8mm Forum: Beau Hunks ... Feature or short?

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Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on May 18, 2016, 11:49 AM:

In the latest shipment of films I have received, there is a print of this Laurel and hardy film, but this goes beyond even the 30 minute run time of "The Music Box", for instance. I think it runs around 40 minutes.

Was this considered a feature or a short by the lads?

Posted by Maurice Leakey (Member # 916) on May 18, 2016, 12:36 PM:

At 4 reels it is technically 44 minutes, however, film reels rarely ran the full 1000ft (11 minutes), so, I suppose it was considered a short, although the official acceptance is more than 40 minutes for a feature.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feature_length

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on May 18, 2016, 12:57 PM:

I was just reading about it a few moments ago on the internet, and it appears that the running time was 37 minutes and quoting, "making it the longest short produced by Laurel and Hardy".

Posted by Panayotis A. Carayannis (Member # 1220) on May 18, 2016, 03:21 PM:

A featurette! Generally,films between 35 and 45 minutes were termed "short features",rather than "long shorts"(!). In the early talkie days there were quite a few four reelers made in the US,but they were quickly abandoned as formularisation took over and shorts ran up to 30 minutes and features ran from 50 minutes to longer. A notable exception is Saludos Amigos which ran for 42 minutes but was termed a "feature". In the early forties, Hal Roach started making 40 to 45 minute films which he called "streamliners" which were shown in pairs.Lippert-Screen Guild followed in the late forties with some 45 minute actionners and PRC streamlined some of their earlier westerns to 40 minutes.The format was abandoned in the early fifties.

Posted by Dominique De Bast (Member # 3798) on May 18, 2016, 03:27 PM:

It is funny to see that even for that things vary from an area to another. The official French definition for a short is : less than 60 minutes.

Posted by Joseph Randall (Member # 4906) on May 18, 2016, 07:07 PM:

Blackhawk always listed it as a "featurette" along with the 3-reelers. This was also one of Hal Roach's favorite films.

Posted by Joe Caruso (Member # 11) on May 19, 2016, 04:15 PM:

All of the above - Shorty

Posted by Doug Thompson (Member # 3381) on May 19, 2016, 07:09 PM:

Mine copy came to me on one 800` reel. Just typing that doesn`t say "feature" to me.

Posted by Joseph Randall (Member # 4906) on May 19, 2016, 07:39 PM:

Also, AFAIK, all that exists today is the reissue version. The original is apparently lost, and contained a few extra minutes of footage.

Posted by David Skillern (Member # 607) on May 20, 2016, 01:50 AM:

I've got this release on super 8 and it is on 2x400ft spools.

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