SilentComedyMafia.com

Kit Parker put up our 2016 restoration of WHEN COMEDY WAS KING on his Sprocket Vault Youtube channel this week. If you were too cheap to buy the DVD, you can look at it now:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVoEhCk4Ew8&t=476s

RICHARD M ROBERTS

You should still buy the DVD unless you enjoy having YouTube interrupt the film for ads every ten minutes.

I'm preaching to the choir, but I heartily recommend it. Your commentary is a helpful alternate perspective.

William Ferry wrote:I'm preaching to the choir, but I heartily recommend it. Your commentary is a helpful alternate perspective.

I totally agree with William and Rob, buy the DVD if you want to truly immerse yourself in this brilliant comedy compilation. Besides Richard’s witty and informative commentary on WHEN COMEDY WAS KING, the three bonus shorts (with silent comedy heavyweights like Bud Jamison, Dot Farley, and The Ton of Fun) are both terrific and terrifically rare.
The YouTube transfer of WCK doesn’t do justice to the DVD’s restored 35mm image quality, which to my eyes looks as crisp as any Blu-Ray in my collection.
Get a load of the clarity of this screen grab from a split-second moment seen in Laurel & Hardy’s BIG BUSINESS:
Hard to believe the image from a 1914 Keystone whizzing along at breakneck speed would reveal the tiniest of details such as the gap between Mabel Normand’s teeth (from A GENTLEMAN OF NERVE):

And at 12 bucks from Amazon, this jewel is truly a bargain.

Well Jeez, if you're all just going to turn this thread into a commercial for the DVD, at least give the Amazon link:

https://www.amazon.com/When-Comedy-Was- ... -1-catcorr

RICHARD M ROBERTS

This film has the power to reconcile me with many things, always.
Re-watched the full thing (with extras) just a week ago.

As Ed says, the DVD version is highly recommended.

The youtube was mentioned on blog I visit occasionally;

https://www.newsfromme.com/2024/07/20/t ... -link-201/

You can actually pick it up for less than $10 at VCI Entertainment's Summer Sale. There are plenty of other treasures worth having too. https://www.vcientertainment.com/product/when-comedy-was-king/

Rift Corbitt wrote:The youtube was mentioned on blog I visit occasionally;

https://www.newsfromme.com/2024/07/20/t ... -link-201/

"He was widely criticized for truncating and altering a lot of classic comedy and also for adding in inappropriate (some thought) music and intrusive (everyone thought) narration"

Indeed? By whom? At the time they were released I'm talking about, not the snotty twits who permeate the internet today. Youngson's use of music and sound effects were brilliant and historically accurate, and his narration was light years above any of the "let's make fun of the hokey old movie" dweebs who we hear on things like those Warner Bros compilations like HAPPY TIMES AND JOLLY MOMENTS. When he was making these compilations, Robert Youngson got nothing but heaps of praise for his work in dusting off these films and bringing them to a new audience, including Mark Evanier apparently.


RICHARD M ROBERTS

While I generally enjoy Mark Evanier's website (sharing his love for IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD), I felt this was a left-handed compliment, at best. The only really obtrusive narration is the wise guy in THE GOLDEN AGE OF COMEDY, and perhaps some of the admittedly lame jokes Les Tremayne has to deliver in MGM's BIG PARADE OF COMEDY. Generally, the narrative is informed, thoughtful, and on occasion, touching. The only really second-rate music is in THE FURTHER PERILS OF LAUREL & HARDY, largely due to the quasi-twist variations of the theme song. (And let's just skip over "Bring Back the Laughter", shall we? Poor Bernie Knee had better luck doing big band recreations with Enoch Light).

Scott MacGillivray pays well a deserved honor to Youngson in LAUREL AND HARDY: FROM THE FORTIES FORWARD, and more eloquently than I could just now. Anyway, my two cents.