At
The Circus
(1939/MGM*)/Laurel
& Hardy Year Three 1929 Silents
(Flicker Alley Blu-ray Set)/The
Mad Miss Manton
(1938/RKO/*both Warner Archive Blu-rays)
Picture:
B Sound: B-/B-/C+ Extras: C+/B/C Films: C+/B-/C+
PLEASE
NOTE:
The At
The Circus
and Mad
Miss Manton
Blu-rays are now only available from Warner Bros. through their
Warner Archive series and can be ordered from the link below.
Now
for a slew of classic comedy, all restored for maximum hilarity
impact...
Edward
Buzzell's At
The Circus
(1939) is The Marx Brothers' eighth feature film and though it has
some off moments, is still funny enough as the trio lands up trying
to save a man's circus business when money he needs to keep it going
mysteriously disappears. Antonio (Chico) and Punchy (Harpo) don't
like that this happened and call in a 'respectable' lawyer named
Loophole (Groucho) and you know the circus we are going to get will
extend far beyond the circus' big top.
Kenny
Baker, the original singer for early Jack Benny programs, is the
owner and also sings here. Eve Arden is here as one of the circus
performers in an early, interesting turn and an amusing scene with
Groucho. Margaret Dumont also returns for more with Groucho, while
Harpo delivers a performance of the classic Blue Moon (with vocal
backup) that was always stunning and has only gained in power and
impact over the years as the song continues its all-time evergreen
classic status.
And
there are more laughs, but I'll quit here, though cheers to the
additional cast including Florence Rice, Fritz Feld, Nat Pendleton,
Jerry Maren, James Burke and Barnett Parker. With Irving Thalberg
gone, the relationship between MGM and The Marx Brothers started to
erode via Louis B. Mayer, but they still win the day just enough with
this film and it is definitely worth a look.
Extras
include an Original Theatrical Trailer, audio only Leo
On The Air
section promoting the film on radio, Our
Gang/Little
Rascals
short Dog
Daze
and classic animated cartoon Jitterbug
Follies.
Laurel
& Hardy Year Three 1929 Silents
is another great set of comedy from one of the greatest comedy duos
ever, the greatest of all time to some. Though sound was slowly
coming into movies since Jazz
Singer
went though the box office roof, they were still doing silent shorts,
but also starting to do sound and incredibly, they were just as funny
when they talked as when they did not. This set shows how brilliant
they were in both cases and not only survived the transition to
sound, but thrived, their phenomenal success uninterrupted.
The
restored shorts from this set this time include:
Liberty
(playing escaped convicts)
Wrong
Again
(playing 'stable boys' who need to deliver a horse to wealthy
client)
That's
My Wife
(Ollie's wife walks out on him, he needs Stan to pretend to be
her!)
Big
Business
(Selling Christmas trees)
Unaccustomed
As We Are
(Stan drives Ollie's wife nuts, so she leaves, neighbor relations get
nuts)
Double
Whoopee
(As hotel staff who wreck the hotel)
Berth
Marks
(Silent Version; train trip goes awry)
Bacon
Grabbers
(Sheriff's agents trying to collect on a radio payment, gets nuts
quickly)
and
Angora
Love
(A goat follows them to where they live, has to hide it from
landlord)
Though
they start repeating themselves a bit, the energy and timing are
undiminished and that these hold up so well, especially considering
their age, shows what giants in comedy and cinema they really are and
how they have been rarely matched since. Sometimes, it is hard to
believe these are so old, but they're boldness is what comedy is all
about and to have them so meticulously restored is a real treat. If
you've seen any of these before, it is like seeing them for the first
time. I really enjoy these collections and everyone should go out of
their way to check them out.
Extras
are great too and include Audio Commentary Tracks for each film by
historians and authors Randy Skretvedt and Richard W. Bann
Additional
Musical Scores:
Alternate audio options, including fully restored original 1929
Vitaphone tracks on Liberty,
Wrong
Again,
That's
My Wife,
Bacon
Grabbers,
and Angora
Love
Laurel
& Hardy On-Location in Year Three:
A video essay by historian John Bengtson on selected location
exteriors
They
Go Boom!
(1929) and The
Hoose-Gow
(1929): Two bonus full sound shorts from late 1929, proof positive
of Laurel & Hardy's adaptability to the innovations of the
''talkies''
The
Hollywood Revue of 1929
(Excerpt): Laurel & Hardy deliver a magic act in this segment
from MGM's theatrically released variety musical
Spanish
Version of Berth
Marks
(1929; Fragment): An example of how foreign language editions were
prepared and released and a testament to Stan and Ollie's
international appeal
Dubbed
Version of Double
Whoopee
(1929): A rare presentation of Double Whoopee dubbed decades later
in 1970 by Chuck McCann, included with an introduction from McCann's
presentation at the Hollywood Heritage Museum in 2013. the hope was
to dub many shorts and have the same success as the hit animated
series and other L&H broadcasts in syndication.
MGM
Convention 1930 Announcement:
Virtually unseen, Laurel and Hardy deliver a special message for
MGM's annual sales convention
Film
Specific Image Galleries containing original publicity materials,
press reviews, and rare production stills
and
a high quality Souvenir Booklet containing new introductions by
Leonard Maltin and Serge Bromberg, film notes by Richard W. Bann and
Randy Skredvedt, and restoration text by Serge Bromberg.
Leigh
Jason's The
Mad Miss Manton
(1938) is a mystery comedy with Barbara Stanwyck as the title
character socialite involved in all kinds of mayhem to keep herself
amused, including a scavenger hunt. When she finds a dead body and
calls the police, they arrive and together, go to the indoor location
where she saw the dead man and the body is gone. This drives the
detective (Sam Levene) nuts, but she also faces off with a local
newspaper editor (Henry Fonda) adding another layer of madness to the
proceedings.
The
pairing of the leads is not bad, but this is not a screwball comedy,
but an attempt to spoof all the detective films (and detective film
series) of the time, which will help a viewer understand why the film
is the way it is if they know this before viewing. The problem is,
it becomes too cartoonish too often, its approach backfiring. Still,
the cast is solid and the group of gals who join her in trying to
solve the mystery is a plus.
Unfortunately,
we get some inappropriate dialogue you would never get today in
reference to the women here, some items are too overdone for their
own good and there is also occurrent predictability, so that does not
help. The supporting cast helps things from getting worse, including
Stanley Ridges, Frances Mercer, Whitney Bourne, Ann Evers, Linda
Perry, James Burke, Paul Guilfoyle, Eleanor Hansen, Hattie McDaniel,
Leona Maricle, Kay Sutton, Miles Mander, Olin Howland, John Qualen,
Grady Sutton and future Blonde
Penny Singleton, making it all the more disappointing that the film
does not work as it should. Its worth a look for what does, but one
should still have patience when viewing.
Extras
include an Original Theatrical Trailer and two classic animated
cartoons: The
Penguin Parade
and Porky
The Gob.
Now
for playback performance. The 1080p 1.33 X 1 black & white
digital High Definition image transfers on At
The Circus
and Mad
Miss Manton
rarely
show the age of the materials used, while that of the shorts on
Laurel
& Hardy Year Three 1929 Silents
can vary because some of the footage only survives in 16mm, some in
rough 35mm and some in other formats, but when they look great, they
look great and as good as the other feature films here. Some hard
work went into saving and preserving all we get here and it pays off.
The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono lossless mixes on
At The
Circus
and Mad
Miss Manton
sound as good as these films ever will, but Manton
is a little weaker throughout for whatever reason, so expect limits.
The PCM 2.0 sound on the Laurel
& Hardy
set can range from simple PCM 2.0 Stereo for new music to PCM 2.0
Mono for older music and sound film soundtracks where applicable.
The results can range from showing their age to sounding surprisingly
good, just like the previous Flicker Alley sets.
To
order either
of the Warner Archive Blu-rays,
At
The Circus
and/or Mad
Miss Manton,
go to this link for them and many more great web-exclusive
releases at:
https://www.amazon.com/stores/page/ED270804-095F-449B-9B69-6CEE46A0B2BF?ingress=0&visitId=6171710b-08c8-4829-803d-d8b922581c55&tag=blurayforum-20
-
Nicholas Sheffo
