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"Our Gang" on DVD: Need Help

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Hammond Eggar:
Since so many of you are fans of Hollywood's golden era, I thought I'd pose this question to you.  I recently checked out a DVD from my local public library.  The DVD is titled The Little Rascals: The Best of Spanky.  While I enjoyed the shorts, I was disappointed overall with the presentation.  First off, they were presented in color and B&W.  Unfortunately, only the color versions could be accessed individually.  Secondly, none of these shorts were presented as "Our Gang."  They were presented under different names, such as "Little Rascals."  Correct me if I'm wrong, but these shorts were originally issued to theatre's under the name "Our Gang," and retitled for television.

As Stooges fans, we've been very fortunate that Sony has seen fit to release the boys' shorts in chronological order and remastered.  As a person interested in adding the "Our Gang" shorts to his collection, I'm wondering what the best releases are.  I'd like to aquire remastered "Our Gang" shorts in chronological order.  I'm not interested in colorization or "Little Rascals" repackaging.  Can any of you point me towards some reasonable DVD releases?  Where do I start? 

BeAStooge:

--- Quote from: Hammond Eggar on July 24, 2010, 11:55:29 AM ---I'd like to aquire remastered "Our Gang" shorts in chronological order. 
--- End quote ---

The Complete Collection (1929 - 1938)
Amazon

The Our Gang Collection (1938 - 1942)

7stooges:
Unfortunately, the complete collection set on Amazon.com is not that great of a set. Some of the films don't have the original title cards, and at least two of the films are missing a small amount of footage. The bonus features are also rather lame. Richard W. Bann acted at consultant on the set for Genius Products (who produced the set), but unfortunately Genius did not listen to what Mr. Bann had to say. As a result, the 'Geniuses' used their own 'knowledge' to create the set. Richard Bann expresses deep dissapointment in the resulting set, as do many of the fans (myself included).

The Our Gang set released by The Warner Archives is a pretty good set. The films themselves aren't all that great, as many people know by now.

As for The Best of Spanky DVD, this was done by Legend Films. Legend (also a division of Genius) mainly works with public domain matrerial, which is why so many of the re-issued Our Gang shorts showed up on this particular DVD, and other Legend releases.

There have also been announcements for a DVD set of the available silent Our Gang shorts (complete and restored). No news on this yet. Some 'unnoficial' DVD sets of these films can be found at ioffer or ebay. 55 of the 88 Our Gang silents shorts are in PD. Re-issue prints are also more than likely not under copyright.

Hammond Eggar:
Thanks for the input guys.  I guess it's best that I hold off on buying any sets anytime soon.  I browsed Amazon for titles and got so confused as I made my way through the many releases being offered.  I may just hold off and wait for the silent release that 7stooges mentioned.  That sounds like it could be a winner, if it ever does finally get issued.  If you, or anybody else, have any more suggestions, please pass them along.  Thanks.

7stooges:
It might be best to just go with the complete collection if you really want to get a hold of a remastered collection. Like I said, it's not the best release, however it's the best release out there right now. There probably won't be a better release anytime soon, so it might be best to go with this before the price becomes more expensive.

The Our Gang Collection (1938-1942) would be best to add for the sake of completion.

Laughsmith Home Entertainment planned on releasing a set of the silents, but the production was held off for several years. Not too long ago, Laughsmith got into an argument with their distribution company, Mackinac Media, Inc. Mackinac and Laughsmith no longer work together.

From Laughsmith:
"...Unfortunately, following a protracted legal battle with our distributor, Laughsmith Entertainment is no longer affiliated in any fashion with the Our Gang production which it initiated in 2005. The unfinished materials are now the property of Mackinac Media, Inc. What that company intends to do with the materials, if anything at all, is unknown to (and entirely unsupported by) us at this time.

We understand that another production company has already started work on a definitive Our Gang silents collection, a multiple DVD set which includes all known surviving Pathe era silents, we will post details of this project as they are made available to us.

Thank you for your patience, time and interest.

Sincerely,

Laughsmith Entertainment"

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