DVDs feature Stan & Ollie's essentials

IN GERMANY THEY are Dick & Doof, literally "fat and stupid." But I've always thought of them more as Dumb & Dumber — long before Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels co-opted that title.

We're talking Laurel & Hardy, of course, still considered by many the greatest comedy team of all time.

Yet the duo's best shorts and features have long been out of print on VHS, and most have never been released on DVD. Until now.

"Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy: The Essential Collection" (Vivendi, 1929-40, 10 discs, retail price $99.98 but available for $65) collects in a trim box all of their sound shorts and most of their early sound features, each digitally remastered and restored — and they look and sound great.

Laurel was the skinny one, lanky and obtuse, grinning in a goofy manner or scratching his fright-wig hair in befuddlement or bursting into tears at being berated by his pal Ollie. And he took everything literally, never questioning anything, no matter how ridiculous.

Hardy had the large girth and twiddled his tie, sometimes looking down in a moment of embarrassment, sometimes letting out grunts of exasperation at the bizarre antics of his friend and sometimes simply turning to the camera as if to say, can you believe this guy? And once in awhile he'd just lay it on the line, telling Laurel: "Well, here's another nice mess you've gotten me into."

Stan and Ollie were solo performers for years in silent movies before being teamed up. They even appeared in a couple of early silent films together when they were still solo comic actors. But in 1927 that all changed as they were paired for a short comedy — a fortuitous bit of casting that changed the trajectory of their careers.

It was at this point that they began developing the character traits they would use to play off each other on screen and stage over the next three decades, until Hardy's death in 1957. And audiences loved them.

That is to say, audiences really loved THEM, not just their movies.

Laurel & Hardy were gentle clowns, despite the cartoon violence they often caused or which occurred around them. Their onscreen characters were benevolent, well-intentioned and loyal to each other, but they were also very much like little children and not above "tit for tat" revenge.

Even when their characters were henpecked husbands, or when they bickered with each other, even when they might seem childish in their antics — they never stopped being innocent and childlike.