Brent, am I safe in assuming that Hallmark no longer owns the Hal Roach catalog, or have they had a change of heart concerning their films? I'm assuming it's the former as I remember hearing rumors a while back that Hallmark is no longer involved.
Hallmark owned RHI, and the sound Hal Roach film library, for several years. A corporate reorganization in 2007 made RHI and Hallmark "sister" companies (which are part of a holding company), and each has its own, separate management team. RHI received the Roach film library in the reorganization.
This DVD boxset does not necessarily reflect RHI's regard for the entire Roach library. The 80 1929 - 1938 Roach "Our Gang" films already received complete restorations (from negatives in the Library of Congress) in the early 1990s. Cabin Fever Entertainment marketed the shorts in 1994, on 21 VHS volumes and 4 laser disc box sets. CB went bankrupt, RHI bought it, and then Hallmark bought RHI. Now, Hallmark and RHI are separate entities.
RHI is packaging this boxset from those restorations. Outside of packaging, distribution and marketing in partnership with Genius Entertainment, RHI is not [yet] doing any work in regard to upgrading their Hal Roach archives.
RHI's Laurel & Hardy holdings are not restored; nor the other Roach shorts. The L&H films provided to Turner Classic Movies are largely coming from tape masters that were done for a 1980s syndication package. The prints of Charley Chase, Todd & Pitts, Todd & Kelly, Taxi Boys, et. al., leased to TCM over the past couple years have been hit-and-miss in quality, taken from whatever 35mm print was available... TCM has refused some titles for quality/condition.
All of the Hal Roach titles owned by RHI have the original nitrate camera negatives, and have been safely housed by UCLA for several years (after Hallmark decided to discard the volatile negatives). Hopefully, RHI will someday access these materials in an all-out restoration project.
