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The Three Stooges Collection, Vol. 5: 1946-1948

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There was only one Curly, of course - but the vastly underrated Shemp Howard was surely the next best thing, and a class act all the way. Not many fans know that Shemp took a 50% salary cut from his successful solo career to help out his kid brother, Moe. He'd been earning twice as much for years as a busy freelance character actor, in memorable cameo bits supporting W.C. Fields, Abbott & Costello, Olsen & Johnson - and just about everyone else in Hollywood. (And frankly, having a much easier go of it. Unfortunately for posterity, the 52 year-old Shemp was already past his prime as a knockabout comic by the time he gamely returned to the team in 1947.)

But game he was, luckily for us. Shemp was blessed with an unforgettable, once-in-a-lifetime face that was a gift from the comedy gods. Displaying the seasoned comic instincts of a veteran clown, Shemp came equipped with a wonderful natural delivery, perfect ensemble timing, and a hilarious arsenal of quirky sounds, twitches and classic pratfalls. Out of altruism and family loyalty, he made the devil's choice - and three generations of comedy fans can be grateful for a noble and selfless gesture.

More Shemp facts: Shemp had virtually created the Stooges' trademark style of comedy with Moe and Ted Healy in vaudeville before Curly or Larry Fine ever joined the act. Simply put (for the benefit of some uninformed reviewers), without the vitally important Shemp there never would have been any Three Stooges in the first place - which makes undermining his legacy all the more pointless and absurd. He was also an uncredited gag writer on some early Curly shorts, such as "Pardon My Scotch," and in 1944 he took over for an ailing Curly during the Stooges' many live performance appearances.

Ah, but was he FUNNY? Well, the proof is in the pudding, (or custard pie, as the case may be.) Even his HAIR was funny - and who else could get his head "ironed" in an industrial pants press in quite the same way? Sixty years later, and the world is still laughing.

"Heeb-eep-eep-eep-eep!" Shemp fever....CATCH IT!

Finally a release date!! The 3 Stooges Collection 5: 1946-1948 will include the following 24 shorts, a few of which were later remade in the 1950s:

1946:
Beer Barrel Polecats (Curly's declining health forced the studio to use extensive stock footage from 'So Long, Mr. Chumps,' & 'In the Sweet Pie & Pie.'Below average.)
A Bird In The Head (This one still works despite Curly's ill health. Along with '3 Little Pirates,' 'A Bird In The Head' is another favorite Curly two-reeler from '46. Watch for the scene in which Curly finally gets to hit Moe back. Also, there is a rarely shown scene where the gorilla and Curly drink alcohol, which was censored out of the AMC broadcast airings. Curly's ears shoot out steam!).
Uncivil Warbirds (Sort of a follow-up to Uncivil Warriors, only not as funny. The last stooge short to feature another opening theme besides '3 Blind Mice.')
3 Troubledoers (Curly's last western, not as great as the previous ones but still okay)
Monkey Businessmen
3 Loan Wolves
G.I. Wanna Home
Rhythm & Weep (Curly is in a sad state in this, one of The 3 Stooges worst shorts.)
3 Little Pirates (Easily the best of Curly's last 10 two-reelers. He seems like his old self.)

1947:
Half-Wits Holiday(Sadly, Curly's last. Stooge foil Emil Sitka's first. A remake of 'Hoi Polloi' with a pie fight instead of a slap fight at the end. Curly is absent in the last 5 minutes or so of the film, having suffered a major stroke while sitting off camera waiting for his next scene).
Fright Night (The return of the original 3rd stooge, Shemp Howard. Remade as 'Fling in the Ring.')
Out West (Features a jail cell escape gag that was later reused in 'The 3 Stooges Meet Hercules.')
Hold That Lion!(The only Shemp film to feature a cameo by Curly-with a full head of hair. Filing cabinet scene was later reused in 'Tricky Dicks.' Shemp was so afraid of the lion that a glass plate had to be placed between the lion and the stooges in certain shots).
Brideless Groom
Sing a Song of 6 Pants
All Gummed Up

1948:
I'm A Monkey's Uncle
Shivering Sherlocks
Pardon My Clutch
Squareheads of the Round Table
Fiddler's Three
Hot Scots
Heavenly Daze
Mummy's Dummies
A Crime on Their Hands

While this collection of shorts fails to measure up to the ones that preceded them, this is an important point in the career of The Three Stooges.

The shorts on this volume represent the height of Curly's sad demise - by 1946, he was very ill and ultimately never returned to the act on a full-time basis after suffering a stroke during the filming of Half Wits Holiday. These final Curly shorts are among the worst of his Stooge years but for very understandable reasons. He had a brief cameo in 1947's Hold That Lion, which is featured on this set.

When Curly couldn't continue as a member of the team, Shemp returned and would stay with them until his own death in 1955. Shemp is criminally underrated by the average fan. He wasn't Curly, but Shemp was a very gifted comic in his own right. Curly and Shemp were two very different comics but both excelled at their type of comedy. Give Shemp a shot.

Most people don't realize that Shemp Howard (Moe's older brother)was the "first" third stooge with Moe & Larry. He quit to strike out on his own right before the Stooges started making their famous short films.

Moe then got his younger brother Jerome to join them. He shaved his head and called himself Curly. He spoke in a high falsetto voice because his normal voice sounded too much like Moe.

Curly frequently forgot his lines and that's where his famous "woo woo woo" came from. He would blurt that out when he forgot his lines and then ad lib it!

While not as funny as Shemp's "ee bee bee bee", it still made him famous.

After Curly's demise, Moe called up Shemp and he returned. His style of humor was legendary. He had done some work with Abbott and Costello. He was so much funnier than them that Costello saw to it that most of Shemp's work ended up on the cutting room floor.

Curly did a nice job filling in for Shemp but it was great when the original finally returned and left us with so many gems!

i just want to say that i have been a stooge fan for over 45 years and wanted to state that the stooges never produced a bad episode . I love all the episode with all the people used in the 190 shorts and movies .Am so glad for vol.5 and wanted to thank Sony for keeping there 190 episodes coming . I like to thank amazon for being the first to keep us fans informed when they do come out ,,,,,,,,, "great job Sony and Amazon"! I love all the stuff the THREE STOOGES did and so apprecaited to hopefully have the full 190 episode in my home and in my heart ! Thanks again. A real STOOGE fan !

I have to give this collection 5 stars: first, five stars for the ongoing accomplishment of Sony giving us edition after edition of the Stooges oeuvre in chronological order, in pristine prints, without making us wait long in between editions, affordable, in nice little packs, and each CD with a clear, simple menu (no "menu music" or "menu videos", which I hate and despise). Second, historically important films (for us slap-stick fans), presented uncut and without any idiot hypocrite warning us about the offensive (politically incorrect) nature of the jokes and why we should tolerate them... and also because I think these are well-made, outrageous and funny movies. Who can we thank for this??

The only thing more I could ask for is some indexing.

I disagree about Curly's last films being among the poorest of the trio's movies. In my opinion, both "Monkey Businessmen" and "Three Little Pirates " rate among the best put-together and imaginative of the Stooges films, even if not quite at the classic level of "Men in Black" or "A Plumbing We will Go". Nor do I see the big problem with Curly's health: only in "Beer Barrel..." does his voice seem a little lower than usual; in "A Bird..." and "Rhythm..." he sometimes seems a bit subdued, but that just makes him more believable as a character, which is not a bad thing. However, the ensemble work isn't as tight as usual, perhaps due to the extra coaching they were giving Curly; the timing comes back in full force once Shemp takes over.

Seeing these films chronologically is very interesting, revealing, and even rather moving. I can't quite explain the feeling of seeing Shemp's face replacing Curly's in the main titles to "Fright Night". Can we all ever thank Sony enough for giving us this collection in such a straightforward way?

Shemp was a top-level comedian. I find him more engaging than Curly because he seems like a real person who just happens to be funny. VERY funny. His fancy footwork and able physical comedy is way up with the greats. Although watching alone, I actually found myself laughing out loud at the Shemp/Stooge comedies. Not only is Shemp himself a natural comic, but the Stooge-timing is back in such overwhelming high gear that all three of them seem funnier as a unit than they had for a year or two. The stories are also quite good, and I have to assume that Columbia gave the Stooges a lot of control over the material, and Shemp may have been a particularly good idea man (and improvisor).

One interesting side-note here... In several Stooges films, Snub Pollard plays a small role. Pollard was a fine physical comedian from the silent era. In "Monkey Businessmen", he is the rich man in the wheel chair. Watch in the final scene as this elderly-looking man (he was 57) clicks his heels and sends the top foot as high as his head.

Well, let's hope that Sony completes the Stooges' collected shorts, and then brings other collections out from their archives. They've already given us their Keaton movies; I believe they own anthologies of Harry Langdon films, Charley Chase, and--guess who?? Shemp Howard!

Just got this DVD along with one other one with Curly, you do not have to make comparisions with the Stooges, they are all great-however there are some with Curly that are not my favorites, his good ones are great tho, of course, but now we get to Shemp! Every voice change he does, every move, pure comedic genius, plus just about every Shemp episode is a winner, can't wait for the next DVD to come out.

At long last, Vol. 5 is being released, bridging the gap between two great comics. These final handful of Curly shorts are sometimes painful to watch, as Curly's health continued to deteriorate. Some were just not up to the same level of the earlier ones, and it's obvious when Columbia tries to "cover up" Curly's illness with clips from past shorts or "Curly" body doubles. It was a sad fate for such a gifted comedic talent. As Moe once said of his younger brother: "He was a talented comic; a genius in his field". Well put, Moe!
The good news: Shemp returns! While he's no Curly--he never tried to be!--Shemp is terribly underrated. Even when the material is slight, he's a very good comic who can hold his own.
This stage was an important transition for the team. And this particular volume should be interesting to watch.

I've been a fan of Three Stooges for over ten years and I've got countless vhs and dvds of the boys. I was very happy when the sets came out in rapid succession but stopped after Volume four. Now Volume 5 is going be released and here comes Shemp! i've always liked Shemp as a third stooge and I think is detective shorts like Who Done It?, Blunder Boys, Hot Scots, and Crash Goes The Hash was some of the Stooges best work. I hope they release all Shemp shorts, even there are many duplicates and some after Shemp's death with stand in Joe De Palma. I ordered right away!

Classic slapstick comedy at its best. The Three Stooges will always be remembered and never forgotten!

I grew up watching "THE THREE STOOGES", during a time when classic B&W shorts were shown on television and I could remember coming home every lunch time to visit my grandparents during high school and catching the series on television and just enjoying the zany adventures of Moe, Curly and Larry plus Shemp who would highlight "THE THREE STOOGES" during the Columbia Pictures years (1934-1959).

There were a total of 190 shorts created for Columbia Pictures and in this fifth volume of "THE THREE STOOGES COLLECTION", the following episodes are featured:

1946:

1. Beer Barrel Polecats
2. A Bird in the Head
3. Uncivil Warbirds
4. Three Troubledoers
5. Monkey Businessmen
6. Three Loan Wolves
7. G.I. Wanna Home
8. Rhythm and Weep
9. Three Little Pirates

1947:

1. Ball-Wits Holiday
2. Fright Night
3. Out West
4. Hold that Lion
5. Bridless Groom
6. Sing a Song of Six PAnts
7. All Gummed Up

1948:

1. Shivering Sherlocks
2. Pardon My Clutch
3. Squareheads of the Round Table
4. Fiddlers Three
5. The Hot Scots
6. Heavenly Daze
7. I'm a Monkey's Uncle
8. Mummy's Dummies
9. Crime on Their Hands

Within these three years, there are some definite classics that I was pleased to see in this collection.

A few of my favorites from this fifth volume include "Beer Barrel Polecats". Moe, Curly and Larry decide to make beer during prohibition and in the process get in trouble and end up in jail. What ensues is a hilarious episode with each men trying to find ways out of jail and each time they try to escape, they get caught and more and more years are tacked to their sentence.

In "A Bird in the Head", a mad scientist wants to transplant his gorilla's brain into Curly's head. And thus a cat and mouse chase as the mad scientist and a gorilla go after the Stooges.

"Monkey Businessman" features Moe, Curly and Larry who meet a doctor who is scamming their patients by making up illnesses or injuries thus making the patient pay more and more money. But with Moe, Curly and Larry visiting the doctor, the three prove to be more than the doctor can handle.

In 1947's "Half-Wits Holiday", the episode was one of the most hilarious episodes as two doctors bet if one of them can take three morons and prepare him for upper society. To see the three try to behave classy in front of everyone but yet making major mistakes. As hilarious as this short film was, unfortunately this episode became the final episode to star Curly who suffered a stroke while filming.

With Curly needing to get better after his stroke, Moe asked his brother Shemp to come back to the series for the next episode titled "Fright Night". The episode would mark the return of Shemp (who was an original member of the trio when the Stooges were a Vaudeville act back in the 1920's). Shemp already had a successful film career and was reluctant to join the group but knowing that his brother's depended on "THE THREE STOOGES" for their career, he took the job with the assumption that he would leave when Curly got better.

The return of Shemp would feature episodes that were just as hilarious as before. Although, Curly was a hard act to replace, Shemp was just as hilarious and in "Fright Night", the guys help train a fighter for a boxing match while Shemp was more or less a body bag for the fighter. But in the episode, with the mafia expecting the Stooges to make their fighter lose, this sets up a hilarious fight between the stooges and gangsters.

In the episode "Hold that Lion", this episode would mark the first episode to feature Moe, Larry, Shemp and Curly. Although, Curly made a cameo in that short, Curly would never return to the "THREE STOOGES" as his health continued to deteriorate and would pass away less than five years later.

In "Heavenly Daze", Shemp who has departed returns back to Earth as an invisible angel and his job is to reform Lary and Moe. This episode was interesting as it utilized fire effects.

And another favorite is "I'm a Monkey's Uncle" which features Moe getting a date with a beautiful cavewoman and sets up his brothers to date her sisters. A wild and hilarious episode as the ex-boyfriends want their women back and thus a battle ensues between the ex-boyfriends and the new boyfriends for who will become the boyfriends of the women.

VIDEO & AUDIO QUALITY:

The re-releases of "THE THREE STOOGES COLLECTION" features all episodes digitally remastered and in their original release order. In essence, the video quality is black and white and but because of it's age, it still holds up very well. Some episodes feature mild lighting fluctuations and grain since it was on film but overall, the video quality holds up. Video is presented in 1:33:1 full screen.

As for audio, the audio is featured in Dolby Digital Mono in English with closed captions for subtitles.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Unfortunately there are no special features included in this volume.

JUDGMENT CALL:

"THE THREE STOOGES COLLECTION" vol. 5 continues the classic slapstick comedy that the men were known for. The accidental hits to the faces, accidental eye poking, knocks on the head and slaps with their own audio effects plus each character's mannerisms definitely made "THE THREE STOOGES" quite a hilarious and fun classic.

Each episodes are short at nearly around 18 minutes long and you get 25 digitally remastered, hilarious shorts from 1946-1948 but most of all, this volume features the final ten episodes of Curly, the re-appearance of Shemp who would go on to do over 70 more shorts (15 in this volume) and of course the one and only episode featuring all four men together in the 1947 episode of "Hold that Lion".

For those of us who grew up within the decades that these episodes were shown on television, we were very fortunate to have the opportunity to enjoy these classics but unfortunately, unless you are looking hard for them, a lot of these classic shorts are not as easy to find (ie. "Our Gang/Little Rascals", "The Three Stooges", etc.).

I remember watching these episodes as a child through my teenager years and while watching this volume, I was watching it with my six-year-old son who was also laughing and fascinated by these "crazy" guys. So, it goes to show that even though these episodes are over 60-years-old, they are still timeless and hilarious now as it was then.

Also, during these years, production for the "THREE STOOGES" featured the guys in various locations, various set designs and obviously had a really good budget. This changes however in 1952, in which Columbia downsized their shorts division and thus started to reuse past footage to make episodes. So, fortunately for this volume, you still get the quality of each episode with better stage settings and locations.

If you are a big fan of "THE THREE STOOGES", the fifth collection is worth owning for the final Curly episodes, the return of Shemp and that rare episode to see all four together. Definitely a DVD volume that should definitely be in the collections of Stooges fans!