Customer Reviews

3 Stooges: Movie Maniacs [VHS]

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4 star:		(2)
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For those who want a bit more than a television commercial to understand why the Three Stooges are priceless, the trio of comedy shorts the boys made for Columbia collected on this videotape can help make the case:

"Movie Maniacs" is a short from 1936 that starts with the Stooges stowing away on a train bound for Hollywood. There are a couple of good routines involving making breakfast and ironing their clothes before the boys arrive at Carnation Pictures are mistaken for studio executives. This means that they can provide their collective 2 cents with regards to the love scene being filmed by a director (named Swinehardt). The result is that everybody quits and Curly has to play the female lead romanced by Larry, while Moe directs. Somehow this classic ends up with the boys being chased by a lion in a car, which makes perfect sense in the world of the Stooges.

"Dutiful But Dumb" is a 1941 effort with a movie connection in that the Stooges are photographers for "Whack" magazine, out to get a picture of movie star Percival De Pusyter and his new bride. This does not go well, which is why the boys end up in Vulgaria, where shooting photographs gets you shot by a firing squad. Fortunately Curly knows about a rule of international law regarding last smokes. The best bit in this one has Curly crawling inside a large radio to broadcast the news, but his encounter with the oyster in his oyster soup is almost as good. The bits have little to do with the plot, but that is par for the course with these two-reelers.

"Oily to Bed, Oily to Rise" is a 1939 short where the boys start off working on a farm for food. This one actually has a running gag in that every time Curly wishes for something, it comes to pass. This gets all mixed up with the fact that some crooks are buying land from poor farmers who do not know that their land sits on oil. The Stooges come to the rescue of a kindly window and her three daughters (April, May, and June), and the rescuing actually works out. Not a classic, but close.

Overall, this trio of Stooges comedies makes for one of the better video collections in this series. You have one classic and two above average efforts from the Moe-Larry-Curly period, and several great bits by Curly, which is always a plus.

Movie Maniacs (1936)
The boys are sleeping in a freight boxcar on their way to Hollywood to be actors, the scenes when they're having breakfast is hilarious and Larry ironing Moe's pants is priceless, then the boys arrive in Hollywood and they try to sneak in the studio but get thrown out and Moe comes up with the idea to get inside, then the studio boss (Bud Jamison) mistakes the boys as actors and they wreak havoc inside the studio and the studio boss finds out that the other actors couldn't come in time and he finds out that the stooges are frauds and the boys flee, great short. 4.5/5

Dutiful But Dumb (1941)
The stooges are photographers and their boss sends the stooges to Bulgaria (where camera's are prohibited and those who break the law are sentenced to death) and the boy's get caught and are sentenced to death, they're a bunch of timeless scenes when Curly hid behind the stereo and plays the harmonica and gets caught and the when Curly orders an oyster stew and the oyster spits soup at Curly and the boys get carried away by the guards, another great short. 4.5/5

Oily to Bed, Oily to Bed (1939)
The boys are looking for something to eat and Curly wishes something and Moe slaps him cause Curly was thinking only for himself, then the boys enter inside the farm and the farmer askes the boys what they were doing and Moe tells him that they're looking for something to eat and the farmer tells the boys to go saw some wood and they ended up destroying the saws and the farmer tells the boys to go load up the wagon to pay off the saws, then the boys leave the barn and Curly wishes that they had a car and sure enough he gets his wish and the ask an older lady to fix them something to eat and after dinner, the boys offer to work for her and she tells them that the pump needs fixin' and the boys offer to do it and Curly wishes that he could settle down with a bunch of beautiful girls and again he gets his wish, then the boys find out that the old lady was swindled and they decide to go after the crooks and at the end, they save the old lady's farm and Curly wishes that they can get married and sure enough, he gets his wish and Curly tries to kiss his girl and winds up kissing MOE!
Another classic short, 4.5 stars

This is one of the best stooge tapes out there and if you're a casual stooge fan, then you'll love watching this tape, also recommended is An Ache in Every Stake, Healthy Wealthy and Dumb and Whoops I'm an Indian.

This tape is a good value for stooge fans. All three of the shorts are (in my opinion) among their strongest efforts and each short contains priceless moments (such as Curly's battle with an oyster in a bowl of oyster stew in "Dutiful but Dumb"). Even if the quality was more uneven, this tape would be worth the price just to hear Curly (in "Oily to Bed, Oily to Rise") say: "It brings out the wood nymph in me." Highly recommended, equal to "A Plumbing We Will Go."

The 3 Stooges at their absolute finest! 3 Curlys; need i say more? Probably not, but the transfer is superb, and its a genuine Columbia Tristar movie. Enjoy! LOL stuff!

MOVIE MANIACS is the best short here. All the Stooges are at their best here. A very funny short, worth the price of the tape alone.

DUTIFUL BUT DUMB, funny as well. The scene where the Stooges are in the radio is a masterpiece. The oyster gag was also done in SHIVERING SHERLOCKS and INCOME TAX SAPPY. A pretty funny short.

OILY TO BED, OILY TO RISE is funny in some ways, and not in others. The short is a little slowly paced, but still pretty funny.

Would've been a five-star tape if OILY had been a little funnier and faster paced.

MOVIE MANIACS (1936) - A hilarious short. The boys travel by train to Hollywood to breakout into the movie business. A lot of great scenes, and Larry and Curly as the leading couple is a hoot. Great ending, too. Best line is from Moe: "There's a couple of 100 people in pictures now who know nothing about it. Three more won't make a difference!"

DUTIFUL BUT DUMB - One of the boys best. Classic work from the Stooges, and Curly's oyster soup scene toward the end is one of his best moments. Only he could make that scene funny, even though Moe and Larry each tried the same gag in the later Stooge shorts, and both failed.

OILY TO BED, OILY TO RISE (1939) - Great stuff. The scene where Curly is on the oil gusher is hilarious and memorable. Moe actually got hurt filming the part where oil squirts in his face, since he forgot to close his eyes, and that stuff got in his eyes. The first aid man had to pry his eyes open and take the oil out of his eyes!