3/5 Great Buster, Fine Stooges, Poor Laurel & Hardy
  by Annie Van Auken (Planet Earth)
The SLAPSTICK GREATS Movie Pack offers several public domain 3 Stooges shorts on one disc, three Buster Keaton silent features on another and Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy two-reelers (made prior to their teaming up) on the third. The only exceptions where Stan & Ollie appear as a duo are a cameo in THE STOLEN JOOLS and their only color movie, a PSA short for the Dept. of Agriculture.

Two of Keaton's greatest works are here, which alone are worth the price of this box set. THE GENERAL is an unparalleled classic, while STEAMBOAT BILL, JR. has Keaton's most famous stunt of all in it (the falling wall).

The early Laurel/Hardy shorts here are poorly preserved. The solo piano used as backing for most of them is dubbed from a scratchy LP, and the "bonus" stunt reel is rehashed excerpts from these old clunkers. Their home movies are mostly Stan's amateur photography of children at a birthday party-- it's rather boring, frankly.

The Stooges are always entertaining, as evidenced by the four well-circulated shorts in this collection. Additionally we have a 1949 TV pilot the boys made (for a show that was never picked up) and a music-filled feature Moe, Larry and Curley co-starred in (watch for Louis Jordan, Will Osborne and other musical luminaries in this).

COMEDY CLASSICS features nine amusing movies from Hollywood's Golden Age.

Parenthetical numbers preceding titles are 1 to 10 viewer poll ratings found at a film resource website.

DISC ONE: BUSTER KEATON
(7.3) College (silent-1927) - Buster Keaton/Anne Cornwall
(8.2) The General (silent-1927) - Buster Keaton/Marion Mack
(7.9) Steamboat Bill, Jr. (silent-1928) - Buster Keaton/Ernest Torrence
BONUS: Buster Keaton Stunt Reel

DISC TWO: THE THREE STOOGES
(6.1) Swing Parade of 1946 (1946) - Gale Storm/Phil Regan/3 Stooges/Connee Boswell/Louis Jordan/Will Osborne/Leon Belasco
(6.1) Jerks of All Trades (TV pilot-1949) - 3 Stooges/Joseph Kearnes/Emil Sitka
(7.1) Brideless Groom (1947) - 3 Stooges/Christine McIntyre/Emil Sitka
(7.7) Disorder in the Court (1936) - 3 Stooges
(6.9) Sing a Song of Six Pants (1947) - 3 Stooges/Virginia Hunter/Vernon Dent
(6.9) Malice in the Palace (1949) - 3 Stooges/Vernon Dent
BONUS: The Story of the Three Stooges

DISC THREE: LAUREL & HARDY
(5.8) The Lucky Dog (silent-1921) Stan Laurel/Oliver Hardy (before they were a team)
(4.5)The Tree in a Test Tube (1943) - Laurel & Hardy
(6.0) The Stolen Jools ("The Sliipery Pearls") (1931) - cameos by L&H/Wallace Beery/Buster Keaton/Keystone Kops/Edw. G. Robinson/Our Gang/Norma Shearer/Hedda Hopper/Joan Crawford/Harold Lloyd/Gary Cooper/Maurice Chevalier/Barbara Stanwyck/Joe E. Brown/Fay Wray (et. al.)
(???) Laurel & Hardy Home Movies
(5.1) West of Hot Dog (silent-1924) - Stan Laurel
(5.6) Mud and Sand (silent-1922) - Stan Laurel
(5.5) Oranges and Lemons (silent-1923) Stan Laurel
(5.1) Hop to It! (silent-1925) Oliver Hardy/Billy Ray
(5.3) The Sawmill (1922) - Oliver Hardy (minor role)
(5.7) Paperhanger's Helper ("Stick Around") (silent-1925) - Oliver Hardy/Billy Ray
(5.0) Enough to Do ("Wandering Papas") (silent-1926) - Oliver Hardy/Clyde Cook
(5.8) Kid Speed (silent-1924) - Larry Semon/Oliver Hardy
(5.0) Yes, Yes, Nanette (silent-1925) - James Finlayson/Lyle Tayo/Oliver Hardy (minor role)
(6.8) The Flying Deuces (1939) - Laurel & Hardy/Jean Parker/James Finlayson
BONUS: Laurel and Hardy Stunt Reel