Three Stooges

Re: Three Stooges

Not Television

Re: Three Stooges

Neither was Looney Tunes, but that didn't stop people from posting about it here either.

Re: Three Stooges

This has been discussed on the film board. These films are suppose to be released in chronological order in boxset collections only in original glorious black and white starting later this year but they have still been releasing the crummy colorized slim pickens versionsmaking some wonder if something went wrong with this project.

Hopefully this will happen, be given the same care as the Buster Keaton Columbia shorts and will inspire collections of Charley Chase, Andy Clyde, Harry Langdon, Shemp, El Brendal, Walter Catlett, Collins and Kennedy, Vernon & Quillan, Sidney & Murray, Schillings & Lane, The Glove Singers, Vera Vague, Hugh Herbert, Harry Von Zell, Sterling Holloway, Joe Besser, Musical Novelties, and other shorter series featuring Bert Wheeler, Una Merkel, Polly Moran, Billy Gilbert, Slim Summerville, Billie Burke, Franklin Pangborn, Smith & Dale and many others.

Re: Three Stooges

Yes. Unfortunately lots of rumors.

But I haven't seen a Sony press release or anything other than "box sets are coming" threads here and there. But we're hopeful.

There are plenty of us Three Stooges fans.

Many of us have skipped Sony's latest bare-bones, "colorized" crapola. They slap together about 60-70 minutes of classic comedy, add "color" & have the nerve to say the films are "funnier" in color. I prefer to think that Sony is funnier without my money.

Bring on chronological, box sets of all 190 3 Stooges shorts with bonus features and they will sell very well.

Re: Three Stooges

In the olden days, movie theaters gave people a complete program, with not just one (or sometimes) two full-length movies and previews of coming attractions (and in some places, a live stage show), but also what they called "assorted short subjects," which could include a newsreel, animated cartoons and a wide variety of short films, including comedy films. Columbia Pictures produced many series of comedy short subjects, including the Three Stooges, for movie theaters.

The 190 Columbia Three Stooges short films were released theatrically, between 1934 and 1959 (which is why you were told this doesn't belong here in the television forum.)

They were released to television syndication (I believe in 1959), and different cities showed them in different ways. Where I lived, they were considered to be for children, and were shown every weekday afternoon, as part of a show that also had a "live" host, kids in the audience, and old cartoons.

Later in my city (and in most places, I think), it was clear the Stooges were popular enough to have a full hour devoted to them, and three of the shorts were shown every weekday afternoon. (Oddly enough, in alphabetical order -- first all the Curlies, then all the Shemps, then all the Bessers -- then the cycle would start over. This alphabetical system went on for years in my city.)

Re: Three Stooges

Where I live,we get a station,out of Boston,called WSBK which airs three or four Stooges shorts Sunday mornings.They start at 10:30,my time,which would be 9:00 eastern time and finish at noon.

Re: Three Stooges

We used to so enjoy watching the Stooges on 38 when visiting Boston. I so hate how they get butchered up on Spike so they can fill a half hour. And what's worse is how Sony refuses to put them out properly - like how Universal did Abbott & Costello.

Re: Three Stooges

What's wrong with how Universal did with Abbott & Costello? They released 27 of the 28 films that they own (the missing one is tied in a rights issue with the Damon Runyun estate) complete and uncut with nice transfers. I'm very happy with the Universal Abbott and Costello releases especially after having to pay a fortune for them on VHS because they released them one at a time to milk profits.

Re: Three Stooges

Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think Corey3rd is complaining about Universal's A&C releases. I think he's asking why Sony can't release proper sets the way Universal did.

Re: Three Stooges

I'm not complaining about the Abbott and Costello on Universal releases. I like the fact that I can get 8 of their movies on 2 DVDs for $15. They are on my shelf. On the other hand, we're getting stiffed by Sony with their 4 shorts for $25. Does anyone care that they're duplicated in color? Those that love the Stooges, want to see them in black and white. Those that need this crummy watercolor job don't deserve to experience them. Not to mention the fact that the last bw/color releases have duplicated.

Re: Three Stooges

Just curious, how many Three Stooges fans here are intererested in the other Columbia shorts? I know I want them, anyone else?

Re: Three Stooges

I just hope that when Columbia Sony Tri-Star, etc., etc. releases this so-called box set, they don't edit them. For instance. If you take a look at the first pressings of these discs there are a few shorts in question that have mysteriously have had audio changed. MICRO-PHONIES - When Curly loses his voice at the party, some of Moe's dialogue is replaced with ambient party noise. There is no splice or skip in the film. It is inexplecably missing. You physically see him mouth the words. The line is "The Senorita's lost her voice". For whatever reason this has been replaced with the ambient party sounds. Another short - GRIPS, GRUNTS and GROANS actually has a sound effect added in ! The Stooges are in the wrestler's locker room hoping to get out somehow from the gamblers. In the original, Moe pokes Curly in the eyes and no sound accompanies it. But in the DVD, some genius - and I use the term loosely - decided to add a head bop sound effect ! Not to mention it was an eye poke. Why is someone tampering with this stuff ? Buyer beware !
Now we have to analyze very carefully all of the DVDees of the Stooges releases to make sure that nothing else has been tampered with. The Curly- Joe features seem alright and I like the fact that they are presented in thier original aspect ratio. I'm sure glad that I still have the VHS and Laser disc releases. So get it right SONY ! Boo on the color as well.

Re: Three Stooges

I'd be interested in them --- but if it's this hard to get them to do the Stooges right, it would take more than a miracle to get them to release anything else.

Re: Three Stooges

I'd have to agree.

If they can't figure out how to properly release one of the most popular & most recognizable comedy acts of all time (The Three Stooges), then I doubt they even know they own the rights to these other Columbia shorts.

Of course, they could surprise us & "colorize" them - because according to Sony's packaging, the films "are funnier in color".

Re: Three Stooges

Sony seems to have an aversion to B&W films. I think they're afraid it will affect the bottom dollar. It would be nice that someone who actually cares about films bought it out from Sony, but that is not going to happen. Sony's reason for buying film studios is to distribute films on their own media format to make it the standard, which has yet to happen in either video or music.

Re: Three Stooges

I'm also interested. I don't have any of the Stooges DVDs (I have all 190 shorts on VHS), but I do have the Buster Keaton Columbia shorts set. I have a dozen non-Stooge shorts on tape (including a couple of very funny Hugh Herbert "scare" comedies with Dudley Dickerson), and I'd like to see them compiled in some way, whether as a bonus to movies (like "Warner Night at the Movies") or a specialty box set.

The main problem with such titles is the lack of exposure these shorts received. WGN in Chicago aired the Andy Clyde shorts, and a station in Cincinnati aired several non-Stooge shorts, but overall, the shorts' obscurity works against them.

Re: Three Stooges

Thanks for pointing that out...I only recently have picked up some of the Columbia Stooge DVDs (a local store was having a clearance on some of them) and I hadn't noticed that. Certainly, what I want to see is the complete series released (190 shorts). If they want to do them chronologically, that's fine, as long as they all get out. (Though for business reasons, it might be wiser not to go chronological...what happens when they're down to just the 1950s remakes and the Joe Besser shorts? They certainly will not sell as well, and I'd rather see the sequence mixed up than to see the later shorts not get released at all.)




Afraid not...the only Stooge features that were originally filmed in Cinemascope were "Snow White & The Three Stooges" and "Four For Texas." What Sony has done is lop off the top and bottom of the image for the 1960s features, to create phony widescreen. They should know better (just compare them to the versions of the same films when they occasionally air on TCM) but I'm afraid this is just another act of "dumbing down" because if they were in their actual original aspect ratio, the unwashed masses would be screaming that they're not in widescreen...after all, they are from the 1960s, so they must have been shot in widescreen. But they weren't.

Ironically...the one starring Three Stooges feature film that was filmed in Cinemascope ("Snow White & The Three Stooges") is on a double-sided DVD with the widescreen on one side and pan & scan on the other...but the ones that were not filmed in widescreen are ONLY available in widescreen. And none has so much as a theatrical trailer for extras. (The first few they released had a vintage Stooge short as a bonus feature--at least the shorts were in the correct aspect ratio--but evidently, some people were ticked that in order to get certain shorts with Curly, they had to buy a DVD of one of the later feature films. So the answer was to just toss the rest off with no extras at all.)

And if they don't sell, it's because the Stooges aren't popular any more. I know...let's release the same shorts again, but colorize them!

Here's hoping that this comprehensive series turns out to be more than a rumor...

Re: Three Stooges

Sorry Mark , but you're misinformed about the 1960's Sony features being "phony widescreen". It's true, the top and bottom of the frame has been matted off to create the 1:85 aspect ratio but that's exactly how the films were projected in the cinemas. It's called 'open matte' and this process has been used on thousands of films since the 1:85 aspect ratio was introduced in the 1950's. The extra material at the top and bottom means the films don't have to be panned and scanned for tv, but it's not the preferred compositions
they were shot at. You'll notice all of the titles fall well within the 1:85-safe area ; this would not be the case if they were composed for full-frame.

Re: Three Stooges

Also, although it's quite trivial, I'd like to point out that "Four for Texas" wasn't in CinemaScope, but just standard 1.85:1 "widescreen."

Re: Three Stooges

Are you saying that, for instance, a theatre film print of "Attack Of The Clones" would have full-frame information that we don't see on the screen? If that's the case...then what is the point of "pan and scan?"

Fair enough if the intent is to recreate the look of how it was projected in a theatre...but I still prefer to see the whole frame.

Re: Three Stooges

Same here, but I've figured a marketing strategy that might solve the problem:

The Thirties Collection
This would probably sell best, because it would feature all the prime Curly shorts, no problem.

The Forties Collection
The strategy here could be that anyone who is only interested in Curly (I personally want ALL of the 190 shorts, but rest assured there are probably some "Curly Only" fans out there) would HAVE to buy this set as well if they wish to complete all of the Curly shorts, yet in 1947 the Shemp films will also be included for that decade. So they'd be also acquiring some Shemp movies too, to get all the Curlys.

The Fifties Collection
While this would likely be the lowest selling of the group (not for me; it's actually the 50s shorts I'm most interested in at this point!) it would help that the 16 oft-maligned Joe Besser shorts would be helped along by this set, as the bulk of it will contain also contain the remainder of the Shemp films from the 50s (and we do have Shemp fans out there). To get all the Shemps, you need to buy this set which also includes Joe Besser.

Hey, business is business!

Re: Three Stooges

there is a difference between a 2:35.1 anamorphic (Cinemascope) shot film - that needs to be pan and scanned to fit the standard TV. A film that was shot in Super-35 (like Ronin or Fifth Element) is given the aspect ratio by cropping the negative. When you see that movie on TV, they have merely uncropped the original image so you are seeing more (mostly from the bottom of the screen).

Re: Three Stooges

This is an excellent idea. But don't forget:

The Sixties Collection
This would contain the 6 feature films with Curly-Joe. Probably won't sell as much as the first three, but will do OK. There are a ton of us Stooge fans & we'll buy it all if we get proper boxed sets.

Re: Three Stooges

I'm afraid they'll have to put the 16 Bessers as "bonus features" on 16 box sets of Curly and Shemp. I like the Bessers, and a lot of Stooge fans like them, but your average Joe, no pun intended, doesn't.

Re: Three Stooges

Average Joes don't even know who Joe Besser is.

Unfortunately, Sony hasn't even bothered to do anything w/ the Joe Besser films in about 25 years (except annoy Three Stooges fans).

What is Sony's logic?

A 16-episode bare-bones Joe Besser compliation sold online to Three Stooges fans would do great. Or they can just wait until absolutely every single remaing Three Stooges fan dies off and they get nothing. What is their idiotic logic?

Re: Three Stooges

Mark, go up to the 'links' bar near the top of this page and click on the 'Widescreen FAQ' for some basic information on the various aspect ratios used over the years and how they are achieved , since the how and why's are different for almost every format.

Re: Three Stooges

I have NEVER been a fan of colorization, but I must say that I was impressed with the color I saw on the Three Stooges DVD, Stooged & Confoosed.
It was the most realistic colorization I've seen to date and it actually seems to add more depth to the picture. I do however, like the option Sony gave the viewer to watch either in color or B/W...the colorization wasn't crammed down our throats.