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Three Stooges documentary mini-series by Moe's son Paul Howard. (1 Viewer)

Essanay Paul

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I am currently reviewing the new Three Stooges 6-part documentary produced by Moe's son Paul Howard.

"The Three Stooges Mini-series: Hello Moe! Hello Dad!"


HMHD-Box_web.png

This new nine hour collectible DVD set packed with never-seen-before footage and photos of The Three Stooges performing and from their private lives celebrates a century of comedy from the greatest comedy team of all time.

The mini-series goes behind the curtain and tells the backstory of all the members of The Three Stooges covering a hundred years from the perspective of narrator Paul Howard, Moe’s son. Besides the rare footage and photos, there are interviews from family members, friends and some of today’s most popular celebrities.
The families of The Three Stooges also provided many candid photos along with the footage plus very rare and one-of-a-kind memorabilia pieces that are reproduced and included in the DVD





Best Buy currently sells it MUCH cheaper than Amazon.com at $19.99.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/three-stooges-dvd-3-disc/4664077.p?id=3353591&skuId=4664077

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00T5DYV6M/ref=s9_psimh_gw_p74_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=desktop-1&pf_rd_r=05NQ97921N5QG4YHPZ52&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=2079475242&pf_rd_i=desktop


The DVD collectible set will be available at Target stores May 31st.


My early reaction: Opening the big box was a disappointment. At 2 1/2 inches deep with a notice on the front stating "Packed with Brand-New Collector's Items" I expected to see it full of goodies. What I found was cardboard filler reducing the interior down to 1 1/4 inches, half the original depth. There were three slimcases with DVDs and some packets of cardboard re-prints. I would rather have had a smaller box to put on the shelf. I felt deceived.

I started watching the first part of the documentary, it dragged at first. If you get joy out of watching amateur video of fan conventions, then you will enjoy the first 15 minutes. Otherwise skip ahead 15 minutes to where the real rare vintage films & photos appear. Paul speaks slowly, which doesn't help the first 15 minutes.

Overall this feels like a video book. The highlight, hands down, is the wealth of vintage photos, home movies and audio interviews with Moe.
These alone makes this a must-buy for Stooge fans. I would give this 5 stars if it were edited down to 5 episodes, episodes 1 & 9 drag a bit.
Some events are dramatized with footage from the old TV movie without a disclaimer, but it is obvious. I should mention that these are the memories of Moe Howard some of which have been questioned in the Ted Healy book by Bill Cassara.

The DVDs are produced for 16x9 TVs with the vintage clips & HOME MOVIES shown pillar-boxed to 1:33-1. But this means if you are watching on a square TV the clips will be shrunk down in a window-box.

One minus: NO SUBTITLES OR CAPTIONS.

Each episode is 49 to 51 minutes long, each having the same too-long 3:14 opening title sequence:
Disc 1
Episode 1 "A Trio Grows In Brooklyn" - After clips of Stooge Conventions, take a journey back to the 1890s and learn about the Horowitz Family.
Episode 2 "A Stooge Is Born" - From Vaudeville to movies, Moe meets Helen & the Shemp leaves the act.
Episode 3 "Slap Happy" - In the 1930's Curly's off-screen antics leave the Stooges just a pratfall away from disaster as their shorts hit a high note.
Disc 2
Episode 4 "Eureka!" - Paul witnesses Curly's downward spiral as a child. Success takes them abroad to Europe and around the world.
Episode 5 "Good Night & Good Nyuk!" - The nitwits nix the Nazis during WWII and Curly takes his final curtain call.
Episode 6 "Deja Vu All Over Again" - Shemp re-joins the act as Television invades the entertainment world.
Disc 3
Episode 7 "Bums Rush" - Enter Joe Besser and Exit the Comedy Short after 24 years. Paul tells of the growing tension in the family.
Episode 8 "Curtain Call" - TV captures millions of new fans for the Stooges and their movie career takes off again, this time in features and TV appearances.
Episode 9 "A Son Also Rises" - After the world bids farewell to Moe and Larry, their fame marches on with TV, conventions, home video and the internet.
 

Essanay Paul

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I wish Paul Howard got Sony behind this. This is a small indie production financed by Kickstarter. They raised the money back in September 2013 and started production.


Paul Howard really doesn't provide any new information to Stooge fans, it is mostly like reading Moe's book.


The value is in the archival footage provided by the Howard family.
 

Brian McP

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This was a story that had to be told and I greatly applaud Paul Howard for being the one to do this and the production coming via Moe's family instead of the loads of inane documentaries that have been made since the dawn of the home video era, full of crappy public domain footage with cheap and usually factually wrong scripts and narration (I must have sat through every one of them....)


Thank you very much HTF for bringing this to my notice, I also appreciate the notes from Essanay, shall keep them in mind.


Also -- it was a Kickstarter funded production -- well done to those who helped finance this, I'm glad to support this. Recent documentaries on Laurel and Hardy and the Hal Roach Studios, great as they are, were co-financed by German television networks and other production companies. This seems to be a crowd funded production, and above all, an authorized production from one of the Stooges' families -- that's enough for me to get this set.
 

David Deeb

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Thanks for the review. Had never heard of this. As a big Stooge fan, I'm curious and may get it. Amazing that this many years later, documentatries and DVD releases on the Stooges still keep coming! Like Brian McP said, "I must have sat through every one of them" too.


Probably should move this thread out of the BD section though.
 

Tony Bensley

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Essanay Paul said:
It was supposed to be filed under "BD/DVD Press Releases". I'm not sure why it is under Blu-ray, or how to move it.
Hi Paul!


I ran into a similar issue awhile back with a Topic relating to The Monkees TV Series that I'd started. Apparently, only a Mod can do the rerouting. Quite frankly, I didn't want to bother them with this, though it was eventually rerouted anyway! In short, I wouldn't lose any sleep over it.


CHEERS! :)


Tony
 

LouA

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Will this be released on Blu-ray? I'm thinking it could be issued in that format in space saving packaging , but I'm not sure if the quality warrants a BD release.
 

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