Customer Reviews

Three Stooges - Three Smart Saps

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

 

 

Well I am a stooges fan so of course I loved the DVD because its the three stooges. Yet I was disappointed with this particular edition for two reasons. One, it only had five shorts. All the others had six, one even had seven. Secondly, probably the funniest scene in the funniest short "Three Little Bears" on this DVD has been cut out. Why the heck did they do that!? Its right after curly says, "I still didn't". What was cut out is (and this isnt a spoiler since its deleted) moe then hits him on the head and curly does his woob woob woob thing and all these golf balls fall out of his coat. Moe then says, "pick out your ball stranger" and the guy picks one up even though you shouldnt be able to tell the difference and says "I think this is it." I memorized the scene after seeing it 5,000 times growing up; goes to show how much of a stooge fan i am. It seems this newest Three Stooges DVD was lazily put together. I will still buy future Stooges DVDs, but I hope they have more then five shorts, and don't delete the funniest scene from the funniest short. Oh and one other thing: the picture on the cover is not from any of the shorts on the DVD.

Extremely happy to see Columbia support the Three Stooges on DVD, with another volume of their ongoing series. Three of the five shorts on this entry are among the teams' best, "Three Little Beers" (1935), "Three Arabian Nuts" (1951) and the underrated "Three Smart Saps" (1942). However, I'm only awarding 2 stars due to:
- Only 5 shorts on this disc? Past volumes have included 6 (one with 7), and considering the information capacity of DVD, even more Stooge classics could easily fit. I'm hoping this was a one-time-only shortchanging, and future volumes will provide more for the money.
- Where's the quality control!!! The print of "Three Little Beers" has 20 missing seconds due to a sloppy splice! One of the funniest scenes in the short (Curly dropping a plethora of golf balls from his pockets) is GONE!

I want to continue supporting Columbia's Stooge DVDs, but you will have to do better than this one guys.

Only five shorts and the deleted golf ball scene. Sony is taking our money.

i cant get passed the missing golf ball scene, this is like blasphemy. if you're going to release it on dvd, then do it correctly. i was really surprised the first time i viewed the dvd that the golf ball scene was cut, and yes it is a big deal! i have all this stuff on vhs already and i am buying the dvd for the complete short with the better sound quality and picture clarity. if stooge-like editing is going to be the case why should i spend my money on stuff i already have? basically columbia is saying they dont really give a woo woo woo about the quality of the stooge releases just so long as the saw bucks keep rollin' in (see, saw?)

If Columbia hasn't gotten these DVDs right by now, they never will. If you're going to release a DVD with a certain theme, then release ALL the shorts that fit said theme. Specifically, all the shorts that fit the theme that have not been released yet. Among these would be: Three Hams on Rye, Three Little Sew and Sews, Three Sappy People, Three Pests In A Mess, and Three Little Twirps. If Columbia released those, along with the five on here, this DVD would be perfect. As far as Three Little Beers, I understand there was nothing Columbia could do about it. The print they used was missing that scene - it was not "edited out".

Four of the five shorts included here are of very high quality, even though it is ridiculous how Columbia has begun issuing these discs with only 5 shorts apiece, when they used to put six on (and once even seven). I also agree that it was pretty stupid to not have included all of the shorts matching the theme which haven't been issued on DVD yet (which would include 'Three Hams on Rye,' 'Three Sappy People,' 'Three Little Twirps,' 'Three Little Sew and Sews,' and 'Three Pests in a Mess'). This is seriously shortchanging the consumer, asking him or her to pay more for less. However, the most important thing to be rating is the quality of the DVD, not how it could have been better but wasn't.

The shorts included are:

'Three Arabian Nuts' (1951). This is a really good film, with a really good plot and great performances by everyone. The ending is also hysterical, since we don't often see a supporting player (in this case Vernon Dent) being the one to get the closing gag. This short is just proof that the Stooges were still capable of making great funny shorts even as Columbia's budget was growing smaller year by year and were great even in spite of the dwindling budget. Shemp in particular is hysterical in this short; I'm so embarrassed that once upon a time I was one of those people who dismiss him out of hand and don't want to watch any of his shorts just because he wasn't Curly.

'Three Dark Horses' (1952) is a great send-up of the political system, and what's so brilliant about it is that it's a spoof on politics in general, not any particular party. It's just as relevant today as it was over 50 years ago. Once again, this short shows that they could still be hysterical and do a great job with the material even though the budget of their golden era in the late Thirties and early Forties was no longer there. Also of note is that fact that this short is Bud Jamison's only appearance, so to speak, in a Shemp short, and a posthumous appearance at that. Though he passed away in 1944, his picture appears on the campaign posters for Hammond Egger, a really nice tribute to him and all of the work he did with them over the years.

'Three Smart Saps' (1942) is my favorite short on here. It's perfect from start to finish, with no dull or wasted scenes or moments. There are so many great scenes and gags, particularly the scene on the dance floor. Curly was such a nice dancer, which one might not expect coming from such a big person. (The reason he was such a skilled and graceful dancer was because he took up dance as physical therapy following the accident when he shot himself in the foot and ended up with a lifelong painful limp.) Of course, fans of classic comedy will know that the gag of the loosely basted suit was borrowed from the 1925 Harold Lloyd classic 'The Freshman.'

'Three Little Beers' (1935) is generally regarded as one of their earliest classics. Though they had pretty much perfected their screen personae, comedy style, and screen relationship by this point, it does kind of have the feel, at times, of being one of those very early shorts with a more freewheeling and chaotic spirit, as opposed to a set tight plot and a sense of resolution at the end. I find most sports boring, so it's a pleasure to see the boys ruining the game of golf and driving all of the players batty (much like they ruin the football games in 'Three Little Pigskins' and 'No Census, No Feeling'). However, it really was inexcusable how Columbia used a bad print for this. Their claim that there was a jump-cut that was unable to be repaired (hence the about 20 seconds of missing footage) is pathetic, given how everyone knows that there's a better print out there, a print that has been issued on VHS and shown on television many times over. Are they picking the worst prints on purpose, the way that Hallmark has been mishandling the Laurel and Hardy catalogue they were the unrightful owners of until recently? All 190 of the Stooge shorts have been on safety stock since 1974, so to make such a claim is just laughable. We're not talking about some 90 year old film that really was in such a state of deterioration, with only one known surviving print, that not much could be done to digitally restore it in its entirety!

'Three Loan Wolves' (1946) is pretty dismal. I don't think it's necessarily as awful as a lot of other fans do, but it's still nowhere near the likes of 'Hoi Polloi' or 'You Nazty Spy!' However, it is one of the worst shorts of the sick Curly era. The poor man looks, sounds, and acts like a zombie in it, barely has any lines, and after locking one of the bad guys in the desk during the fight scene, he just disappears instead of coming to help Moe and Larry while they're fighting the other two bad guys. At times it also sounds like his cries of pain are real instead of just acting. It's also really a slow-paced short overall, only picking up somewhat during the fight scene. The ending also makes no sense; why is Larry the one being punished instead of that annoying ungrateful little brat they've been raising since his aunt left him at their pawn shop when he was a baby? That little boy deserved it more!

Overall, this is a strong collection, if one can get past the fact that only 5 shorts are included (once again without a "Play All" feature) and that one of them is missing about 20 seconds of footage (which contain one of the funniest scenes). However, it makes no sense that the cover picture is from 'Three Little Twirps' (1943), which isn't even one of the shorts included. One also wishes that the dismal 'Three Loan Wolves' could have been excluded and replaced with something far superior, like 'Three Sappy People' (1939) or 'Three Little Sew and Sews' (1939).

As stated in a previous review, one of the funniest gags in one of the funniest Stooges shorts ever is missing. I noticed immediately when the shot of Curly dropping all of his ill-gotten golf balls was bypassed! I'll be watching the old tape I made years ago.

Using an old print for a DVD is ridiculous! What is going on with Columbia? Also, the fact that there are only five is terrible too. Why not have 10 shorts from the best surviving prints? Each disc could have 5 Curly's, 3 Shemp's, and 2 Joe's. I will still buy them, but I hope the quality goes up...

... but three seems to be the theme of this DVD. It's amazing how rare it is to find anyone aligned with a studio who actually knows their product like a fan would.

Obviously the only connection of this "theme" basesd DVD is that the word Three is in each title. I know that one Amazon fan especially was looking for Three Little Beers, so here's hoping he finds this to his liking. But of these particular shorts I think only Three Arabian Nuts and Three Little Beers are really worth your time. The others have their moments but are not in the same league. By the way - the cover photo is from Three Little Twirps - a short not listed among those included on this volume!

I am grateful though that the Stooges shorts continue to come out regularly. As time goes by there are more and more people who tend to forget or ignore older films. Of course one can't see everything and each generation has its own stars. Still it would be a shame if so much good work the Stooges did was lost.

Hey, Columbia - when are you going to dig out Time Out For Rhthym, which is pronanly the best of the Stooges feature length work?

...all the shorts on here are classic comedy. In fact, I think at least three of these shorts are among the boys' top 30 (they made 190 shorts in total).

My reviews...

THREE LITTLE BEERS (1935) - A true classic, possibly the best short in this set. Curly is hilarious, and Moe delivers some very creative (and hilarious) punishments to the other two. The premise of the Stooges practicing golf on a course with high-society snobs can't go wrong! Rating: 9/10

THREE SMART SAPS (1942) - Curly fans rejoice, this is one of his best ever. Curly takes a huge chunk of the camera time in this short, so we don't see quite as much of Moe and Larry as we usually do. But Curly's dance routine is a classic, and this is a classic short in its own right. Rating: 8/10

THREE LOAN WOLVES (1946) - Curly is very ill in this one and has one of his worst performances of all. That said, Larry gets possibly his biggest role in any short (to subsitute for Curly) and Moe is hilarious with classic lines such as "Boys, boys. Give it to me. OR I'LL TEAR YER TONSILS OUT!!" Rating: 7.5/10

THREE ARABIAN NUTS (1951) - [The one short on this set I haven't seen, so I can't rate it. However, I've heard it's VERY good.]

THREE DARK HORSES (1952) - Moe, Larry, and Shemp do a hilarious short poking fun at politics. This is my favorite type of Stooge film: there is very little plot (which usually gets in the way of the slapstick and one-liners), but tons of gags and Moe thinks up more great ways to punish Larry and Shemp for their stupidity, including spitting his hangnail on Shemp's face! They also have some great lines about politics ("You can't believe that stuff, that's a campagin promise! Get out!" *SLAP* -Moe). Rating: 9/10