Reviews of silent film releases on home video.
Copyright © 1999-2026 by Carl Bennett
and the Silent Era Company.
All Rights Reserved. |
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Pick and Shovel
(1923)
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This short comedy, directed by George Jeske, stars Stan Laurel and Katherine Grant, with James Finlayson, George Rowe, Sammy Brooks, William Gillespie and Dorothy Devore.
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 Flicker Alley
2021 Blu-ray Disc edition
Laurel or Hardy: Early Solo Films of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy (1914-1926), black & white, 590 minutes total, not rated, including Pick and Shovel (1923), black & white, 14 minutes, not rated.
Flicker Alley, FA0073, UPC 6-17311-68739-6.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc (two BDs in the set); 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in pillarboxed 16:9 (1920 x 1080 pixels) 24 fps progressive scan image encoded in SDR AVC format at ? Mbps average video bit rate; DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 864 Mbps average audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; 2 chapter stops; 32-page insert booklet; standard two-disc BD keepcase; $49.95.
Release date: 29 January 2021.
Country of origin: USA
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This Blu-ray Disc edition has been mastered from 2K high definition scans of archival film elements.
The film is accompanied by a music score composed and performed on piano by Eric Le Guen.
Supplemental material includes an image gallery featuring photographs from the Library of Congress collections; and a 32-page insert booklet with film notes from film historian Rob Stone, as well as notes on the restorations from Lobster Film’s Serge Bromberg.
This is our recommended home video edition of this film.
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This Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc edition is available directly from . . .
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 Kino International
2008 DVD edition
The Stan Laurel Collection, Volume 2 (1918-1926), black & white, 355 minutes total, not rated, including Pick and Shovel (1923), black & white, 13 minutes, not rated.
Kino International, K616, UPC 7-38329-06162-3.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Region 1 NTSC DVD disc (two DVDs in the set); 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in full-frame 4:3 (720 x 480 pixels) interlaced scan image encoded in SDR MPEG-2 format at ? Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to ? fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; standard two-disc DVD keepcase; $29.95.
Release date: 3 June 2008.
Country of origin: USA
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This DVD edition of 21 short Stan Laurel comedies, made before his successful teaming with Oliver Hardy, features the best available editions of films that are plentiful in myriad cheap discs. The disc was produced with the assistance of Lobster Films, Paris, and should feature transfers from the best-available materials, both in 35mm and 16mm reduction prints.
The disc features music performed on piano by Neil Brand.
This is our recommended DVD home video edition of this film.
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This Region 1 NTSC DVD edition is available directly from . . .
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 Passport Video
2006 DVD edition
The Laurel or Hardy Collection (1917-1927), black & white, 560 minutes total, not rated, including The Miner (1923) [rerelease version of Pick and Shovel], black & white, 13 minutes, not rated.
Passport International Productions,
DVD-5380, UPC 0-25493-53809-0.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD disc (five DVDs in the set); 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in full-frame 4:3 (720 x 480 pixels) interlaced scan image encoded in SDR MPEG-2 format at 4.0 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 mono sound encoded at 192 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; 4-page insert pamphlet; double-wide five-disc DVD keepcase; unknown suggested retail price.
Release date: 21 February 2006.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 4 / audio: 5 / additional content: 4 / overall: 4.
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This DVD edition has been mastered from collector film elements that include 8mm and 16mm reduction prints. The majority of these video transfers are presented from low-quality analog videotape, with some displaying the ghosting to the right of bright objects in the picture that is characteristic of analog videotape. Some of these editions of the films are outright terrible. The films are all presented with a digital “The Laurel OR Hardy Collection” watermark in the lower right corner of the picture; this is to discourage video pirates (which is ironic given the low quality of many of these transfers).
The film is accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting music recordings.
Supplemental material includes a video introduction by archivist Rob Stone; and a 4-page insert pamphlet with brief notes and film listings.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD edition has been discontinued
and is . . .
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Other silent era STAN LAUREL films available on home video.
Other SHORT COMEDY FILMS of the silent era available on home video.
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