I'm a very big fan of Laurel & Hardy, but I have to say my verdict of this DVD is: Thin...Very thin.

While perusing this and other Laurel & Hardy collections, I am reminded of the many albums that John Lennon recorded after leaving the Beatles. While Lennon remained a very popular artist throughout the 1970's, his fans were well aware that if they bought one of his albums they would have to sit through more than a few songs written or sung by Lennon's wife Yoko Ono. While Ms. Ono was no doubt a very nice person, she will go down in history as one of the least talented individuals ever to feature on a major studio recording. The fact that Lennon's albums sold as well as they did, even with Yoko's contributions, is in itself a testament to the man's popularity. Nevertheless, there was such a demand for a Yoko-free Lennon album that when "Shaved Fish" was released in 1975 it became one of the best-selling albums of his solo career.

What does this have to do with Laurel & Hardy? Well, as a loyal L&H fan, it seems to me that the good people who compile these compilation DVD's might do something along the lines of "Shaved Fish" with the L&H collections. In other words, they should cut out the rubbish. That means no colourised versions and no silent versions (Sorry, silent film buffs, but there's a reason Stan and Ollie's careers took off AFTER the advent of talkies). They could also cut out the tedious feature length films which, quite frankly were never Laurel & Hardy's strong suit. Let's face it, there are more good laughs in the first 5 minutes of "Our Wife" than in all 70 gruelling minutes of "Flying Deuces" (which is actually one of their better feature length efforts). It's frustrating to realise that while the average DVD disc can easily hold 10 classic comedy shorts, the average Laurel and Hardy compilation disc contains 3 at most. The rest is strictly padding.

I have no qualms with Universal releasing the silent films, feature films, etc. separately, or as part of a large boxed anthology. There is surely a niche market for such items, and they have a certain cultural and historical value. But when all is said and done, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were at their very best when they were doing 20 minute comedy shorts for Hal Roach. If Universal could produce 2 or 3 DVD's which contained nothing but the best L&H shorts from the 1930's ("Shaved Shorts" shall we say), I'm sure they would outsell all the previous DVD compilations combined.

Volume 8 of this marvellous set of DVD's contains only short films. I haven't watched the whole DVD yet, but based on the 3 films I've seen it only confirms my view that L&H are the greatest comedy double act in history.

'Early to Bed' is the weakest of the three. A 1928 silent where their traditional roles are reversed. Stan is the butt of most jokes. Whether this is because their characters were not yet fully developed, or it was simply a one-off, I don't know, but it certainly doesn't work as well.

'Love 'em and weep' is a pre-teaming ealy silent (1927) which primarily features Stan Laurel, Mae Busch and James Finlayson. Oliver Hardy only has a minor role. Still its an entertaining short film and Finlayson is always worth watching - Doh (long before the Simpsons)! It will also be interesting to compare it with 'Chickens come home' (also on the DVD) which is a remake with the Oliver Hardy in the Finlayson role. I shall be watching this next.

'Come Clean' is the best of the 3 films I've watched. This is a 5 star short. There are a number of brilliant sequences: Mr & Mrs Laurel outside the Hardy's apartment, Stan and Ollie inside the apartment and then outside getting confused over the lifts to name but three. The film is laugh out-loud funny and reminds you very quickly why Laurel & Hardy remain unsurpassed in their ability to make people laugh.

Buy the whole set - you won't be disappointed!

GUY'S,
I have to say these are some of the funniest shorts L/H ever made.
The spanish version of chickens come home is hillarious.Also the
restored silent shorts such as SUGAR DADDIES,are very funny.These volumes,
are well worth your money.
ANONYMPOUS IN THE UNITED STATES.

I love these Laurel & Hardy themed compilations, as of the 18 I own, each one provides a fascinating insight and overview of the career of these two Hollywood legends. They tend to contain a 'talkie', a silent film, and a foreign language film. Unlike other entries in this excellent collection, this volume contains only short films which tend to be either 20 or 30 minutes in length. From the title of this collection, these short subjects all revolve around the theme of blackmail, which is one of the common elements of many Laurel & Hardy films. Regular supporting cast members are here, with Mae Busch (a personal favourite of mine in any of Laurel & Hardy's films) making memorable appearances, and Charlie Hall and James Finlayson returning to satisfy fans.

The first of the films, Chickens Come Home, is the longest of the films on this set at 30 minutes, and is also one of the later ones too. It revolves around an old flame (Mae Busch) of a candidate for Mayor (Oliver Hardy) trying to get money out of him to keep their past secret and out of the papers. He foolishly employs the services of Stan to help keep her distracted! This is a great entry in the series and a very entertaining short film. All 3 leads are a joy to watch, and James Finlayson even crops up in a small role! Politiquerias is basically the same film, except in Spanish with Laurel & Hardy speaking their dialogue in Spanish. This technique of re-shooting films in other languages was used before the technology of dubbing and/or subtitles was settled upon. It's worth a watch though, as this alternate version contains some scenes which weren't included in the English language version, including a couple of cabaret acts from the period.

The next film, Come Clean, is perhaps my favourite of this volume. I love the interplay between Mr and Mrs Hardy and Mr and Mrs Laurel in the first half, and I love how things escalate when the boys try to do the right thing by saving a woman from drowning, but it all blows up in their faces when she demands they take care of her and they try to keep her from their wives! A ridiculous plot, but it works so well and yields some fantastic comedy as the pair are slowly but surely found out.

Love 'Em and Weep is an early silent comedy which was remade as Chickens Come Home. This followed a pattern by Laurel and Hardy of remaking many of their silent successes as talkies. The next silent film in this series, Early to Bed, is my favourite silent film in this series, featuring Ollie inheriting a fortune and giving Stan a job as his butler. Ollie takes advantage of Stan, but inevitably the tables are turned. Hardy really seems to cut loose in this film and it's a pleasure to watch him engage in some great slapstick moments with Stan. The final film in this volume, Sugar Daddies, features both Laurel and Hardy, but in an early film before they were officially teamed together. It revolves around a millionaire who wakes from a drunken evening to find he's married, and instructs his butler (Hardy) to summon his lawyer (Laurel - absolutely hilarious here!) to sort it all out with his new in-laws, who are demanding money from him. It's great to see how Laurel and Hardy worked in their early days, and to see them developing the comedy that would make them legends for decades to come.

As with the other 21 volumes in this collection, the spine makes up part of the picture of 2 bowler hats when all the volumes are placed next to each other. The artwork on the case is fantastic, featuring a lovingly restored picture from Chickens Come Home. The disc art is excellent, using an elegant combination of silver, black and white which is respectful of the look of the films themselves. The films have been wonderfully restored for these releases, and look better than many other films I've seen from this period. Inevitably, due to their age of 70-80 years, they don't look as good as films released yesterday, even after extensive restoration, but they probably look as good as they did when they were first filmed, and you can't really get better than that.

This is another excellent addition to the Laurel and Hardy collection, and Universal should be proud to have released such a wonderful series of DVDs. All in all, a very enjoyable DVD, great value for money, and a wonderfully entertaining set of films from one of cinema's finest comedy double-acts.