Reviews of silent film releases on home video. Copyright © 1999-2024 by Carl Bennett and the Silent Era Company. All Rights Reserved.

Call of the Cuckoo (1927)

This Hal Roach comedy, directed by Leo McCarey, stars Max Davidson, with Lillian Elliott, Spec O’Donnell, James Finlayson, Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Charley Chase and Charlie Hall.

This Blu-ray Disc edition has been mastered from a digital restoration by Blackhawk Films and Lobster Films, produced by Serge Bromberg and Eric Lange, of a 35mm duplicate fine-grain print held by the Library of Congress and a 35mm duplicate fine-grain print held by Lobster Films, Paris. Main titles and intertitles have been digitally reconstructed (but, note to restoration artists, proofread your new titles before publication and it's not necessary to duplicate typographical errors in the original intertitles). Some print flaws remain but this is a considerable improvement over past home video editions.

The film is accompanied by a music score composed and performed on piano by Neil Brand.

Supplementary material includes audio commentaries for each film by L&H historian and author Randy Skretvedt; audio commentary for The Battle of the Century by Randy Skretvedt and Serge Bromberg; “Restoring Laurel & Hardy,” a documentary by Serge Bromberg and Eric Lange; “Laurel & Hardy On-Location,” a video essay by historian John Bengtson on selected location exteriors — always fascinating information and worth many viewings (11 minutes); a self-guided slideshow presentation of Hats Off (1927), a presumed lost film (48 images); multiple image galleries containing original publicity materials, press reviews and rare production stills (284 images total); and an insert booklet featuring an introduction to the collection by Serge Bromberg, a new essay by historian Richard W. Bann on the Blackhawk Films story and the company’s stewardship of the Laurel & Hardy film materials, and notes on each film by historian Randy Skretvedt.

This is our enthusiastic recommendation as the best home video edition available of this film.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
This Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc edition is also available directly from . . .

This PAL DVD edition has been produced by Filmmuseum München under the supervision of Stefan Drössler. The source material is an excellent but incomplete 35mm duplicate print, with some footage inserted from a good to very-good 16mm duplicate print. The picture is generally excellent with light dust and speckling, some schmutz, emulsion scrapes and scuffing, and other minor flaws.

The film is presented with an improvised music score performed by Joachim Bärenz and Christian Roderburg.

We enthusiastically recommend this as the best DVD home video edition of the film. North American collectors will need a region-free PAL DVD player capable of outputting an NTSC-compatible signal to view this edition.

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

This early DVD edition has been mastered from an analog video transfer of a 16mm reduction print that was originally prepared for VHS videotape and laserdisc release early in the 1990s. While source print is very-good the standard resolution picture shows the age of the transfer. OK but not great.

The film is accompanied by a cobbled-together soundtrack of vintage recordings, some from other Laurel and Hardy shorts.

This edition is long out-of-print. Not recommended as there are improved home video editions noted above.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
This Region 0 NTSC DVD edition has been discontinued and is . . .

Other silent era STAN LAUREL films available on home video.

Other silent era OLIVER HARDY films available on home video.

Other silent era CHARLEY CHASE films available on home video.