Ah, here is the U.S. we can't get really great copies of "The Boys", like you have here in the U.K.. I concur with the Reviewer who said: "If you could own only one copy of Laurel & Hardy, this would be it".

Let me tell you that this has been a lifetime search for me, and probably for many in the U.S. Our copies of Laurel & Hardy movies are terrible. I have copies made from 16mm films, copies made from schlock houses, and regular copies sold from Amazon.com (it's not Amazon's fault) in the U.S, and they're all terrible.

This DVD is a stellar transfer and restoration. I thought I might not like to see "The Boys" in color, but I have to tell you that I still enjoyed the movies.

Anyways, "Thanks Amazon.com/UK", I'll be buying my movies here. Oh yes, I do own a PAL VCR and a PAL DVD player - that's the expense I'm willing to incur to see Great Movies.

If you were to buy only one volume of this series (though they've tried to spread the goodies as thinly as possible) this might well be it. It features three fine films in `Dirty Work' (chimney sweeps), `Busy Bodies' (sawmill) and `Hog Wild' (radio aerial); whilst many consider `The Music Box' the best thing they ever did. These all have the simplicity and concentration of L&H at their best; bewilderingly, inexplicably (to them, I mean) the mayhem escalates until at last the whole house falls down. Or whatever. The two silent shorts aren't quite in the same class, but they're good enough fun.

The restored prints look great, but an irritating feature of these DVD re-issues is that you can't run them continuously - partly because the running time is bulked out with superfluous colourised versions. This means every twenty minutes you have to fiddle about with the menus.

The genius of Stan and Ollie can't be pinned down to any one, or even half-dozen films, but if this disc included `Towed in a Hole' it would come close (yes, that's the fishing boat one).

A Job To Do is hilarious. It only recieves 4 stars from me because it is out-done by Way Out West, which would be a 5-star.

a most underated classic, the re-coloured versions are exellent.

second only to the fishing boat short.

The DVD features several of the best Laurel and Hardy short films as they try (and fail) in doing various jobs. "Busy Bodies" shows us the pair working at a sawmill, "Double Whoopee" has Stan and Ollie working at a plush Broadway hotel and thats when the Prince arrives... In "Hog Wild" Mrs Hardy insists that Mr Hardy must put up a rooftop aerial so she can listen to the radio, Mr Laurel does his bst to help (granted the plot is dated but amusing all the same). "Dirty Work" is one of my favorites as the duo show up at the house of a mad scientist offering to sweep his chimney before getting wrapped up in his experiments. "The Finishing Touch" has Laurel and Hardy in the building trade and "Hats off" shows us stills of an extinct classic which inspired the best short on the DVD "The Music Box". In which the pair have to deliver a piano up a never-ending flight of stairs, their task isn't helped by passers by including a policeman, a young woman and a big headed Professor. After afew up hill and down hill trips the due reach the top only to be told that they could have taken the road! "Double Whoopee" and "The Finishing Touch" are both silent with a music score, but it doesn't make them any less entertaining. The others are all available to watch in restored black and white and in a computer-colour version!!
All in all these classics are delightful. To me they're better than many modern day comedies, even the menue screen is amusing to watch!! If your in the mood for good old giggle don't hesitate to buy these much loved classic.