the whole story.

Georgette is married to Francois a Foreign Legion officer. Laurel and Hardy are basically children who sees everything through child-like glasses. Through strong prompting of Stan, Ollie decides this is the night to ask Georgette to marry him. Obviously this does not go well as Ollie finds out that Georgette’s heart is with another man. Devastated by these turn of events, Ollie goes down to the river with Stan. Ollie’s intention is to tie a rock around his waist and jump into the river ending his life. Oh, and he plans on taking Stan with him too. It’s actually pretty funny listening to Ollie give Stan the reason why he also needs to jump into the river with him and Stan ends up agreeing with those reasons. “People will stare at you and wonder what you are!” -Ollie to Stan.

As they prepare for their final jump into the river, Francois, unbeknownst to Ollie this is Georgette’s husband, hears the two arguing and goes down to the river to see what is going on. After hearing about Ollie’s sad predicament, Francois urges the two to join the foreign legion where Ollie can forget all about the love that scorned him. Once the two join the Foreign Legion, this is where the film really gets going as the boys don’t quite understand what they joined is a commitment and they signed up for a long time.

There comes a point in the Laurel and Hardy catalog where the films lose some of its luster. I don’t think we are there yet with this film. This film still provides a number of laugh out loud moments, even when you know what is coming up it is still funny.

There are simple comedic moments such as Stan continually bumping his head on a low ceiling in the room they are staying at in Paris. The whole sequence of Ollie wanting to throw his life away by jumping into the river is very funny with a nice payoff. There are some really nice moments when the two have joined the Foreign Legion and immediately mouth off to the Commandant. This leads the two to do laundry duty. There is so much laundry that the drying racks go on and on and even worse is the pile waiting to get done. None of it matters because Ollie accidentally takes care of everything….for good.

I think there is some really nice moments in the film. As I mention above, Ollie’s crush on Georgette is really sweet. Ollie has this ability to play this as a very innocent and wonderful crush. It is so nice but what ruins it is knowing that not only Georgette does not feel the same way for him but her friends actually laugh at him about it. It makes me sad because Ollie is so excited by the prospect of marriage. There is a great moment when the boys are trying to leave the Foreign Legion camp and walk past a group of musicians playing a song. Ollie jumps right in and starts singing “Shine on Harvest Moon”. As Ollie sings, Stan does a little soft shoe dance that Ollie eventually joins in too. This is very reminiscent of a similar sequence in Way Out West (1937). It’s a treat to watch them do this. As simplistic as it is, it’s a fun mixture of comedy but true talent.

An ongoing gag in the Laurel and Hardy shorts and features was giving Stan the ability to do things that were impossible while Ollie stares on in disbelief. Such gags had included Stan’s ability to produce a flame on his thumb just like a lighter. In this film, while the two are prisoners in a jail cell, Stan is able to take a bedframe and play it like a harp. What makes these sequences so funny is that Ollie not only stares at this in disbelief, he will turn to look incredulously at us. It gets a laugh out of me every time.

It’s interesting to me but it seems like most of the feature films have co-stars who are relatively vanilla. Jean Parker is Georgette and Reginald Gardiner is Francois. They play the roles just fine but when they are on the screen, I am wondering where Laurel and Hardy are and when will they be on the screen again. Long gone by this point are the days when there were a regular troupe of comedic actors that joined the two in their shorts from the Hal Roach days. The only exception in this case was James Finlayson. Finlayson had appeared in many of the Laurel and Hardy shorts and features and I think he is just as funny as those two. When I went through all the shorts a few years ago, I would just wait to see Finlayson’s name in the credits. He was brilliant. Unfortunately, he is so underused in this film. He is more of a cameo. He plays the jailor and doesn’t really do anything that showcases his talent which is a shame. That being said, I was still happy to see him and his connection with Laurel and Hardy was far from over by this point.

Quality:

As I mentioned above, this film is in the public domain. This could mean a couple of things could happen. Public domain could mean that any old print could be found and slapped onto a disc.  I am really happy to say that this is not the case here and I am pleased with what Network did to bring us this release.

The film print is crisp and vibrant. For HD, it looked as good as I would have liked to have seen it. There is a lot of detail to what is on screen. I am really curious where the source for this release came from. It is stated that Turner holds the original negative for this film but that doesn’t mean that this is sourced from a positive print. There could be a European release negative that could be the source. It could be from a positive print but if it were, I don’t think it had been played much.

There are occasional scratches on the picture but I only noticed them on the sides of the frame. Like I said, very minimal. There are also a couple of occasions where the picture gets cloudy (almost like a fungus) but once again very little and fleeting. I was surprised and pleased to see at the end of the film a credit given to Jonathan Wood for the clean-up of the film. You can read all about my crush on his work here. I think this bolsters my point above. This is a public domain film. Network has sought out a print (whether negative or positive) of high enough quality that warrants the skills of Jonathan Wood and his team at the BBC Digital Media Services. That’s quality and it shows on this release. It looks really good. In fact, preparing for this review, I took a look at Blu-ray.com’s review of this title released by VCI in the US in May. The picture quality is nowhere near as good as the Network release. There is no detail to the VCI picture. I have stolen a grab from Blu-ray.com’s review to show a comparison. Under the screengrab I took it does say: “Disclaimer: Please note that this screenshot was captured at 1080p, resized to 720p and then compressed using JPEG to improve the loading time. While it should give you a general idea of what a title will look like, it's not representative of the true quality that Blu-ray offers.” You can read their full review here.

The audio is fine for that period of film and what I expected. There is a bit of a hiss that can become noticeable when no one is talking but never becomes annoying.

Extras:

This release includes the German version of this film called Dick und Doof in der Fremdenlegion. I wasn’t sure if this was a version of the film re-shot with Laurel and Hardy speaking in German. This has happened before where they have re-shot their scenes in a different language for other films. This presentation looks to me like a dubbed soundtrack. Not really my thing but it makes sense for a disc that is sold in the European market.

Image Gallery & Promotional PDF material: This is a nice piece to have to put the film in a contextual sense of how it was marketed. Most of the images are film posters and it is fun.

Out of the other options available for The Flying Deuces, I don’t think the other releases will look better than the effort put forth by Network. There is a great deal of care taken to present this film in the best way possible. The film itself is a solid Laurel and Hardy film. They still pull off the laughs and although not as funny as their heyday in the Hal Roach era it still a very enjoyable way to pass 65 minutes. This release is Recommended.

I dedicate this review to my Dad who passed away nearly two weeks ago. Laurel and Hardy was his favourite and he introduced their humour to me when I was young. When watching the antics of those two in this film, I can hear him laugh at all the wonderful slapstick moments. It’s fantastic to see that new audiences are being introduced to these films all the time.

Next review: I am going to look at the final series of Lovejoy (Series 6) being released in the US by Acorn Media on June 16^th. Being a massive fan of this series, I had actually seen very little of Series 6 including the finale. I made some interesting observations on what I saw when I viewed these episodes amd I am looking forward to sharing them.

Have a great week!

Do you have feedback, article requests or want to talk about a program but do not want to leave a public comment? Feel free to drop me an e-mail at FTA13867@gmail.com


I am on Twitter: @FromtheArchive Please follow and re-tweet these article if you like them.

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