Customer Reviews

3 Stooges: Corny Casanovas [VHS]

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This tape is great. It includes three shorts, CORNY CASANOVAS, A MISSED FORTUNE, and HE COOKED HIS GOOSE. HE COOKED HIS GOOSE is the best one on this tape, but the other two are great too.

CORNY CASANOVAS (1952)- Excellent Three Stooges short. The Stooges are all dating the same woman, but don't know it. There's a rare treat in this short, Larry beating up Moe. One of my favorite Stooge films.

A MISSED FORTUNE (1951)- Another great short. This is basically just a remake of the Curly Classic, HEALTHY, WEALTHY, AND DUMB. This remake is interesting. I'm torn deciding if this is better, or the original.

HE COOKED HIS GOOSE (1952) - An excellent Three Stooges short. The plot twist at the end where Larry sends Shemp to Moe's house while his fiance and Moe are waiting there is pure Stooge heaven. An excellent short.

This tape is great. CORNY CASANOVAS was remade with Joe Besser as RUSTY ROMEOS, but the trivia note said the title was LUSTY ROMEO. HE COOKED HIS GOOSE was remade, with Besser, as TRIPLE CROSSED. A funny and interesting tape. The quality is about the same as BUBBLE TROUBLE is on the LISTEN, JUDGE tape. Buy this today!

There are three episodes on this tape, Corny Casanovas, A Missed Fortune, and He Cooked His Goose. The best one is Corny Casanovas. In Corny Casanovas, the Stooges have proposed to the same woman, but don't know it! When they discover this, the stooges get into a big fight, in the end, no one wins. A Missed Fortune is the least best because it is a remake of a previous short, and second of all, it just isn't as funny as the other two. He Cooked His Goose is an interesting episode because Moe, Larry and Shemp are not a team, they are basically competing for two women, but Larry loses, and he deserved it. These films were funny, and I just hope Columbia releases all of them, because there are 55 episodes they have not distributed yet.

CORNY CASANOVAS (1952) - One of my favorite Three Stooges shorts. A hilarious plot with the boys each dating the same girl but not knowing it. The fight at the end with the Stooges is the highlight. Man, Moe really gets his in this episode. He gets his head stuck in a bucket full of water, gets poked in the face repeately with a mop handle, gets the top of his head blown off with a gun, gets dozens of tacks shot into his behind, has a magnet shoved down his throat, mistakenly shaves with shoe polish, and finally gets the (...) knocked out of him with a shovel. He must've been having a bad luck day, or something.

BTW, the trivia note on the back of the video box incorrectly says that this short was remade as LUSTY ROMEO - the correct title is RUSTY ROMEOS.

A MISSED FORTUNE (1952) - A remake of HEALTHY, WEALTHY AND DUMB (1938) made with Curly. Nothing that notable about this remake. It's alright. A little slow paced, but I prefer the original version.

HE COOKED HIS GOOSE (1952) - Honestly, this is one of my least favorite Stooge shorts. This one casts the boys as separate characters, and I never liked those "different" Stooge shorts. Larry gets the main role, but again, I like him better in that "third Stoge" role. Plus, Moe's "bad luck" from CORNY CASANOVAS seemed to carry on to here. Didn't really seem necessary, and Moe acts more goofier and giddier than usual. Shemp doesn't have that much to do. This short just didn't seem fit for the Stooges.

This tape has some of the best and funniest shorts made by the Three Stooges. There are three good ones here, "A Missed Fortune" "Corny Casanovas", and " He Cooked His Goose." All are very entertaining and will make you laugh hard. This tape is espacially good for Shemp fans, as he is in all three. This is a very worthwhile tape, coming in at a pricey $11.99.

The Three Stooges are probably the most under-appreciated comic actors in history. They were multi-talented with remarkable timing and adlibbing skills. Most of their films were much better than those of their contemporaries in the two-reeler market - indeed, there are many which supersede the great Laurel and Hardy in laugh content. They were very well written; expertly edited. In addition, the supporting players were well utilized. Unfortunately, "Corny Casanovas" contains the kind of stuff than even Stooge devotees cringe at: some of the most gruesome and gratuitous violence ever captured on film, which degrades the remainder in this package.
In this 1952 film Larry and Moe manage to knock each other out, using devices such as chimney bellows and shovels. Moe whacks Larry on the side of the head, leaving him unconscious. But that's not enough - he places the bellows in Larry's mouth and pumps soot into his gut which momentarily distends like a balloon. Larry wakes up in a rage and smashes Moe over the head repeatedly until he too hits the floor. Another horrible gag involves Moe swallowing tacks - he is saved from choking when Larry shoves a magnet down his throat! It's unbelievable.
The purpose of the long scene, apparently, is to set-up the gleefull departure of the flim-flaming golddigger who has fooled all three (not too daunting a task!), and left with jewelry.
In their best films, the poking and punching was included as a kind of personality quirk of the easily riled Moe, and nobody really got hurt. In fact, the real humour came from the viewer's belief that Curly actually had some kind of other-worldly ability to take any kind of punishment and would show pain out of loyalty to his mentor!
"A Missed Fortune" has a fairly predictable plotline about winning a large sum of money and going out on the town. In the boys' excitement they rent a huge room in a luxurious hotel managed by who else? - Vernon Dent. Their only oversight is that the money hasn't arrived yet. Naturally, they wreck the place. There is some good dialogue, but the only decent scene involves the arrival of three ladies with dollar signs in their eyes, who meet with a bucket of water. The physical humour is not as rough as in "Corny Casanovas".
"He Cooked His Goose" is by far the best of the three, as it gives the under-rated Larry Fine a chance to essentially dominate a film! Instead of playing the "neutral" Stooge, he's a fast-talking (and highly UNsympathetic)entrepreneur who exploits Shemp and Moe in his plot to win their women. Moe steps back and just reacts this time, an interesting departure.
This collection is strictly *collectors only*.

Three shorts: CORNY CASONAVAS; A MISSED FORTUNE; and HE COOKED HIS GOOSE