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Hal Roach
Female Comedy Teams
(1928-1935)

Contents: Feed ’em and Weep (1928), A Pair of Tights (1929), Going Ga-Ga (1929) [fragments], The Pajama Party (1931), On the Loose (1931), Show Business (1932), Asleep in the Feet (1933), The Bargain of the Century (1933), Beauty and the Bus (1933), Babes in the Goods (1934), Maid in Hollywood (1934), The Misses Stooge (1935) and Top Flat (1935).

This collection focuses on the female comedy teamings at the Hal Roach Studios in the wake of the successful teaming of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. Among the stars are Anita Garvin, Marion Byron, Thelma Todd, ZaSu Pitts and Patsy Kelly.

Many of the films have not been released on home video before.

Edition Filmmuseum
2010 DVD edition

Hal Roach: Female Comedy Teams (1928-1935), black & white, 228 minutes total, not rated, including Feed ’em and Weep (1928), black & white, 16 minutes, not rated, A Pair of Tights (1929), black & white, 20 minutes, not rated, Going Ga-Ga (1929) [fragments], black & white, 5 minutes, not rated, The Pajama Party (1931), black & white, 20 minutes, not rated, On the Loose (1931), black & white, 20 minutes, not rated, Show Business (1932), black & white, 19 minutes, not rated, Asleep in the Feet (1933), black & white, 18 minutes, not rated, The Bargain of the Century (1933), black & white, 19 minutes, not rated, Beauty and the Bus (1933), black & white, 17 minutes, not rated, Babes in the Goods (1934), black & white, 19 minutes, not rated, Maid in Hollywood (1934), black & white, 19 minutes, not rated, The Misses Stooge (1935), black & white, 18 minutes, not rated, and Top Flat (1935), black & white, 19 minutes, not rated.

Edition Filmmuseum, 57, UPC/EAN 4-260100-33057-5.
Two single-sided, dual-layered, Region 0 PAL DVD discs, 1.33:1 aspect ratio image in full-frame 4:3 (720 x 576 pixels) interlaced scan MPEG-2 format, SDR (standard dynamic range), 7.4 Mbps average video bit rate, 224 Kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 48 kHz 2.0 mono sound, English language intertitles, optional German language subtitles; chapter stops; standard two-disc DVD keepcase; €29,95 (reduced to €25,17).
Release date: 17 December 2010 (second enhanced edition, January 2012).
Country of origin: Germany

Ratings (1-10): video: 7 / audio: 8 / additional content: 7 / overall: 7.

This PAL DVD collection has been produced by Filmmuseum München under the supervision of Stefan Drössler.

The silent films in the collection are presented with music scores performed by Günter A. Buchwald, Joachim Bärenz and Christian Roderburg. The 1930s films in the collection are presented with their original soundtracks.

Among the supplementary material is a sneak peek at the restoration efforts on Going Ga-Ga (1929) which has survived in a fragmentary Czech print. The two fragments have been transferred from a very-good to excellent 35mm print (5 minutes).

The enclosed 20-page booklet features the article (in German) “Working Girls in Schwierigkeiten” by Anke Sterneborg, the article (in English) “Thelma Todd & ZaSu Pitts & Patsy Kelly” by Dave Stevenson, the article (in German) “Das Komikerinnenpaar Marion Byron & Anita Garvin” by Stefan Drössler, and the article (in English) “Marion Byron & Anita Garvin” by Cole Johnson, along with brief film credits.

For reviews of the silent films in this collection, see our Feed ’em and Weep on home video, A Pair of Tights on home video and Going Ga-Ga on home video pages.

Recommended! This collection is highly recommended. North American collectors will need a PAL DVD player capable of outputting an NTSC-compatible signal to view this edition.

This Region 0 PAL DVD edition is available directly from . . .