DVD Review HTF DVD REVIEW: The Three Stooges Collection Vol. 1 (1934-1936) (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED) (1 Viewer)

[Mark Y]

The Stooges (Moe-Larry-Curly) did one film at Universal, which Universal still owns: "Myrt And Marge," with Ted Healy. Back in the late 1980s it aired on Cinemax as part of a "Three Stooges Month" lineup along with some of the 1960s feature films. I don't know of it being released on any video format or aired on TV any time since then. (This was around 1988.)

 

[Joe Lugoff]

Different people have different opinions, but being a Curly fan, I like the years when he was given more to do than Moe or Larry. This would be from about 1939 through 1944 or so.

One of the saddest things in movie history is to see how the effects of his illness turned him into a shell of a man, as someone once put it -- yet, even in his last shorts, when he isn't a fraction as manically funny as he had been, he still manages to be somewhat funny and always endearing as the Ultimate Stooge.

But I like all the Stooges shorts to varying degrees, even the ones with Besser.

 

[Joe Lugoff]

I hate to be so terribly nitpicky, because you're fundamentally correct, of course -- but if not I, someone will pipe in and say:

"Snow White and the Three Stooges" is owned by 20th Century-Fox (and out on DVD for quite a while now).

There's also the 1951 movie "Gold Raiders," originally released by United Artists, and owned by the-lord-knows-who now.

 

[Mike*HTF]

Isn't Soup to Nuts also put out by 20th?

 

[Patrick McCart]

Yes and it's actually a fantastic restoration. While the only extra is a trailer for Snow White and the Three Stooges, they did keep the 1.20:1 format and have two mono tracks (mono and enhanced mono).

 

[DanMel]

My favorite years for stooges would be from 1934-1939, but do like the early 40's one's before curly got sick as well. I am biased though as I am a big thirties fan and think that the greatest time for comedies or movies was done in the thirties and on up to about 1942 when the war hit.

This also would relate to my favorite time for screwball comedies from Twentieth Century (1934) to Palm Beach Story in 1942. I think 1934-1942 was the best years that Hollywood ever saw for comedies, dramas adventures and romance movies.

 

[Matthew H]

I guess I should have been less misleading. Thank you all for the correction.

All 190 shorts [with the exception of the earlier mentioned 4 public domain titles] are owned by Sony. This also goes for their later films with Curly-Joe, and their one and only feature with Curly called "Rockin' In the Rockies" [not to be confused with their short of a similar name, "Rockin' Thru the Rockies"].

Their pre-Columbia features with Healy are primarily owned by MGM - although I believe some of those [if not all] are owned by Warner [who put out last year's double feature of "Meet the Baron" and "Gold Raiders"]. They also were featured in a couple of shorts at the time - one called "Jailbirds of Paradise" featured Moe and Curly in a starring role, but unfortunately this film is long gone. Larry had a cameo in one film with Healy, the name escapes me at the time, but it was his only solo non-Stooge film. Moe had a cameo in two films I believe, perhaps shorts.. all of these were MGM films. Soup to Nuts was their only actual film they made at Fox, and that saw a DVD release in 2005.

Universal's "Myrt and Marge" has never been released on home video, although as someone mentioned Cinemax aired it in the 80s, so any DVD you see of that online is a bootleg [I have the original recording myself somewhere.. it's a really enjoyable flick]. The Boys with Healy had a cameo in the Clark Gable film "Dancing Lady" which Warner put out a couple of years ago as well. Their bits are short, but if you're a Stoogephile chances are you already own it.

If any of this is incorrect please let me know, I like to be as accurate as possible and it wouldn't hurt to be a little mored educated.

Also, check out ThreeStooges.net for a complete filmography of all 6 Stooges. It's the most thorough resource out there.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

Yes, we definitely do have different opinions! I'm the complete opposite of that -- I don't like when Curly gets a lot of the spotlight on him over Moe and Larry (same would go for Shemp, actually) in what I might call "solo segments".

 

[Joe Lugoff]

I think even the most rabid anti-Curlyist would have to admit he was a more inspired comedian than Larry Fine.

I wonder if there's anyone on the planet who thinks Joe DeRita was a funnier comedian than Curly Howard ... well, it wouldn't surprise me if some people think so, and would fight over it.

 

[Matthew H]

I just don't think DeRita is funny at all, to be honest. I've seen his solo work he did for Columbia, and overall he just wasn't my cup of tea.

Besser is hilarious. Yes, he's one of the most hated in the Stooge-i-verse, but I think the man is genius. Now I'm not saying this guy is really great as a Stooge. Let's put one thing out there, his humor fit more with Abbott and Costello [see the first season of their TV show where he played Stinky]. His sissy persona just didn't translate well with the Stooges brand of humor.

To me the Three Stooges will always be Curly, Larry, Moe, and Shemp. I'm not a huge fan of the later features, and I thoroughly enjoy the Besser-era shorst simply for some of Moe and Larry's lines. All of the best gags were always with the three Howard Bros. and Larry Fine. That's just the way it is.

All IMHO, of course.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

All I "admit" is that even back from when I was a little kid and watched the Stooges on the Officer Joe Bolton Show, I always thought Larry was funnier than Curly. Moe was funnier to me than Curly too.

I don't care for Joe DeRita though. The most unfunny of all the Stooges.

 

[Joe Lugoff]

Here's a strange and unfortunate thing that happened to me in the realm of Stoogery. The first time I laid eyes on the Stooges was in the summer of 1959 when I saw "Have Rocket, Will Travel."

That autumn, they started showing the Stooges shorts in my city.

So I see the fat guy with the very short hair and I think he's that unfunny one I saw in "Have Rocket." So when one of THOSE comes on, I don't watch it. I only watch the ones with Shemp, who I think is funny.

I just assumed the Shemp ones were older than the ones with the fat guy, who I thought was still living and was named Curly Joe.

I was too young to see that OBVIOUSLY the Curly episodes are older than the Shemp ones.

It wasn't until many years later that I learned the facts of the situation. In 1974, they started showing the Stooges again in my city and I told myself to give this Curly guy a chance, now that I knew he wasn't DeRita. And OMG! What a revelation.

But through it all, I never thought of Larry as funny, at all. To me, he was just there. I can't think of a single thing Larry ever said or did that made me laugh. It's Moe, Shemp, Besser and above all Curly that make me laugh. I like Larry well enough -- I just don't think he's funny.

 

[Patrick McCart]

After viewing a few shorts, I'm in awe of how perfect the remasters look. I can't recall a single speck of dirt or scratch. At the same time, they still look film-like.

Also, Larry has had plenty of hilarious gags. My favorite is in the "Swingin' the Alphabet" scene in Violent is the Word for Curly. He's daydreaming or something, but the close-up of him staring into the ceiling until Moe slaps him is funny. The gags with the pinball machine in Three Little Pirates are funny, too. He was mostly the foil to Moe and Curly, but I can't think of any times he was totally unfunny.

 

[Joe Lugoff]

I don't think Larry had the instinct for comedy and the superb timing of the Howard Brothers (or Joe Besser, for that matter). However, I do rank Larry far above poor Joe DeRita.

The Three Howard Brothers would have made a fantastic team! It's almost unbelievable that it never happened that way.

 

[AndrewR]

I got mine yesterday and spent most of the morning watching the first disc with my son. Wow! The prints look amazing! THIS is a perfect release and we can't wait for future volumes.

Is there an e-mail I can write to thank Sony for finally getting it right?

 

[chas speed]

I just watched the first disc and this is easily the best DVD for the cheapest price on the market right now. I had heard that there was some lost footage on "Three Little Beers" that had been put on this DVD, but it really just looked like all the other versions I had seen. What was supposed to be new footage on that short.

 

[Tim Tucker]

The scene where the golf balls fall out of Curly's pockets.

 

[Matthew H]

There was no deleted scene inserted, just a fix to how Sony released it last time.

Three Little Beers was on the "Three Smart Saps" compilation disc released in either 2004 or 2005. The scene in which Moe hits Curly on the head and he drops all of the golf balls was missing, not intentionally.. just a sloppy mastering job by Sony. The new release has this scene re-inserted.

Every home video release prior to that (as well as TV airings) have always had that scene, there was just a glitch in the mastering process.

Another scene that can be considered inserted by some is the kissing scene in Movie Maniacs. When the Stooges were put into syndication in the late 50s/early 60s, the censors at the time removed the kissing scene because they thought it was inappropriate for children's prgramming. Needless to say the print that AMC used when they aired the Stooges had it, and this new release does as well (this was Movie Maniacs first DVD issue).

 

[Mark Y]

According to a recent biography of Larry Fine called "One Fine Stooge," the trio of Moe, Shemp and Curly did perform on stage, exactly one and only one time.

 

[Mark Y]

Just some notes on the pre-Columbia Stooge films off the top of my head:

The Ted Healy/Stooges feature films:
Soup To Nuts (Fox) (on DVD)
Turn Back The Clock (MGM) (Brief cameo) (Not available)
Meet The Baron (MGM) (on DVD)
Dancing Lady (MGM) (on DVD)
Hollywood Party (MGM) (Clips of Laurel & Hardy on DVD as part of "TCM Archives" set, but Stooge scene not on DVD as of yet; was released in its entirety on VHS by MGM/UA)
Myrt And Marge (Universal) (not on DVD)

MGM shorts:
Nertsery Rhymes (officially unavailable; was on a few public domain releases, but in B&W -- some good color footage is in a Goodtimes compilation)
Beer & Pretzels (extra on "Flying Down To Rio" DVD)
Plane Nuts (extra on "Dancing Lady" DVD)
Hello Pop (considered a LOST FILM)
Roast-Beef And Movies (extra on "Dancing Lady" DVD)
The Big Idea (see Nertsery Rhymes above)
Jail Birds Of Paradise (considered a LOST FILM)
Give A Man A Job (not released on DVD)