Customer Reviews

Three Stooges DVD 12-Pack

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Since I wrote this review in its original form, Amazon has now posted the main titles of the 12 DVDs included in the set. The shorts and features in each DVD are listed below. Amazingly, it is not possible to find the contents anywhere else online, including on Sony's home video page.

This is an excellent set and great value. There is one dud in the set, and that's "Stop! Look! and Laugh!," a feature film from 1961 with Paul Winchell and his dummies (Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead) in some very lame and dated routines with Stooges archive footage interspersed. All the Stooge archive footage is from Columbia shorts with Curly. They chose good selections, but unfortunately dubbed in background music that is more distracting than supportive. The bright spot in this DVD is that it contains the bonus short "A Bird in the Head," very funny despite Curly's failing health when it was made (1946). It is one of his last appearances before his early retirement caused by his first stroke, which he suffered during the filming of "Half Wits Holiday."

The other DVD featuring a 1960s feature film is "The Outlaws is Coming," which is actually the last feature film that Moe, Larry and Curly Joe DeRita made, from 1965. ("Last" if you exclude "Kook's Tour," which was filmed as a TV pilot in 1970 and only released on video after both Moe and Larry were dead.) While I am not a big fan of the Three Stooges during the final Curly Joe years, this feature is, in my opinion, mostly very good. Note, however, that younger viewers will miss many of the topical and dated references to mid-60s pop culture. This DVD also features an extremely good bonus short from the Curly years, "Goofs and Saddles." Its poker playing scene (Moe and Curly, each with 2 aces, passing cards under the table with their feet) is a classic, as good as most of Abbott and Costello's "con man" routines.

The other 10 DVDs include anywhere from 5 to 7 shorts each (most have 6). The shorts listed below all feature Curly unless indicated otherwise in brackets:

1. "Curly Classics" featuring: Men in Black (1934); Micro-Phonies (1945); Punch Drunks (1934); Three Little Pigskins (1934); Woman Haters (1934); and A Plumbing We Will Go (1940).
2. "All the World's a Stooge" featuring: Grips, Grunts and Groans (1937); All The World's a Stooge (1941); 3 Dumb Clucks (1937); Three Little Pirates (1946); Uncivil War Birds (1946); Back to the Woods (1937); and Violent is the Word for Curly (1938).
3. "Spook Louder" featuring [all have Shemp, except for Spook Louder, with Curly]: Spook Louder (1943); Mummy's Dummies (1948); Shivering Sherlocks (1948); The Ghost Talks (1949); Hokus Pokus (1949); and Fright Night (1947).
4. "Nutty but Nice" featuring: A Ducking They Did Go (1939); Hoi Polloi (1935); Half-Wits Holiday (1947); Higher than a Kite (1943); False Alarms (1936); and Nutty but Nice (1940).
5. "Merry Mavericks" featuring [all have Shemp, except for Cactus Makes Perfect, with Curly]: Cactus Makes Perfect (1942); Out West (1947); Vagabond Loafers (1949); Dopey Dicks (1950); Punchy Cowpunchers (1950); and Merry Mavericks (1951).
6. "Dizzy Doctors" featuring [all have Shemp, except for Dizzy Doctors and Termites of 1938, which have Curly]: Dizzy Doctors (1937); Termites of 1938 (1938); Brideless Groom (1947); Listen Judge (1952); Bubble Trouble (1953); and The Tooth Will Out (1951).
7. "Healthy, Wealthy and Dumb" featuring: Gents without Cents (1944); Healthy, Wealthy and Dumb (1938); If a Body Meets a Body (1945); Rockin' Through the Rockes (1945); Phony Express (1943); and Whoops, I'm an Indian (1936).
8. "Three Smart Saps" featuring: Three Arabian Nuts [Shemp] (1951); Three Little Beers (1935); Three Smart Saps (1942); Three Dark Horses [Shemp] (1952); and Three Loan Wolves (1946).
9. "Cops and Robbers" featuring: Calling All Curs (1939); Disorder in the Court (1936); Dizzy Detectives (1943); Flat Foot Stooges (1938); Crime On Their Hands [Shemp] (1948); and Who Done It? [Shemp] (1949).
10. "G. I. Stooge" featuring: Boobs in Arms (1940); Back from the Front (1943); G.I. Wanna Go Home (1946); Wee Wee Monsieur (1938); No Dough Boys (1944); and Dizzy Pilots (1943).
11. "The Outlaws is Coming" (feature film from 1965, with Curly Joe DeRita), also featuring Goofs and Saddles (1937).
12. "Stop! Look! and Laugh!" (feature film from 1960, with Paul Winchell and lots of Stooges archive footage), also featuring A Bird in the Head (1946)

Although the quality varies from each 2-reeler and the mistake of not putting everything in order, this Columbia box set is the only way to begin a credible collection of our favorite Stooges (with Curly, naturally). You get the 12 released Columbia discs; Curly Classics, All The World's A Stooge, Spook Louder, Nutty But Nice, Merry Mavericks, Dizzy Doctors, Healthy Wealthy And Dumb, Three Smart Saps, Cops And Robbers, G.I.Stooge, and the shorts Stop Look and Laugh and The Outlaws is Coming which each also contain a "Curly Classic". This Entire box set gives you 44 of the 97 Curly's and to update it you will need to buy "Three Stooges in History" which is overpriced and "Stooges At Work" which comes out 1-13-04. You need to accept the Shemp episodes as they are inserted on various discs.

I had a $50 gift certificate for amazon and decided to parlay my good fortune with another $48 and take the plunge into the best anthology availble of the lovable, sadistic clowns.

The set is a package of 12 dvds in keep cases. There is no written material other than the short descriptions which attempt to provide some historical perspective.

The quality of the pictures and sound are what I consider very good for material that is nearly 70 years old. The disks do contain subtitles, which I appreciate for late night viewing.

I have three boys aged 5 to 12. The two older boys, the middle one in particular (10) do enjoy the shorts. The funniest thing about all the Stooges shorts are the hilarious sound effects. Even my wife, who really can't understand the attraction we men have in Larry Moe and Curley, will find herself cracking up to the unexpected "Bonk!"

I try to explain to my boys that in the olden days, this was what we got to see before the main feature at our local movie house or, in my case, on rainy days in the Portland School District when it was too rainy to play outside for recess.

So, in order to give them a feel for times gone by, whenever we have "movie night" at our house (usually Friday or Saturday), before we crank up the home theater system with the latest technological marvel from Lucas or Peter Grant, we take a step back in time where the only miracles one saw was a man getting hit in the face with a monkey wrench and shaking it off like a mosquito bite.

Is it PC? No. Does it provide good role models? No. Is it the best 48 bucks I ever spent on a dvd set? By all means yes. Knowing what I know now, I wouldn't hesitate even if I didn't have the gift certificate. Good value, great laughs! Parents, don't let your children grow up without knowing Larry, Moe, Curley, Shemp and Curley Joe. The comedy is ageless and there isn't anybody since who has come close to touching the funnybone of young and old alike. God bless you Stooges!

PS The box and some advertisments cite "600 Minutes of Laughs!" I don't know who is doing the adding at the graphics department, but each dvd averages 90 to 100 minutes making a grand total of more like 1200 minutes, or a good 20 hours of mayhem!

This 12-pack DVD set released from Columbia features over 60 of the Stooges shorts released from 1934 to the early 50s. Most of the shorts are Curly-era films from 1934-46, with a sprinkling of Shemp films. Overall, this set is a must purchase if you are converting your Stooge collection from VHS to DVD, if only for the superior value.

If you began collecting the Stooges on home video in the 80s, you probably paid 14.95 or more per video, and they had three shorts per video. Here, most of the DVDs feature six shorts. You don't need to be a genius at math to figure out that the price for the box set is well worth the cost of replacing your outdated VHS copies.

Most of the Stooges shorts, as one could expect, vary in quality both in storyline and in DVD format. These films are over fifty-sixty years old, and the wear and tear shows. However, these films look great on DVD for the most part, and the sound is good.

You get 10 discs featuring the Stooges all-time greats, including "Micro-Phonies," "Hoi Polloi", and "Violent is the Word for Curly". You also get some weak films, including "G.I. Wanna Home" and "Uncivil Warbirds" (some of the films featuring an ill Curly are included.)

Unlike the Columbia VHS releases, some of the DVDs are grouped more or less into themes, including "Curly Classics," "Cops and Robbers" (Stooges on both sides of the law), and "G.I. Stooge" (service comedies).

The set also includes two DVDs with Stooge features. First, there is their solid 1965 outing "The Outlaws is Coming," coupled with the short "Goofs and Saddles." Second is the not-so-great compilation "Stop! Look! and Laugh!" featuring Paul Winchell and Jerry Mahoney (I doubt many of the "under 40s" will know who they are). This compilation was released at the height of the Stooges comeback in the early 60s and was a quick buck cash cow for the studio, released without the Stooges approval. This DVD has the Curly short "A Bird In The Head," another short where an ailing Curly is not at his Stooge best.

All in all, I give this set five stars for its superior value. If you want to replace your VHS copies, or just want to get started collecting the Stooges, start here and save cash.

Let's hope Columbia will release the other 100+ Stooges films on DVD in the future. There are soitenly more great Stooge moments yet to be released on DVD. I heartily recommend starting with this outstanding box set. Save money and earn laughs!

This compilation is actually of very good quality. I grew up watching the Stooges back in the 60's - it was on everyday and I watched 99% of them numerous times. It got to where I knew a lot of the lines - some of them classic, perhaps even improvised. Now as I watch them on DVD I get a chance to study their genius. I can focus on Larry as Curly is doing his schtick or on an extra in the background while Moe gives Shemp a couple of slaps. Believe me, there are some golden nuggets here no matter how many times you've seen the episode. Even hard core Stooge fans may find a lost episode you never saw or saw once and forgot about. The only downer is that it isn't a complete anthology. Maybe someday somebody is going to put it together in one package (leave out the movie stuff, only shorts). But for now, this is the best thing out.

If you are interested in getting entertained. If you want to innoculate your children to the vagaries of the consumer society, if you want to make the Old Man laugh, Granpa cry or your wife weep, then buy this set. With several exceptions there is a lot to recommend here: some of the ones from the 30s and all of the classics from the early 40s with the original Stooges. There is even a hilarious 1965 full-length western spoof with Curly Joe as the third stooge, starring also Adam West (Batman) in what can only be regarded as the best of the worst 1960 gauche. My favourite is the stooges building their own aiplane, and the one where they are in Britain on loan to the RAF, in trying to hide from their irate boss, they hide in a bomb that (you guessed it) gets dropped into Nazi Germany where they meet Marshal Boring and General Bommel. A good propoganda piece as well.

I bought it for my three year old daughter and she absolutely loves them. I actually now use it as part of my discipline programme -- no eat dinner, no Three Stooges --- man does it work great.

These are wonderful restorations from source material. It's a great value for the money if you're new to the Stooges and are curious, since many of Curly's strongest performances are among the titles you'll get here.

But the downside is...not enough Curly.

Let's face it: among Stooge acolytes, watching these shows is either watching Curly or waiting to watch Curly. It was a commercial imperative to replace Curly after his death, but Shemp (referred to in the literature as a more accomplished comedian than Curly, if you can believe that) could not possibly fill the void. Add postwar malaise and you have...not real funny stuff.

Curly created a timeless character that anchored the Stooges. If there were comedic situations, 9 times out of 10 Curly created them. His ability to improvise and extrapolate on these situations was the uniqueness of the Stooges.

So, good news and bad news here. The good news is that for a great price you get a lot of Curly. The bad news is that you don't get enough...

I have been buying these DVDs individually (...) as they were released. If you are a Stooge fan, you must have these discs and packaged this way you save a ton of cash. I don't regret buying these for more money because I have been enjoying them all along. I can't wait for Columbia to get off their collective dead asses and get the rest of the shorts on DVD!! Wish they thought this out better, but I will take what I can get. Like I said, buy this set, start your collection and save money! Let the laughter begin!

Had this box set came out sooner, I would have bought it rather than buy them all individually. But as my title says, it's a great way to start your 3 Stooges collection. Relive all the classic Stooge moments with Moe Howard, Larry Fine (my favorite) and the amazing Shemp Howard...you also get a bunch of shorts with Curly Howard, too (just pay attention to Larry during the Curly shorts, believe me, it's better that way). My only problem with the entire set is the butchered version of "Three Little Beers" with a scene cut out (golfers discover that their golf balls are missing, Moe hits Curly on the head and from under his coat falls dozens of the missing golf balls...CUT! WHY COLUMBIA? WHY?!). Other than that, it's a great set...what are you waiting for? ORDER IT NOW, PORKUPINE!

Overall a decent collection for the price. However, at least four of the oldest episodes had scenes very under developed or dark. Also, the cutesy lead-ins (that can not be bypassed!) are unnecessary and annoying. Several of these episodes are missing scenes. Why is this?
I suspect this set includes the Shemp and Curly-Joe items to give all the heirs a taste of the royalties, because these are among the worst. We have a remake of the "heridity vs environment" script featuring Curly after his stroke. A clear example of how tragic this stroke was for him.
Overall this set is a nice selection of early ones, but many of the better ones from the mid 30s are not included.