Laurel & Hardy: The Magic Behind the Movies

This review is for the recently published [Jan 2019] soft-cover edition of Randy Skretvedt's "Laurel & Hardy The Magic Behind The Movies". First I must say this is the most thoroughly researched text ever written on the iconic comedy team. The behind the scenes narrative of every movie and short the duo ever made is painstakingly documented through cast interviews and the rarest of photo's. Many photo's provided by Mr. Hardy's late wife Lucille. No stone is left unturned. The friction between Hal Roach and Stan Laurel for creative autonomy is well documented. The not always so good post Hal Roach years with 20th Century Fox, and of course the European England and Ireland live tours in the late 40's and early 50's is also well documented in the new must see movie "Stan & Ollie". I have many books on the duo, and this stands out as the ultimate Laurel and Hardy book tour deforce. The book also goes into great detail in the reference section listing books, DVD sets that are available, and the best ones to purchase. Also a section featuring most co-actor's in their features is a nice touch and what became of them until their passings. A word about noted Laurel & Hardy author and historian John McCabe. If you want an thorough look at them as individuals, his titles "Babe The Life Of Oliver Hardy" and "The Comedy World Of Stan Laurel" are essential reading, and recommended by the author of this book. Having said that, the only slight blemish I see here is that many photo's in this paper back edition have a clarity issue and seem a little lite. I know the hard cover version is on heavy glossy textbook like paper and from what I have read, the photos in that edition are impeccable. The only thing I wish this book had was a more structured contents listing all the movies and the pages they could be found on for quick reference as opposed to going to the index to find the pages. Still a minor inconvenience. If you are a Laurel and Hardy fan, I can't recommend a better book on these two comedy legends and I for one will treasure this book as the ultimate tribute to Laurel & Hardy.

If there was something you've always wanted to find out about Laurel and Hardy, and you didn't find it in Randy Skretvedt's book -- then it must be lost to history.The author fills more than 600 pages with the lives of the greatest comedy team in history, from their births in England (Stan) and Georgia (Ollie), to their early years in the then-young Hollywood, to their being joined together as a team by Hal Roach in 1927; all the way through the glorious '30s, when all their best movies were filmed; the clashes between Laurel and Roach which finally led to their departure from his studio in 1940; the lesser full-length movies they made for MGM and 20th Century Fox; the traveling they did for personal appearances, which finally brought them together as best friends (they had always gotten along well, but seldom associated with each other away from the studio;) and finally, their last years in the '50s and '60s. They had left a wonderful legacy, which will never be forgotten.I gave this marvelous book four stars instead of five, for two reasons. One, the never-ending mini-bios of hundreds of people who had worked with them, became a bit tiresome after a while -- although I did read all of them.And the second and I think most important reason was -- Skretvedt too often implied that Stan Laurel was the genius who wrote everything, and that Ollie "Babe" Hardy just did his acting before the camera, then headed for the golf course. Skretvedt also seemed to go out of his way two or three times to quote retired directors, cameramen, and others who had worked with both of them, that Hardy seldom knew or cared what was going on. While there is a certain truth to that, it seemed to me that the author was trying to denigrate Babe Hardy, for some reason, and I didn't like that.On the other hand, the author does mention in several references Babe's fine acting talents, his beautiful singing voice, and the fact that he was probably one of the two best golfers in Hollywood in his day -- along with Adolph Menjou.But, having said all that, I still urge anyone who was or is a big fan of Laurel and Hardy -- which includes me -- to buy this book. I think you'll really enjoy it.

I had two previous versions of Laurel & Hardy: The Magic Behind the Movies and this one is about four times the size of the last edition I had. If you are new to Laurel and Hardy, this book may be too much for you! But, if you are like me and have loved them and their movies since childhood, this book is an exciting addition to everyone's Laurel and Hardy collection. Every movie they made together and more is included in this book with a wealth of information on each film even many of the foreign language films are included. When the book first arrived I brought it everywhere with me reading it. I'd wait in the car before meetings reding it and before church because I was so excited with it. They were both dead by the time I was born and the one LA Cinecon I went to Hal Roach was sick and couldn't make it, so the next best thing to having seen them in person is to watch their films and read, read, read! There are many books on Laurel and Hardy, many good books on Laurel and Hardy. But, Laurel & Hardy: The Magic Behind the Movies is like a whole collection of Laurel and Hardy books, articles and information all rolled into one. Every collector will want this wonderful book. I commend Randy Skretvedt for his fine detailed and meticulous researched book and making it available to us!

The book is really thick. I’ve just started reading it but after a few pages I have already learned some fun information about my favorite guys.

To say this book is the most detailed work on the films of Laurel & Hardy would be an understatement. Skretvedt’s knowledge of his subject is second to none. He acknowledges many other scholars of the comedy duo’s work, but none has come close to this level of research and presentation. As the blurb states this is a much expanded version of a book originally published thirty years ago. Skretvedt covers L&H’s film career in meticulous detail through reference to source studio documentation, scripts and Stan’s notes as well as interviews with cast and crew. The author also provides his own analysis on every one of their films as a team from the silent shorts throught to the talkies and their feature films. It’s a story that demonstrates how Hal Roach studios created an environment in which the team could work without interference enabling them to capitalise on their ideas. This is contrasted with their later films, in the 1940s, at Fox and MGM, where studios protocol acted as a straight-jacket restricting the duo’s effectiveness.The book itself is a weighty hardback of 630 glossy pages. Many of the photos are rare and often serve to show scenes deleted from the final product or link into the private lives of Stan and Ollie – both of whom had more than their fair share of marital problems. It is a beautiful presentation and a must for L&H enthusiasts and fans of cinema in general.

The original version of this title has long been recognised as the best book ever written about Stan and Ollie. This is the third update and it's still the case but it's better than ever with loads of extra information, exhaustive research and numerous newly-discovered rare photographs which are fantastic to see especially when they're reproduced in large size. It will take you a long time to read the book but not too long to appreciate just how good it is.There are two gripes however. In order to fit all of the new information in the book is now a much larger hardback volume, similar in size to the original 1970s hardback version of Laurel and Hardy by John McCabe and Al Kilgore. The problem with this is the book is not as portable as the original paperback and thus restricts how and where it can be read. The other problem is the price which works out at around £60, a lot higher than the £12.95 I paid for the original back in 1988. This may be the single factor that puts some potential buyers off but is symptomatic of a lot of limited edition books theses days where the authors and publishers increase the price.Another annoying fact is that if you live in America you can buy the book direct from the publisher (with minimal postage costs) but you will receive a copy signed by the author and you get a bonus CD of audio interviews included. However if you buy this version from the UK the postage will cost you a staggering £46 ($65)!. Thus the author and publisher have created a two-tier buying system, putting American L&H fans before those in the rest of the world. This is a great pity and spoils which is otherwise a truly splendid (if expensive) book.This is the fourth L&H book that has been published in the last 3 years and every one of them is quite expensive but this is the worst offender and the added international postage (if you buy direct from the publisher) puts it out of the reach of a lot of potential buyers. I bought my copy here via Amazon UK where luckily the postage is minimal although we don't get the audio CD or a signed copy (boo!).I note that the author reviewed his own book on this page when it was first published but removed the review recently after I commented on the above fact and asked him if he could find a way to make the CD available to UK buyers via Amazon. I received no reply so I guess the answer is no. NB: I still love the book but have knocked on star off my rating because of the above problems.

This is a marvellous reference work on Laurel and Hardy's movies. If you want to know cast details, when the films were actually made, locations, backgrounds on the supporting cast members, who wrote the music cues, and so on, you couldn't do better.It's a humungous tome, thankfully recently reprinted in paperback and at a more affordable price. Still not cheap, but when you think of the research that has gone into the writing, plus the amassing and compilation of the photos, many of which are rare, then the price is more than justified.The print quality is not the greatest, to be frank, but again I accept this as a sacrifice made to keep the selling cost as low as possible.I have other Laurel and Hardy books, and some of them are very good indeed, but this will be the go-to book when I want to find out the details of a particular film. Thankfully there's a good index, as I do find it quite hard to find a particular film amongst the pages. Although presented chronologically, the sections on each film don't begin on a new page but start directly below the previous film. Obviously makes the book more compact saving space this way, but not as easy on the eye.Still a must buy if you can spare the money, and love Laurel and Hardy as much as the author and I do.

The definitive book on the making of any and all of the Laurel and Hardy films. The amount of detail and research that Randy Skretvedt has put into this book is truly awe inspiring. A colossal 630 pages full of little known facts and behind the scenes photos. I’ve included a photo so that you can see just how thick the book is. If you’re a Laurel and Hardy fan this should be your ‘go to’ book for every last piece of information on your favourite silent short, sound short or feature film. If you’re not a fan you would be after reading this.The book tells a story of a bygone time of silent comedians and the almost chaotic nature of the filmmakers studios throughout the 1920’s onwards. It’s fascinating to see how Laurel and Hardy grew from nothing, almost by accident to become a huge phenomenon that still see’s them much loved today. Whilst this book doesn’t dwell too deeply on Laurel and Hardy’s personal lives (I’d recommend Simon Louvish’s book ‘Stan and Ollie - The Roots of Comedy’ if your interested in that) it does tell you absolutely everything else you might want to know about the two greatest ever funny men that gave the world so much laughter. I can’t recommend it enough.

I so wanted to like this volume. It did seem exhaustive. However, the paper quality was so poor, it just felt like the whole thing had been printed out on someone's domestic printer with the ink cartridge running low. Shame.With glossy paper and a larger print size, I would happily buy this for £10 more than I originally paid. As it is, it just feels like I'm scanning a phone directory!