What's new

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

Mark Y

Screenwriter
Joined
Mar 20, 2006
Messages
1,233

I tend to agree with the assessment of Joe "Curly-Joe" DeRita and the later feature films in general (with the concession that unlike the shorts, those films were originally made with a children's audience in mind). They are fine and definitely part of the Three Stooges canon...just don't sit down to watch "The Three Stooges In Orbit" expecting something equal to "Dizzy Doctors."

But in the last several years I have gotten a chance to see some of the Stooges' TV appearances, and I have to say, DeRita is fine in the segments I've seen from "The Steve Allen Show." Stooge fans owe it to themselves to check it out. A fairly recent DVD has an abridged version of a Steve Allen show with the Stooges performing the "Maharajah," "Hospital Operation" and (my favorite) "Stand-In" sketches. Now, I'm not saying DeRita is as good as Curly Howard...but he did a great job in these performances, and the team worked together like clockwork (despite Moe Howard being very ill with the flu that night). I think maybe it gelled so well that night because the team were doing routines they'd been doing for a long time, and I think they used to do stuff like this in their live show, where they'd do the same stuff night after night. They were probably a lot better rehearsed. That might make the difference. (I did notice Moe feeding DeRita a few lines during the "Maharajah" routine, however.)

These segments are on a DVD called "The Three Stooges Extreme Rarities," which is part of Legend Films' "The Three Stooges Triple Whammy" 3-DVD set. It's a random hodgepodge of public domain stuff (along with some items that at one time or another were believed to be public domain, but I don't think are...shhhhhhh...) and although there's a lot of colorized material, most of it is also on the discs in the original black and white too, and the quality tends to be better than previous releases of the same material. There is some material I never saw before (like a trailer for "The Three Stooges Fun-O-Rama") and I've been collecting stuff on the Stooges since I was a kid. Some of it is frustrating though, because certain things are represented just by clips, and I'd really rather have had the whole show (like the Steve Allen material, and a Danny Thomas special, segments of which are included from a beautiful color videotape, even including the NBC peacock at the beginning). But there is a treasure trove of stuff here...including a Columbia "Screen Snapshots" short with the Stooges from the 1930s...I guess you could think of this set as the "DVD extras" for the new Sony Stooges shorts collection (which is great, just like everyone else has been saying).

There are clips from an interview show called "On The Go," from a beautiful B&W videotape, from around 1960 if I'm not mistaken. Just recently I watched this on my computer and noticed this for the first time...if it seems like some of the "shot composition" is odd, you're not imagining it...the image is reframed to cut out the time code at the bottom of the screen! Pretty clever!
 

CaseyL

Supporting Actor
Joined
Jan 29, 2002
Messages
806
I watched this whole set this weekend, and I'm pretty pleased with the quality. Despite the fact that this is barebones, I really have enjoyed this and am looking forward to the other sets.
 

Scott Thomas

Second Unit
Joined
Apr 24, 1999
Messages
275
I had no idea that this was out!! I am so a huge three stooges fan, this the one of the best DVD deals I ever seen. I ordered it right away
 

ScottR

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Apr 1, 2000
Messages
2,646
Absolutely breathtaking! So that is what black and white photography is supposed to look like? Bravo, Sony! Bring on Vol. 2!!!
 

Matthew H

Second Unit
Joined
Jul 31, 2001
Messages
364
That smiley is from the ThreeStooges.net message board.

There's also a pie-throwing one which is a favorite of ours over there. :D
 

Ryan

Grip
Joined
Mar 20, 2006
Messages
18
I finally got a chance to pick up this set and I'm really impressed! I've never seen the stooges look so good. I really hope Sony will see this series through to the end; I love seeing "Volume 1" in the title. My local Fry's only had one copy of the new set but tons of the older Stooge compilations. I wish Sony would just recall the older DVDs so that consumers buy the new series.
 

Matthew H

Second Unit
Joined
Jul 31, 2001
Messages
364
That's where I got mine. They only had two copies when I picked mine up - and they were in the TV section! All of the older Sony compliation discs were on the Comedy section. Needless to say when I first saw that I thought they were sold out so I was worried. No other stores in my area even carry the set.
 

ahollis

Patron
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Mar 1, 2007
Messages
8,864
Location
New Orleans
Real Name
Allen
A little off the subject, however the new Columbia DVD release of Golden Boy has a short included with Shep Howard titled "Please To Mitt You." It is a 1940 short with Shep has a featured actor. Print is in the same excellent condition that the Stooges volume is in. Here's to Columbia for adding the short. I hope they keep this up.
 

Matthew H

Second Unit
Joined
Jul 31, 2001
Messages
364
Yeah I noticed Pleased to Mitt You was on the new Golden Boy DVD. I think it'd be a nice bonus on some of the later volumes to include the Shemp and Besser Columbia solos. I mean they own them, why not?

I have a bootleg set of Shemp's Columbia shorts and they're all hilarious. I recently watched "A Hit With a Miss" which is a re-working of the Stooges' "Punch Drunks", and it was great.

Hope to see more restored ones down the line.
 

CraigF

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Nov 20, 2002
Messages
3,117
Location
Toronto area, Canada
Real Name
Craig
Just finished watching this. Haven't seen The Three Stooges at all since TV in the early 60s. Took me a couple shorts to get into it, then I noticed I was LOL a few times for each one.

Couple questions for the afficionados. Do you think the sound effects were re-recorded? They seem awfully clear/prominent and different than the other sound. (Remember I haven't seen these for ~45 years.) Also, way OT, but do you know the name of that beautiful woman who first (I think) shows up in Hoi Polloi? When you watch it, I'm sure you'll know the one I mean (even among the lots of them they tended to use), she really stands out. I wonder if she became more famous. Thanks.
 

Steve...O

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Dec 31, 2003
Messages
4,376
Real Name
Steve
Finished this set last weekend and was blown away and how good these shorts looked. Absolutely incredible! It's even more amazing considering the poor shape that Columbia theatrical films from this era are in.

For Stooge-philes: are some of the titles not the originals? I read somewhere that the first short (where the Stooges were supporting players) had new titles added to keep the format the same with the others. Also, I wondered about the Lucille Ball short. She has top billing, but her part is not that big nor was she all that well known at the time. Was that title changed to reflect her later fame? I should clarify that I assume that any replaced titles (if indeed there were any) were done long ago and not part of this DVD release.

Also, is it confirmed that Sony will issue subsequent volumes or is that still just speculation? If they are indeed fast tracking these as multiple releases per year an announcement for Vol 2 should be forthcoming.

Thanks in advance.

Steve
 

Eric Peterson

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Aug 2, 2001
Messages
2,959
Real Name
Eric Peterson


I'm not sure about the sound effects, but since they were dubbed from the beginning, It would have been easy for somebody to crank the volume up. Personally, I did not notice any difference.

The beautiful lady that you speak of is Christine McIntyre. In all honesty, I watch these shorts for her almost as much as I watch them for the Stooges.
http://taillefer.tripod.com/ChristineMcIntyre/
 

Matthew H

Second Unit
Joined
Jul 31, 2001
Messages
364
According to a very reliable source at the TS.net MB, Vol. 2 is "on the table", meaning it's being discussed but nothing is concrete. I'm sure they were waiting for the sales totals of Vol. 1. This was said maybe a week or so ago, so only time will tell...
 

Mike Frezon

Moderator
Premium
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Oct 9, 2001
Messages
60,695
Location
Rexford, NY

Gosh. Based on accounts here of the enthusiasm surrounding this set and the difficulty of finding it in stores, I'd think another set would be a slam dunk.

But, then, since "enthusiasm" and "difficult time finding copies" are two events which have so many variables involved...I guess smart business-people will wait for the defining numbers: total sales.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Latest Articles

Forum statistics

Threads
356,815
Messages
5,123,821
Members
144,184
Latest member
H-508
Recent bookmarks
0
Top