Agee's Lost Films of Laurel & Hardy HAVE ARRIVED

Find out about the latest releases and exhibition of classic films.
Louie Despres
Associate
Posts: 348
Joined: Mon Jun 01, 2009 3:31 pm
Contact:

Agee's Lost Films of Laurel & Hardy HAVE ARRIVED

Postby Louie Despres » Mon Dec 20, 2010 11:24 am

OK, kiddies. My 12 DVD's of the Agee Laurel & Hardy set from elevenmemories have arrived. It was a LOOOOOONG time since I had ordered them and here is my initial reaction with some pics. Keep in mind that the discs have NOT been viewed yet, these are just my thoughts right out of the box. First off the stuff was packed pretty well:

Image

Other pictures have shown only 11 discs but there are certainly 12 in the package I got:

Image

First thing, they are all in slim cases. The artwork has all been printed out on a copy machine or laser printer and IS NOT like what you would see on a commercially produced DVD. Some of the images on the front and back are out of focus but all of the printed words are clear. The final disc even has a small, red banner across the image stating "ILLUSTRATION TO BE PLACED", which means to me, this is not the final artwork:

Image

The discs themselves appear to have been legitimately pressed, but do not appear to be "silver" discs. They are goldish in color which to me kinda look like a DVD-DL and although they have matrix numbers at the spindle hole, there is no mention of a manufacturer or presser. Also, all my discs have a pretty generic look to the printing, almost like "test" discs:

Image

All of the discs have finger print marks around the spindle which means they were all put in by hand. I'm happy to have the set finally, but what do I do if there is a defective disc?? This set all looks pretty amateur to me and have seen better artwork on some bootlegs floating around. I don't know if this is the final set as "Lou" will be selling them, but I certainly would NOT pay $150 for this thing if I ever saw it in a store or convention the way it looks now. Any questions I can answer, let me know.

Louie Despres
Associate
Posts: 348
Joined: Mon Jun 01, 2009 3:31 pm
Contact:

Re: Agee's Lost Films of Laurel & Hardy HAVE ARRIVED

Postby Louie Despres » Mon Dec 20, 2010 4:07 pm

Also, I didn't but the original series of these so if there was something that was supposed to be upgraded, let me know and I will look into it.

Ian Elliot
Associate
Posts: 66
Joined: Thu Aug 13, 2009 9:55 am

Re: Agee's Lost Films of Laurel & Hardy HAVE ARRIVED

Postby Ian Elliot » Mon Dec 20, 2010 11:41 pm

Louie, this set was to have a new rendering of SLIPPING WIVES from a European 35mm negative, it was rather dupey and off centre in the first "Lost Films" series.

Louie Despres
Associate
Posts: 348
Joined: Mon Jun 01, 2009 3:31 pm
Contact:

Re: Agee's Lost Films of Laurel & Hardy HAVE ARRIVED

Postby Louie Despres » Tue Dec 21, 2010 7:59 am

Ian Elliot wrote:Louie, this set was to have a new rendering of SLIPPING WIVES from a European 35mm negative, it was rather dupey and off centre in the first "Lost Films" series.


If this is off the 35mm Euro neg, then Pathe made shitty negs for that market. The image cuts off the left side. Some of it looks good (not like I would expect off a negative, but not terrible either), some of it looks very washed out. I must say that there are a few shorts on these discs that have "interlacing artifacts" that drive me nuts!

Image
Image
Image
Image
Image

Rob Farr
Godfather
Posts: 489
Joined: Fri May 29, 2009 12:00 pm
Location: Our Nation's Capitol

Re: Agee's Lost Films of Laurel & Hardy HAVE ARRIVED

Postby Rob Farr » Tue Dec 21, 2010 9:02 am

Look at "They Go Boom". The original disc from ten years ago had the dialogue out of sync. If it's still out of sync, that's evidence that Michael/Lou simply burned copies from and repackaged his old discs. Which isn't to say you got ripped off. Used copies of the original pressings of Lost Films would cost a heckuva lot more than $125 for the set.
Rob Farr
"If it's not comedy, I fall asleep" - Harpo Marx

Ian Elliot
Associate
Posts: 66
Joined: Thu Aug 13, 2009 9:55 am

Re: Agee's Lost Films of Laurel & Hardy HAVE ARRIVED

Postby Ian Elliot » Tue Dec 21, 2010 9:23 am

Definitely not an upgrade on SLIPPING WIVES. I'm really saddened by Mr. Agee's travails and misfortunes, but I'm glad that you at least got the original set for all your investment and trouble, Louie.

Chris Seguin

Re: Agee's Lost Films of Laurel & Hardy HAVE ARRIVED

Postby Chris Seguin » Tue Dec 21, 2010 9:27 am

Rob, later pressings of THEY GO BOOM in the original series were in synch; I returned one copy and got another later on. So I'm not sure that would be a real indicator.

Overall, this sounds like a real botch job. Which is a shame, because it could have pleased a lot of the purists if Mr. Agee had delivered on his promise. Instead, the pitchforks are coming out over at laurelandhardyforum.com

Chris

Louie Despres
Associate
Posts: 348
Joined: Mon Jun 01, 2009 3:31 pm
Contact:

Re: Agee's Lost Films of Laurel & Hardy HAVE ARRIVED

Postby Louie Despres » Tue Dec 21, 2010 11:06 am

Yeah, this IS a real botch job. A couple things I like about the set FOR ME PERSONALLY is that there are a few Harry Langdon Educational's on there (splicy and all), which I didn't have before and a more complete (although there still are some bits missing and the quality isn't that great) version of "The Stolen Jools".

I didn't post here, but did so over at the L&H forum and Nitrateville, that there was no disc #11 in the case as I started to go through the discs last night!!! GOOD TIMES! Hopefully I won't have to wait another 7 months to get a replacement.


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 27 guests