This DVD collection is all that's available right now:
http://www.amazon.com/Edgar-Kennedy-Two-Reeler-Comedy-Collection/dp/B0000AC8ME/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1277871540&sr=1-1Pluses— These shorts are extremely funny, for the most part. Kennedy had been perfecting his "slow burn" routine for years (he made his first films for Mack Sennett back around 1915), so he's got it down to a fine art. There's a fair amount of hard slapstick, enough to please the kind of Stooges fan who likes the wholesale wreckage of everything in sight. If you're a fan of "Goof On The Roof," you'll definitely enjoy Edgar and his screwball family as interior decorators! Also, some familiar faces from the Columbia stock company appear in these, including Bud Jamison as a party animal who gives poor Edgar the business in "Rough On Rents."
Minuses— RKO Radio had basically the same kind of budgets for comedy shorts that Educational Pictures did; that is,
very low. So don't expect great sets or photography or editing here. The Kennedy shorts look like they were shot in two days or so with few if any retakes. These films have
not been restored at all by the producers of the DVD, which means that you've got scratchy prints, and hiss and hum on the soundtracks. Then there's the strange choice of "Help Wanted, Female," which is really a Daphne Pollard short with Edgar in a minor supporting role. It's not bad, but why it's included in this collection, who knows?
Maybe someday there'll be a more comprehensive and better Kennedy set with restored prints, but this one's better than nothing, and it's inexpensive.
