Product Details

• Actors: Moe Howard, Shemp Howard, Larry Fine, Joe Besser
• Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 3
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: June 1, 2010
• Run Time: 515 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (48 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B003CPPY0Q
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #12,599 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "The Three Stooges Collection, Vol. 8: 1955-1959" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

THREE STOOGES COLLECTION 1955-1959 - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

106 of 110 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thank you, Sony !!!, March 23, 2010

By 

Randall "dba mlc3stooge" (Henderson, Nv USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Three Stooges Collection, Vol. 8: 1955-1959 (DVD)

Well, I guess if others can write a review of a DVD set more than two months before it is even released, I can too.

For Stooge fans, the long road is finally over. The shorts with Joe Besser are going to be available on home video. Fans who appreciate the Stooges in all of their incarnations applaud Sony for issuing the Columbia shorts to the end. I'm sure that as they got into the volumes with Shemp, sales dropped off. That and the dreadful economy could have made the company cancel the remaining volumes. But they didn't and I believe that this fact alone earns this set a five star rating.

As for the shorts themselves, they are not the best work of the guys. There are a lot of repeat plots and stock footage used in both the remaining Shemp shorts and in some of the Joe shorts. But contrary to a previously posted review, this didn't happen because the Stooges ran out of gas or were "tired". This was because Columbia was cheap!! In the middle and late fifties the shorts' market in the US dried up. The one word reason - television. The Stooges were a dying breed. Who could have guessed that the very medium that killed their lucrative shorts career would provide them their highest level of fame and financial success!!

Also Joe is not a fan favorite of many people. But let's face it - he didn't have a lot to work with. The scripts were weak and as mentioned above Columbia tried to use stock footage whenever possible to save money. But there is a childish lilt in the acting style of Mr. Besser. If you can make it past the anemic plots and just look at Joe on the screen, I think you'll see that he brought his own personality and comedy to the team.

So in review, this is a completeist's dream. I thank Sony for listening to the Three Stooges' fan base and completing the volumes. The picture quality on the previous sets has been remarkable and should remain that way on this final volume since they are much "newer" prints. And this set is providing three discs for the price of two in previous volumes (as least according to the price on March 23). Value and programs never released to the home market! What more could you ask for?!

69 of 72 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "End of an era" shorts offer good laughs and a new approach; this pre-release review just mentions the content, April 7, 2010

By 

Scott MacGillivray (Massachusetts, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Three Stooges Collection, Vol. 8: 1955-1959 (DVD)

This final volume of Stooge shorts is interesting on two levels. First, it represents the transition from the Shemp Howard years to the Joe Besser years, with many familiar plots and gags being lifted from older comedies. Some of these patchwork shorts are very clever: OF CASH AND HASH is a slick reworking of SHIVERING SHERLOCKS; CREEPS is probably better remembered than its inspiration THE GHOST TALKS. BLUNDER BOYS, an amusing parody of "Dragnet," is noteworthy for using entirely fresh material (even if the battlefield "exterior" looks like it cost five dollars to stage).

But this set is even more interesting to film buffs, as a living record of the end of an era, and as a fascinating exhibition of creative film editing. SCHEMING SCHEMERS deserves a special Oscar for the editing, with footage from three older comedies spliced into the new material. By the time Joe Besser joined the Stooges in 1956, two-reel short subjects were 99% extinct, and only Columbia and the Stooges were still making them. This actually had a liberating effect on the series. There is a new, free-wheeling, we-don't-care spirit about these last shorts that is missing from the half-hearted, script-bound remakes of the mid-fifties. The budgets are at a new low and the action is milder, but the Stooges are more relaxed and they improvise freely: Larry reciting Hamlet's soliloquy while chewing gum is a lunatic moment from FIFI BLOWS HER TOP; Joe scores in a shipping-room routine in MUSCLE UP A LITTLE CLOSER; Moe abandons his bossy role for dialect character comedy in SWEET AND HOT. There are many inside jokes for fans: OIL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL slips in a reference to writer Felix Adler; SAPPY BULLFIGHTERS has a poster headlining one Julio Blanco -- namely, producer-director Jules White; and more than one short shamelessly plugs Columbia's feature films then playing in theaters! The writers experiment with new ideas (including references to science-fiction and rock-and-roll), familiar ideas (the usual slapstick with pies, shotguns, and other weapons), and even ancient ideas (SWEET AND HOT sets the Stooges' act all the way back to 1934's WOMAN HATERS, with the same screenwriter again casting the trio as three unrelated characters in a musical comedy). The final Stooge short filmed, FLYING SAUCER DAFFY, was actually recorded in stereo; Columbia does have a broadcast video master in stereo, and hopefully it will be included in this DVD set. (Update: It isn't; Richard Gallagher of Home Theater Forum confirms that the track is mono. However, Mr. Gallagher raves about the picture and sound quality throughout the entire set.)

True, you will see plenty of old material repeated throughout this set, but there are also some new routines that you'll only see here. Fully half of the Joe Besser shorts were filmed from scratch, with new, original stories and no recycled scenes. You'll also recognize Columbia regulars Emil Sitka, Gene Roth, Philip Van Zandt, Benny Rubin, George J. Lewis, Harriette Tarler, Joe Palma, and Frank Sully supporting the Stooges. If you've never bothered much with these later Stooge shorts, give them a try. These seasoned comedians still have plenty of gas in the tank.

68 of 73 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars When Moe Became the Funniest Stooge, April 8, 2010

By 

Joshua Downham (Muncie, IN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Three Stooges Collection, Vol. 8: 1955-1959 (DVD)

Thank you so very much Sony for releasing these timeless comedies to DVD. Finally all 190 short subjects have been put on the market for present and future fans to enjoy. The Three Stooges Collection, Vol. 8: 1955-1959 features 32 shorts, more than any of the other sets. Here you'll see most of the rarest Three Stooges films, varying in quality, but mostly enjoyable.

But really I have to admit that this collection is easily the weakest of all the volumes. The Three Stooges had reached their peak with Shemp in 1952, but decreasing budgets, the departures of director Edward Bernds and screenwriter Elwood Ullman caused a steady decline. Plus, there are the poor "fake Shemp" shorts in which long time stooge character actor Joe Palma doubles for Shemp. But there are still some very funny shorts left in this volume. Some of the remakes like Bedlam In Paradise and Creeps actually improve upon the originals and several rarely shown shorts like A Merry Mix-Up, Horsing Around, and Flying Saucer Daffy make this collection worthwhile.

1955:
Fling in the Ring
Of Cash and Hash
Gypped in the Penthouse (One of the last 2 Shemp films to not feature any stock footage - a funny comedy in the vein of Corny Casanovas and He Cooked His Goose.)
Bedlam in Paradise (This remake of Heavenly Daze is one of the few that's even better than the original. Added scenes include an opening prologue of Shemp dying in a rather comical fashion, the devil tempting Shemp with a she-demon, leading Moe and Larry astray as Mr. Heller, and getting a pie in the face in the end - "Well that beats the devil!")
Stone Age Romeos
Wham-Bam-Slam!
Hot Ice
Blunder Boys (The Stooges spoof Dragnet in this last original, no old footage, short starring Shemp)

1956:

Husbands Beware (This remake of Brideless Groom features a good twist at the end)
Creeps (A remake of The Ghost Talks that I prefer over the original. The Stooges tell their 3 sons, also played by The Stooges, a bedtime story of knights, ghosts, and murders.)
Flagpole Jitters
For Crimin' Out Loud (Sadly, this remake of Who Done It? was Shemp's final film. In November 1955, while sitting in a taxicab telling jokes with some friends, he died of a sudden heart attack at the age of 60.)
Rumpus in the Harem (The loss of Shemp left Moe and Larry with few options. Until a suitable replacement was found, Columbia continued the trend of using extensive stock footage and cast Joe Palma as double for Shemp, only filming him from angles that hid his face. This remake of Malice in the Palace is one of the last 4 "fake Shemp" shorts with Joe Palma doubling.)
Hot Stuff
Scheming Schemers
Commotion on the Ocean

1957:
Hoofs and Goofs (Joe Besser's first comedy with Moe and Larry. With all due respect to Besser, I think Buddy Hackett would have made a much finer stooge. His comedic style and appearance would have fitted pretty well. On the plus side, Larry is allowed to shine even more so than he did during the Shemp years and seems to have trimmed down as well. This marks the point when Moe, as the last remaining Howard comedian alive who truly understood the act inside and out, became the undisputed funniest stooge.)
Muscle Up a Little Closer (In this short we first see Moe and Larry with their hair combed back, a change suggested by Besser.)
A Merry Mix Up (Probably the most bizarre short since Cuckoo on a Choo Choo. The story of 3 pairs of identical stooge twins, all played by the stooges)
Space Ship Sappy (Low budget, grade B sci-fi flicks were a craze at the time and the boys take their first trip to space.)
Guns a Poppin! (A remake of Idiots Deluxe)
Horsing Around (A sequel to Hoofs and Goofs)
Rusty Romeos (A remake of Corny Casanovas)
Outer Space Jitters

1958:
Quiz Whizz (A partial remake of All the World's a Stooge)
Fifi Blows Her Top
Pies and Guys (A remake of Half-Wits Holiday)
Sweet and Hot (One of the worst episodes, but Moe is a hoot.)
Flying Saucer Daffy (Although released in '58, this is actually the final 3 Stooges short. The remaining films were in fact made prior to this one. Not the best one to go out on, but a funny comedy nonetheless.)
Oil's Well That Ends Well (A remake of Oily to Bed, Oily to Rise)

1959:
Triple Crossed (A remake of He Cooked His Goose. Listen for Shemp's yelp when Moe fires a gun up a chimney.)
Sappy Bull Fighters (A remake of What's the Matador?. Listen for Curly's woo-woo-wooing. This short is a prime example of old footage not mixing well with the new, a problem that plagued alot of Besser shorts. In some scenes, Moe and Larry suddenly appear 20 years younger, then go back to late middle age the next.)