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Author Topic: The Music Box, Laurel and Hardy, 1932
Steve Klare
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 - posted September 16, 2008 04:14 PM      Profile for Steve Klare   Email Steve Klare   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
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“Why don’t you WALK around?”

The Music Box, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, 1932 (2x400’, Black and White, Blackhawk Films)

Here it is: the ultimate Laurel and Hardy! It’s the one that people think about when they hear “Laurel and Hardy” and it earned them their only Best Picture Academy Award. Strange too: it was made as kind of an afterthought to sneak another film in that year’s budget and was basically a remake of their now lost silent film “Hat’s Off”. However, it is a true classic. Even people who are dimly conscious of the world before TV remember “ ’Dat one ‘bout ‘dose guys pushin’ the piana’ up ‘duh steps. You know ‘dem: ‘duh guys widd ‘duh hats? Yeah!, Moe and Costello!”

The story is simple enough to be a video game, from a time when that phrase would have been gibberish. The humor is not subtle: this is piano sliding down stairs and out a window. It is people kicking each other in the butts and getting hit in the head. The acting is often over the top: Professor Theodore Von Schwarzenhoffen (M.D., A.D, D.D.S, F.L.D, F.F.F. und F. ) bellows like a hurricane. The special effects are a dummy being dragged down a staircase by a runaway piano crate. In short, if you are looking for Orson Welles, you’re sitting in the wrong theater.

What we have instead is a great little story of two ordinary guys fighting extraordinary obstacles: a heavy crate, a big staircase, the force of gravity, a nursemaid with a grating laugh, a brutal cop, a big loudmouth, a clever horse and worst of all their own idiocy. Anybody who has ever really screwed up a task because they just didn’t think the matter through before starting can relate to this one, and that includes basically all of us sooner or later.

So we find ourselves there on that bright day in Los Angeles, and Stan and Ollie arrive with Susie their horse and the player piano for delivery to 1127 Walnut Avenue in their wagon. They are looking the way we like Laurel and Hardy to look: young, healthy, perhaps foolishly optimistic. In what may be the biggest understatement in the history of the movies, Postman Hall tells them the house is “right on top of the stoop”. The “stoop” is of course that famous concrete staircase of 131 steps. I won’t really get into the story; if you haven’t seen it yet you should experience it for yourself! Suffice it to say what goes up must come down: again and again and again. Even after they get it to and into the house they still find ways of making the job a spectacular mess. No sane insurance company would ever sell a policy to these guys.

-yet they never quit!

Stan is just well…Stan. He’s not very bright and keeps messing things up. The joke is on Ollie though because despite whatever he thinks of Stan he’s easily just as big a fool. Ollie keeps unleashing his wrath on Stan, but it keeps coming back on him again and again. Ollie’s only real comfort is the audience. Every time the Universe pays him back he turns to the camera and silently looks to us for sympathy.

I’m not sure if I’ve made it clear yet, but I love this movie! Seeing it as many times as I have it has reached kind of a false perfection from familiarity. Everything works together and if I ever saw a different version of it, it would be like a favorite song with a new verse…just not right!

My print is one of the Blackhawk Laurel and Hardies. Normally I don’t like the idea of reviewing a movie this long out of print, but these are very commonly available used.

Mine did not arrive on 2x400’ in the original Blackhawk packaging but instead put together on this ponderous 800’ steel reel in a black metal can inside one of those old khaki canvas covered boxes with fabric straps and chromed buckles. (It looks like something a director should be carrying across the studio lot on his way to the Big Screening!)

Reel one is wonderfully sharp. Reel two is a little soft but probably more noticeable because mine are spliced together and therefore easier to compare. The sound is variable, as if they were having trouble getting a good level on the wide outdoors shots. Exterior close ups and interiors are fine. It gives you a couple of seconds of that classic Vitaphone 60 Hz. hum here and there which at this late date is strangely comforting. When you cut it some slack by remembering this one is pushing 80 years old, it’s actually really good!

-Heaven forbid we should ever watch it digitized, stereofied, pasteurized, homogenized and colorized!

 -

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All I ask is a wide screen and a projector to light her by...

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Paul Adsett
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 - posted September 16, 2008 07:43 PM      Profile for Paul Adsett     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Hi Steve, funny you should post this review today - I was just watching my S8 print last night! Yes, this is one of my favourite film of the Boys. My particular Blackhawk print is sharp but a little washed out on reel 1, then good contrast but softer on reel 2. I too notice the 60hz hum coming in and out, until you pointed it out I did'nt realize this was sound on disc.
My all time favourite L&H IS 'Blotto' - just hysterical!

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Osi Osgood
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 - posted September 16, 2008 08:09 PM      Profile for Osi Osgood   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
This is one of the great ones, (I have the Blackhawk silent version, which plays quite nice, but I would love to have the 2X400ft version.)

My personal favorite : Towed in the Hole!

Great review Steve AND that looks like a still from the rpint at the bottom of the review. Is it not?

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Steve Klare
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 - posted September 16, 2008 08:29 PM      Profile for Steve Klare   Email Steve Klare   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Evening, Gents!

They are both just pictures I found on the 'net, but I'd say the boys in the fountain is a screen shot.

Osi, congratulations on your little boy! MY little boy loves "the Music Box". When we are out in the car and drive past a house with a big front staircase. He often says "That's the house up there! Right on top of the stoop!"

About two years ago they did an activity on movies at pre-school and they asked the kids who their movie heroes were. He said "Laurel and Hardy", which caused a lot of brains over there into a forced re-boot!

I love the early talkies, sure they are old today, but when you see one you’re witnessing the dawn of a whole new era in entertainment. It's hard to imagine the creative possibilities and challenges the studios found themselves facing in those days.

The great thing about watching a late L&H silent is you can lip read them doing those stock lines they would be doing on the track a few years later. They were ready!

"Why don't you do something to HELP me?"

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Paul Adsett
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 - posted September 16, 2008 09:58 PM      Profile for Paul Adsett     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Steve's story of his son reminds me of my grandson, who is now quite familiar with 'The Boys' films. Whenever we are out together and something goes wrong he always exclaims " Another fine mess!" . [Smile]

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Osi Osgood
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 - posted September 17, 2008 10:09 AM      Profile for Osi Osgood   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Steve,

I agree on those silents. In fact, when a company rereleased them on restored laserdisc versions, a fan of Laurel and Hardy, took a number of the greatest silents, (Double Whoopee among them) and having the two's vocals spot on, did them as sounds, with the original Hal Roach music. I heard one of them and though I knew it wasn't them, it certainly sounded spot on.

But you always know it's not them.

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"All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "

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Steve Klare
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 - posted September 17, 2008 02:56 PM      Profile for Steve Klare   Email Steve Klare   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Osi,

I've never has a Blackhawk silent version of an L&H talkie. Did Blackhawk cut intertitles into these?

-maybe the ones with the little Indian at the bottom?

Blackhawk did a nice job putting music and effects tracks on some of the silents. The only problem is on the two of these that I have ("Two Tars" and "You're Darn Tootin!"), they use the pretty much the same music!

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Tony Stucchio
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 - posted September 17, 2008 07:43 PM      Profile for Tony Stucchio     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
quote:
Reel one is wonderfully sharp. Reel two is a little soft but probably more noticeable because mine are spliced together and therefore easier to compare.
What is the date code on the stock? I have a Blackhawk print from 1974 that is beautiful. Blackhawk changed negatives over the years for many of their titles, particularly the most popular ones like THE MUSIC BOX. They definitely had a great negative circa 1974.

quote:

It gives you a couple of seconds of that classic Vitaphone 60 Hz. hum here and there which at this late date is strangely comforting.

By 1932, Roach was no longer using Vitaphone, but the Western Electric sound-on-film method. I believe they switched over late 1929/early 1930, but I would have to check to be sure. That "hum" could easily have been added during the transfer of an optical track to magnetic, which is how Blackhawk usually did it.

quote:
Heaven forbid we should ever watch it digitized, stereofied, pasteurized, homogenized and colorized!
It has been colorized, along with many other L&Hs. But to see it you need to find an old VHS tape. And it has been digitized to DVD -- also when TCM shows it, I'm sure it is from a digital source, just like everything else on TV today. Though it has been neither pasteurized nor homogenized, it has had its sound "enhanced" by adding a Ronnie Hazelhearst background track to the colorized version. He should have been ostracized for doing that. If not, I bet he lost his hook, line, and sinker!

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Steve Klare
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 - posted September 17, 2008 08:17 PM      Profile for Steve Klare   Email Steve Klare   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Colorization:

I've never understood why people can’t enjoy films in black and white, but then again I've never understood why they have to fake sound tracks on silents either.

I shoot quite a bit of black and white Super-8 myself. One of my friends is somehow under the impression I do it because it's cheaper! If cheap was the goal, I'd just break out the camcorder.

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Osi Osgood
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 - posted September 17, 2008 09:02 PM      Profile for Osi Osgood   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
What they did for those silent versions of sound shorts, was to make them 18 frames per second instead of 24, (which allowed them to put the whole short on one very full 400ft reel).

Also, they did add intertitles (I think that's what they are called right?) to the short. Except for those musical numbers at the end of the film, most of it wasn't effected.

Even when I eventually get the sound version, I'll keep the slient.

I also have a silent of "Brats" by Blackhawk. Strangely enough,
the silent has a sharper image than the sound.

and ... I'll keep my eye out for the pre 1974 "Music Box"

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"All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "

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David Kilderry
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 - posted September 18, 2008 04:04 AM      Profile for David Kilderry   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
As Tony says, Hal Roach did not produce sound on disc after 1930; The Music Box was sound on film.

What leads to the confusion is although sound on film (RCA Photophone etc) dominated by 1930, discs were still often produced for sound on film releases as many theatre owners could not afford to upgrade to the sound on film system so shortly after the upgrade to Vitaphone.

I have a print on Super 8 and 16mm both have good sound for the day.

David

David

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Tony Stucchio
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 - posted September 18, 2008 09:09 PM      Profile for Tony Stucchio     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
quote:
and ... I'll keep my eye out for the pre 1974 "Music Box"
In the late 60's/early 70's (depending on who you ask), Blackhawk upgraded their L&H negatives from the old Film Classics 16mm prints they were using as a source. The older Blackhawk prints actually have Film Classics titles, rather than the Blackhawk white-on-black titles, which were made from newer negatives. I have personally only seen one these (with FC titles)in Super 8, but have seen a few in 16mm. From the early to mid-70's, most people feel Blackhawk did their best printing for L&H's. I've had 2 copies of WAY OUT WEST, from 1974 and 1977, and the 1974 print was much better overall. I think once they became a subsidiary of Lee Enterprises, Inc., the quality went down. I noticed an upgrade in quality, however, starting around 1979, particularly with Our Gang and Charley Chase shorts. Films that came in the silver box were always top-notch -- at least the ones I have. I believe they started using these in late '79.

These are just guidelines, but you may have to go through many prints to find the best one. My solution has been to upgrade my favorite L&H's to 16mm to get the best quality. This is a huge topic, however, and really belongs in one of the 16mm forums. I will say that it is much easier to get near-mint prints in Super 8 as opposed to 16mm.

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James N. Savage 3
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 - posted September 19, 2008 09:13 AM      Profile for James N. Savage 3     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Tony- I have to agree with you about the latter, "silver box" prints. They seemed to be consistently good. I bought several "Our Gang" comedies around 80/81, and they were very nice prints.

James.

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Steve Klare
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 - posted September 19, 2008 11:05 AM      Profile for Steve Klare   Email Steve Klare   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
The "Music Box" steps still exist. Oddly enough it took years to find them. It's hard to imagine an object that is stationary, several hundred feet long and weighs hundreds of tons getting "lost", but there was a lot of confusion over which of several sets of steps in the area it was and the surroundings have changed a lot.

The neighbors around it by and large don't understand what the fuss is about, but quite often legions of L&H fans make the pilgrimage and climb those stairs.

If I ever get to LA again, I want to climb them myself, but based on the last few minutes of this video I think I'll have something to eat first and maybe carry some water. (No piano, thanks!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UD0lYYuVyfo

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Bill Brandenstein
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 - posted September 19, 2008 03:30 PM      Profile for Bill Brandenstein   Email Bill Brandenstein   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
My Blackhawk print is from 1970, on std. 8 sound, and originally came on 3 200' reels! In this edition the original titles are gone and the picture begins with a few cards' worth of Blackhawks' ubiquitous program notes.

I can't say that the quality is all that thrilling. I've seen worse, and I've seen better, so I'd call it "typical."

This is where video has been handed an unfair advantage. The now-defunct "Lost Films" DVD series blows all of them away -- for example, "Big Business" is on the Volume 1 DVD, which has amazing picture clarity because somehow the original nitrate negatives were actually available and used for the transfer. And having seen "Music Box" on an also now out-of-print DVD in this edition, all I can say is that I don't want any of my film audiences to know about that DVD because it looks so very good.

Too bad the heyday of 8mm is past, because new negatives struck from the camera original would just look amazing.

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Brad Kimball
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 - posted October 25, 2009 09:06 PM      Profile for Brad Kimball   Email Brad Kimball   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
I also have "Music Box" in S8S and it's wonderful. Mine came in a Green Blackhawk box so I don't know when it was printed, but it's a very nice print overall. I have a S8 Silent print of "Blotto" which just has white sub-titles on the screen denoting the dialogue. However, I find the titles are sometimes a guesstimate as to what's being said being that in some close-ups of mouths (since I have a sound print so I know what they're saying) the titles don't even come close. This happens in alot of silent editions of sound movies. In order not to obliterate the picture on the screen with white letters, it appears they chose to keep words to a minimum. Columbia was the worst. They would put up this big black box (like tv stations do for the hearing impaired when you subscribe to closed-captioning) and put the titles in the boxes. I absolutely hate it - it's so damned intrusive. I've always wondered why Columbia didn't offer alternative sound versions to all the titles within the silent catalog. Even if they could have offered the same 200' version I would have been happy. They did with "Studio Stoops" and "We Want Our Mummy" and obvioulsy they sold millions of copies because they're so rampant on Ebay these days. I would have loved to have gotten "The Black Room" and "Return Of The Vampire" in sound versions, too. Damn - O'h how I wish Super 8 wasn't dead. Sure I own DVDs, but there's just something so cool about film. Call me nuts, but I just love the stuff on reels.

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Steve Klare
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 - posted October 26, 2009 01:40 PM      Profile for Steve Klare   Email Steve Klare   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Brad,

8 Tracks are dead, Elvis is dead (at least I think he is...), but Super-8 is not dead!

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All I ask is a wide screen and a projector to light her by...

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Brad Kimball
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 - posted October 26, 2009 01:48 PM      Profile for Brad Kimball   Email Brad Kimball   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Well.... It is on a certain level being that, Derann aside, all the other vendors and all the studios no longer support the medium because of how everything is now digital. And 16mm is definitely dead. All that's out there is "used & abused" prints or some rental house's discards that first were sent through the bandsaw. There's absolutely no new equipment (just refurbished new). I will keep collecting and buying and trading for as long as I can, but let's face it there isn't too much life left.

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Gian Luca Mario Loncrini
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 - posted October 26, 2009 07:16 PM      Profile for Gian Luca Mario Loncrini   Author's Homepage   Email Gian Luca Mario Loncrini   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
quote:
I will keep collecting and buying and trading for as long as I can, but let's face it there isn't too much life left.

So sad statement [Frown] ...

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I remember when I was (super) 8 years old...

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Brad Kimball
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 - posted October 27, 2009 03:51 PM      Profile for Brad Kimball   Email Brad Kimball   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
It's a sad statement, I agree. I am not in any way down on film. Just the opposite, I love the celluloid medium. I just feel it's hard to have a "it's 1/2 full" outlook where 8mm and 16mm are concerned. True, lots of collectors are selling real treasures that they've kept in excellent condition and many are very honest about what to expect. How nice it would be if there were NEW 16mm prints available or if the studios did NEW 8mm prints, but because collectors are a minority I feel it's only a matter of time before there's just nothing out there anymore and then digital has won. I know some projectors are refurbished very nicely, but how long can that continue if NEW parts just aren't available anymore? I love my film and my projectors.

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Steven J Kirk
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 - posted October 27, 2009 04:25 PM      Profile for Steven J Kirk   Email Steven J Kirk   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
In the past few months I've purchased new 16mm trailers of Jurassic Park 3, Signs, and North By Northwest. Thanks to Derann and Andec.

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Gian Luca Mario Loncrini
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 - posted October 27, 2009 05:44 PM      Profile for Gian Luca Mario Loncrini   Author's Homepage   Email Gian Luca Mario Loncrini   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
quote:
How nice it would be if there were NEW 16mm prints available or if the studios did NEW 8mm prints, but because collectors are a minority I feel it's only a matter of time before there's just nothing out there anymore and then digital has won. I know some projectors are refurbished very nicely, but how long can that continue if NEW parts just aren't available anymore? I love my film and my projectors.

Brad, I hope you did not understand me. I wrote your statement was very sad just because, unfortunately (should I say luckily?) I do have the same feeling. And I know the heyday of 8mm is past. Cannot avoid to feel so bad when I imagine the definitive sleep of our beloved passion.

So... SO WE SIMPLY HAVE NOT TO DO IT [Big Grin] [Big Grin] [Big Grin] !

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I remember when I was (super) 8 years old...

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Osi Osgood
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 - posted February 26, 2015 12:17 PM      Profile for Osi Osgood   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Since there is already a review of this film here, I thought I would cut and paste my review of this short that I did elsewhere.

" I could just imagine how Stan "sold" the idea to Hal Roach ...

" Imagine the "Lads" simply moving a player piano up an endless flight of stairs and all the problems that can entail ... "

For some comedy teams, that would be a recipe for disaster. Even the great Marx Brothers could pull it off, nor could Abbot and Costello, but laurel and Hardy? YOU BET!!!

That's the premise of this classic film and it's a laugh riot. laurel and hardy, much like Charlie Chaplin, were masters at the genteel style of humor. Oh sure, they would go for pratfalls and violent humor when necessary, but they didn't need to go the way of the Three Stooges. They could get a laugh just by Stan peeping through a hole in a fence for Pete's sake. I do truly feel that they are the greatest comedy team to ever exist.

This film was during the powerhouse years of they're short subject output. They had just begun their feature film careers with such films as "Pardon Us" (Jailbirds) and were still a little uncomfortable stretching they're style of humor for over an hour, but they were masters of the short subject. This was one of they're longer ones, running around 32 minutes long. There is not wasted minute to this short. This short also holds the distinction of being the only Laurel and hardy film to win an Academy Award for best short subject!

Now, onto the print!

Blackhawk films had nearly all of Laurel and hardy's films at they're hands, (except for the later MGM years, and other outside films, such as "Flying Dueces" for RKO). Blackhawk could be hit or miss in print quality. In most cases, however, they were quite good to phenomenal! The features could have a slightly dupey quality to the prints, being just a tad bit soft in sharpness (and when it comes to these films from the late 20's to the mid thirties, that's sometimes a hard job having a pin sharp print!), they're Laurel and Hardy shorts were from OK to outstanding! This print is in the outstanding category!

Blackhawk did a number of prints of this title, both in Super 8, standard (and correct me if I am wrong folks, but also 16MM print!). They did vary in quality. The silent version they did (fitting onto one 400ft reel instead of 2X400ft, by making the film a 18fps silent short instead of the 24fps sound short) has tended to have a slightly dupey look, but this is no doubt due to them having to process the short as a 18fps short, which was unavoidable.

Unfortunately, I cannot verify as to whether this is the 2X400ft Silver Box edition of the short (these specific shorts Blackhawk made brand new negatives for and in most cases, had a superior product compared to they're earlier edtions), as I received it on one very full 600ft Boum reel and case, but I can say that it is probably the best sharpness and contrast I have ever seen coming from a laurel and Hardy Blackhawk short. This specific print is printed slightly darker than earlier prints but it works to it's advantage, as nearly all the short is outside, and the indoor scenes are quite good as well, no nighttime scenes to the short.

The sound is also very good. This edition of the short does NOT have the original title sequence, substituting Blackhawk titles for it. However, it does have the beginning cards or "prologue", describing the Lads situation, which isn't on every version of this Blackhawk did, (for instance, on the silent edition, they go straight from the Blackhawk titles to the first shot of the wife buying the piano).

This is a MUST HAVE for any Laurel and hardy fan. It shows the Lads at they're best! Don't miss out on this one!

"Fraternally Yours" and ...

LONG LIVE SUPER 8!!!! "

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"All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "

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Andrew Woodcock
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 - posted February 26, 2015 01:06 PM      Profile for Andrew Woodcock         Edit/Delete Post 
It's a fantastic film Osi, one of my all time favourite L&H's.
Derann released it later on on a 1x600ft spool. Very nice print indeed and one sold last week on e bay UK to some lucky buyer.

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"C'mon Baggy..Get with the beat"

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Paul Browning
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 - posted February 26, 2015 03:11 PM      Profile for Paul Browning   Email Paul Browning   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Charley Hall in this movie plays a postman, but he was in nearly all of there shorts, playing different characters. He was from Acocks Green in Birmingham England, i believe he was an electrician by trade but got into the movies, and he has a pub named after him in Birmingham in his honour. Listen hard next time you watch him with L&H, you can hear is Brummie twang.

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