Silent Mayhem That Still Echoes Today

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MOVIE REVIEW
Laurel and Hardy: The Silent Years (1928) (Blu-ray)
Leave ’em Laughing
The Finishing Touch
From Soup to Nuts
You’re Darn Tootin’
Their Purple Moment
Should Married Men Go Home?
Early to Bed
Two Tars
Habeas Corpus
We Faw Down
–

Genre: Comedy, Silent
Year Released: 1928, Blu-ray 2025
Runtime: 10 Short Films, Approx. 3h 45m Total
Director(s): Clyde Bruckman, Leo McCarey, James Parrott, Fred Guiol
Writer(s): H.M. Walker, Leo McCarey, Hal Roach, Stan Laurel
Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Edna Marion, Viola Richard, Anita Garvin, Edgar Kennedy, Charlie Hall, Mae Busch
Where to Watch: Available now, order your copy here: www.eurekavideo.co.uk

RAVING REVIEW: Few comedic forces have ever carved their place into cinema quite like Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. With the release of LAUREL AND HARDY: THE SILENT YEARS (1928), Eureka Entertainment captures a turning point in their history — a year where their chemistry matured, and the duo stopped being simply funny and started becoming icons. This collection doesn't just stitch together ten of their silent shorts from 1928; it preserves the messy, chaotic, endlessly inventive spirit of a pair who were inventing modern screen comedy as they went.

When looking across this collection — from the slow-building absurdity of LEAVE ’EM LAUGHING to the destruction of TWO TARS — it becomes clear just how much range Laurel and Hardy commanded even within the apparent limits of silent film. It would be easy to assume that without spoken dialogue, their humor might feel a bit repetitive. Instead, what shines here is their attention to timing, body language, and the subtle escalation of small mistakes into full-blown disaster.

Each short in this set feels like a workshop in building a joke from the ground up. THE FINISHING TOUCH offers one of their finest exercises in deadpan, as they attempt (and fail spectacularly) to build a house. The gag isn't just that the walls fall apart; it's that they keep responding to each collapse with a straight-faced "Well, that's normal" attitude, which somehow levels up the comedy. Eureka's restoration work gives these films new life, with crisp visuals that reveal just how much expression and nuance the two actors packed into every frame. Their performances were never simple cheesing for the camera — there’s real craft behind every shuffle, every silent argument.

FROM SOUP TO NUTS is a perfect example of their ability to make humiliation both excruciating and hilarious. Cast as inept waiters at a fancy dinner party, the duo moves through the story with a kind of awkward grace that feels both universal and timeless. Watching Stan repeatedly fail to handle a tray of food, or Ollie grow more and more exasperated with the evening’s disasters, is a reminder that while fashions and technology change, the basic core of slapstick remain forever.

But it’s YOU’RE DARN TOOTIN’ that arguably offers the purest dose of their anarchic energy. Starting as a tale of unemployed musicians and ending with a full-blown pants-ripping street fight, the short captures the way Laurel and Hardy could turn any ordinary day into a complete breakdown of social order. There’s an anger bubbling under the comedy here — a frustration with bosses, rules, and expectations — that feels surprisingly modern even now. Their comedy wasn't just escapist; it tapped into the quiet chaos of everyday life.

The collection also hints at their increasing ambition. THEIR PURPLE MOMENT and SHOULD MARRIED MEN GO HOME? venture into slightly more complex storytelling, moving beyond single-location chaos into broader social scenarios, such as nightclubs and golf courses. These shorts are particularly notable because they mark the transition from simple setups to more layered narratives, without losing the slapstick core that made the duo famous. There's a confidence growing behind the camera, too — better staging, cleverer visual punchlines, and a growing sense that Laurel and Hardy knew exactly who they were and what audiences wanted from them.

EARLY TO BED offers one of the more unusual entries in the collection, showing Oliver inheriting a fortune and abandoning Stan… at least until fate (and a series of sleep-deprived mishaps) reenters the picture. It's quieter than some of the other shorts, but it underlines the central sadness that often lurked beneath their comedy: a friendship too stubborn to fall apart, no matter how much bad luck and idiocy tried to tear it down.

By the time we get to TWO TARS, the duo has practically perfected their formula. A simple drive turns into an escalating parking lot riot — not with dialogue or complex plotting, but with a sheer avalanche of wrecked cars, hurt egos, and brilliant slow-burn reactions. If you want a perfect argument for Laurel and Hardy’s comedic genius, you could show someone TWO TARS and watch them laugh without needing any subtitles, translation, or explanation. It’s a masterclass in visual escalation.

HABEAS CORPUS and WE FAW DOWN close out the set with an interesting tonal shift. HABEAS CORPUS explores darker material for the time, demonstrating that even macabre subjects can be a playground for the duo’s brand of giddy foolishness. WE FAW DOWN returns to the familiar domestic chaos that would later fuel many of their sound-era masterpieces, offering a reminder of just how rooted their work was in the everyday struggles of working-class life, even when played for absurd laughs.

Eureka's presentation is top-tier, the transfers reveal texture and details that most viewers have likely never seen, except in specialized festival screenings or archival prints. Grain is present but unobtrusive, highlighting rather than obscuring the carefully composed cinematography. Musical scores commissioned for this set bring new energy to the shorts without ever feeling out of place. If silent film music often feels like an afterthought, here it feels essential, breathing alongside the performances rather than sitting awkwardly on top of them.

More than anything, LAUREL AND HARDY: THE SILENT YEARS (1928) serves as a living document of how two performers could master comedy not with the aid of dialogue or special effects, but with patience, timing, and relentless experimentation. Watching these shorts today, it's impossible not to admire their craftsmanship — or to laugh at the sheer absurdity of the scenarios. Stan and Ollie weren't just funny because they fell or made faces. They were funny because they understood human nature: its stubbornness, its clumsiness, its desperate attempts to maintain dignity in a world determined to strip it away.

Eureka Entertainment has treated this material with the respect it deserves. Rather than packaging the shorts as relics, they present them as living, breathing works — chaotic, sweet, angry, and absurd all at once. This collection is not just for completists or historians. It's for anyone who has ever tried to fix something and made it worse, tried to impress someone and failed miserably, or simply found themselves laughing despite everything. In 1928, Laurel and Hardy were laying the groundwork for nearly a century of screen comedy to come. And thanks to this loving release, that foundation feels as solid — and as hilarious — as ever.

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[photo courtesy of EUREKA ENTERTAINMENT]

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