8mm Forum: Chickens Come Home (1931) Laurel and Hardy

This is topic Chickens Come Home (1931) Laurel and Hardy in forum 8mm Print Reviews at 8mm Forum.

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Posted by Joseph Randall (Member # 4906) on July 13, 2015, 01:58 PM:

Blackhawk print on 1972 Eastman film stock
Super 8 sound, 600 feet

One of the best Laurel and Hardy shorts, this is a remake of their silent LOVE'EM AND WEEP (1927.) This one has grown in reputation over the years by fans, having been unfairly maligned in a few books published in the 1960s on the boy's films. (Charles Barr called it "a dud.")

There's plenty of info online about the plot, so let's get to the print. This is not one of the better Blackhawk prints. It is a bit dark and dupey looking, which is surprising since L&H prints from 1972 are generally above average to excellent. The sound on mine in bass-heavy, and is not as crisp and clear as I'm accustomed to with Blackhawk prints. I don't have the original box, but this certainly would have been delivered in a pink Eastin-Phelan box on 2X400' reels.

Curious if anyone else has seen a Blackhwak print of this in Super 8? If so, how was it?

Posted by Gary Crawford (Member # 67) on July 13, 2015, 03:15 PM:

I have not seen a Super 8 print of it. I have a 16mm. I can remember well back in the mid 60's one of our local TV stations would run that one every time a baseball game broadcast ended early or was rained out. Even then, the print supplied for TV was much more flawed and dupey looking than the other Laurel and Hardy's they ran. Sound was noisey as well. Good preprint evidently did not exist.
I thought Chickens was a really good combination of situation comedy and slapstick. But the only totally "out there" thing about was the absurd idea of Ollie running for mayor.
I loved Mae Busch in this. Very Very mean, but very very sexy.
I would not have minded being her "apple cheeked boy".

Posted by Joseph Randall (Member # 4906) on July 13, 2015, 07:44 PM:

Is your 16mm a Blackhawk, Gary? There has been a seller listing this on ebay for $75 in 16mm for the last few months and it gets no bids. How's your print?

Posted by Gary Crawford (Member # 67) on July 14, 2015, 07:48 AM:

my 16 is a Blackhawk....looks about like all the others I've seen. not bad..just not great. probably worth 75 if in perfect physical condition and isn't a dupe of a Blackhawk. ooh, that would be awful.

Posted by Joseph Randall (Member # 4906) on July 14, 2015, 03:54 PM:

Thanks, Gary.

The Blackhawk L&Hs I have in 16mm are all bona-fide originals and look great. They are usually trumped only by a Films Classics original or printdown. I think Blackhawk cut-corners with their Super 8 prints. Sounds like for CHICKENS, Film Classics is the way to go.

There are some collector's who insist that older L&H Blackhawks, with Film Classics titles, are indeed dupes.

[ July 14, 2015, 07:48 PM: Message edited by: Joseph Randall ]

Posted by John Hourigan (Member # 111) on July 15, 2015, 09:15 AM:

Agree, Joseph -- while I'm probably committing blasphemy on this board by saying so, it appears Blackhawk cut corners with their Super 8 L&Hs as my prints have faces that are washed out. My Our Gang Super 8s generally look good, though.

Posted by Joseph Randall (Member # 4906) on July 15, 2015, 04:37 PM:

Yes, most of my Blackhawk Our Gangs in Super 8 (over 50 of them!) look superb. A notable exception is OUR GANG FOLLIES OF 1938 -- bathtub dupey.

I do have many Blackhawk Super 8 L&Hs that are superb -- notably THE MUSIC BOX, COUNTY HOSPITAL, and THEIR FIRST MISTAKE, among others.

Posted by Timothy Ramzyk (Member # 718) on July 16, 2015, 01:31 AM:

I had a Super 8 Blackhawk. It's true that it was a little contrasty, but not by any means bad. I bought my print used, and the first reel had a faint "ticking" on the soundtrack that only I seemed to notice, but I did notice it. I assumed it was unique to my print.

It's one of there most underrated, and one of their rare three-reelers running a whole half-hour.

The Vivendi Entertainment DVD set has a nice print of the US cut, but also offers a rather incredible nearly 4 reel version of the Spanish Language cut, which a guarantee will shock the uninitiated.

Spoiler, Spoiler, Spoiler
During the the party scene at Oliver Hardy's house we are treated to entertainment not in the US cut, the weirdest of which is Hadji Ali, a man who literally consumes then projectile vomits tumblers of water, stones, and fire for Ollie's guests. I kid you not, and it's the real deal!

Posted by Joseph Randall (Member # 4906) on July 16, 2015, 03:23 PM:

Yes, I've seen the Spanish version.
[Eek!]

The ticking was probably unique to your print, or at least to that run of prints.

Posted by Gary Crawford (Member # 67) on July 17, 2015, 07:48 AM:

Yes..the quality of Blackhawk films from the Hal Roach material varied greatly. And sometimes it changed on the same subject when new preprint was acquired. I remember being disappointed with my print ...standard 8 sound (1965 or so) of Way out West.
it was as if someone had put a coating of Vaseline on the printer lens or something. Gray scale was fine, but no detail.
A few of the Our Gangs and Charlie Chases also looked like that.
Then, you'd get Scram or Going Bye Bye....the super 8 prints of those are really nice, at least the prints I got were.
And it was odd..and has always puzzled me that most all of the silent era films they put out, even when original preprint was in bad physical shape, were very sharp and did not have that fuzzy look to them at all. The Larry Semon comedies ...at least the ones I have, look better than almost any of the much later sound Laurel and Hardy's and such. Quality of preprint is so vital to making decent prints.
Even Niles, often vilified for terrible quality, was able to turn out some excellent prints when they had good pre print and weren't duping others' dupes. Their Invisible Ghost and Meeting at Midnight and a few others were very good.
Each day that goes by lessens the chances of finding good original preprint material or 35mm prints of those Laurel and Hardy's , such as Chickens Come Home. And of course, now there would not be any new prints for collectors even if better preprint was available. Rather sad, I think.

Posted by Joseph Randall (Member # 4906) on July 17, 2015, 01:49 PM:

I've had nearly the same experience, Gary. Super 8 silent era L&H -- superb. SCRAM, GOING BYE-BYE, same. The Niles Rathbone/Holmes are all excellent.

Posted by Joe Caruso (Member # 11) on July 18, 2015, 03:15 PM:

Super 8 CHICKENS is finely done - I can boast about Blackhawk, being a leading collector - True, some of the other shorts were a bit washed (HOG WILD, MEN O WAR as for instance) - BLOTTO, CHICKENS, MURDER CASE, BE BIG, OLIVER THE 8TH, ANOTHER NICE MESS,BEAU HUNKS and MUSIC BOX, all the longer ones were of sharp quality - Shorty

Posted by Joseph Randall (Member # 4906) on July 18, 2015, 09:49 PM:

I must have gotten a bad print of CHICKENS, then.
My BLOTTO, OLIVER THE 8TH, ANOTHER FINE MESS, BEAU HUNKS and MUSIC BOX are all good. My BE BIG is like my CHICKENS. My HOG WILD and MEN O WAR are much better than CHICKENS. I guess it's the luck of the draw.

Posted by Joseph Randall (Member # 4906) on July 24, 2015, 08:22 PM:

I do want to point out that pedestrian prints like CHICKENS are/were a product of their time -- the early '70s before home VCRs were available. Back then, even prints like CHICKENS looked leaps and bounds better than what you saw on small TV screens, with reception good/bad depending on the channel or even the weather. (Does anyone remember ghosting, or rolling pictures?) And -- you could watch the print any time you wanted! We are spoiled now with HD and transfers directly from 35mm original negatives.

Posted by Michael De Angelis (Member # 91) on July 25, 2015, 01:04 AM:

I once owned a Super 8 on "Chickens" and it was not washed out.

The print had excellent saturation, and sharpness, in both picture and sound.

I now have a 16 from Blackhawk and it's 35mm knock out quality.

Yes, there are excellent prints floating around.

Posted by Joseph Randall (Member # 4906) on July 25, 2015, 11:08 AM:

Michael,

Yes, if I decide to upgrade that print I will probably opt for 16mm -- the price is not that much more these days.

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