Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
GREAT DVD!!!, May 2, 2003
By A Customer
This DVD is great. The quality is very good. "Disorder In The Court" could have been a little better. It's better than those public domain copies, but it's still not at it's best. AMC's copy of this short is a little better. But, the print here is still very good. The picture overall is very sharp and detailed. And one thing great about this DVD is that it's "Remastered in High Definition". The picture is really good. It's great to see the Stooges in High Definition.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Enjoyable but not consistently great, August 4, 2006
As others have mentioned, the picture quality on this disc isn't always the greatest. We know that there are better prints available; it isn't like these are the best surviving prints and there could only be so much digital restoration done on them. They're far from unwatchable, but it is annoying to see these grainy prints when better ones are out there. And once again, not all of the chosen shorts have much, or even anything, to do with the theme of 'Cops and Robbers.' The shorts included are:
'Disorder in the Court' (1936), which is one of their all-time best and a bona-fide classic. This is also widely considered to be Bud Jamison's best work with the boys. It seems like this short is in many fans' Top 10 of their personal favorites. However, since it is one of the 4 shorts that accidentally fell into the public domain (probably due to a clerical oversight), there are numerous releases of it already. It would seem wrong for it not to have been released on DVD, since it's such a classic, but it could have been included on another disc so that a lesser-seen short relevant to the topic could have been put here in its place.
'Flat Foot Stooges' (1938) is above average, though not really a classic or one of their most memorable shorts. I personally like 'False Alarms' better when it comes to their firefighter-themed shorts. However, it is very solid and enjoyable. This short was directed by the great Charley Chase, and though most of the shorts he did with the boys are more plot-centered as opposed to focusing on the slapstick and violence, this one has more of both in it than usually. I also enjoyed seeing veteran character actor Chester Conklin as Chief Kelly.
'Calling All Curs' (1939) is also above average, though not one I would consider one of their very greatest or most classic. It also doesn't really relate to the theme of the disc, apart from the title and the fact that there are a couple of dognappers featured. It would actually have been better-suited for inclusion on the 'Dizzy Doctors' disc, since the boys are playing veterinarians here. Again, a solid funny short, just not anything extremely memorable or classic.
'Dizzy Detectives' (1943) is another very good short, even though I personally wouldn't consider it a classic or one of their most memorable. It's also stupid how the opening scene is stock footage from 'Pardon My Scotch' (1935); someone who sits down to watch this short might even initially think it were mislabelled and that it's really 'Pardon My Scotch,' since both have the exact same opening scene. (Although that scene, it should be mentioned, caused a real-life injury when Moe fell off of the table that was sawed in half. It really demonstrates what a professional he was that he was able to stand up, deliver his next lines, and slap the other two even though he'd just broken a few of his ribs and collapsed immediately afterwards. Most actors today, comedians or serious actors, would probably never even finish the scene after suffering such a serious injury.) This short is a little slow in spots, and usually it comes off as lame and unbelievable (to a modern audience at least) to see a person in a gorilla suit being passed off as an actual gorilla. There's also a surprising moment in the scene where Curly is coming to Larry's rescue, when we hear an unmistakable sound that obviously wasn't done on purpose. You'll know what kind of a sound it is if you've watched it.
'Crime on Their Hands' (1948) is a great short. As of this date I've only seen about half of the Shemp shorts, but so far this one is my favorite. It's a great spoof of film noir, and it boasts one of Kenneth MacDonald's best roles with the boys. They did a lot of shorts of this nature during the Shemp era (acting as detectives), but this is one of their best ones. Eeverything is so great about this, flowing so perfectly from beginning to end, with a great plot, great slapstick, that great ad-lib from Shemp when he pretends to be a reporter talking back to the boss like they do in the movies, and a really cute funny ending.
'Who Done It?' (1949) is considered by many to be one of the best Shemp shorts, though I think it may be perhaps somewhat overrated (perhaps because they did so many detective-themed shorts during this era, and that premise kind of gets boring, or at least predictable, after awhile). However, he is just great in it, in every single scene, from photographing the fingerprints on the table (while continually wandering over to Christine McIntyre), to his over-the-top reaction after she tries to poison him, to the fight where the lights keep going on and off (his call, "Here I am, Moe!" is just hysterical!). And as usual, there's a great performance by Emil Sitka. The only really bad moment was when Moe was acting like Curly when the paintings were attacking him. It's kind of embarrassing to watch him doing these mannerisms that really can only ever belong to one comedian ever, because he made them his own and no one else's. It just doesn't work on anyone else.
Perhaps not the greatest disc in this series, though even in spite of having a few shorts that are only above-average instead of really GREAT, they are all very solid and funny, and it's not as though there are any below-average or outright horrible shorts included here.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Bad Quality For A DVD!, September 3, 2002
By A Customer
These shorts contained in this collection are pretty funny. But, the materials used to transfer these on DVD are not at their best. Why can't Columbia use the original 35mm film masters like what they did to the VHS copies. I know, Columbia is just plain lazy. All the shorts on this DVD are very grainy and are not too sharp. There is one good news about this DVD. There are NO edited scenes. Remember what happened to `Three Little Beers'. All shorts are complete and unedited in this collection. I also see that Columbia is releasing their 3 stooges DVD by theme. But let me say just one thing. The two shorts, `Calling All Curs' and `Flat Foot Stooges', have nothing to do with the title "Cops and Robbers". In `Flat Foot Stooges', the stooges are firemen and in `Calling All Curs', the stooges are animal doctors. Perhaps, the people working at Columbia don't know anything about the 3 stooges. The next 3 stooges DVD is "G.I. Stooge". It comes out on October 8, 2002. Check out my review for it to see more downfalls and mistakes Columbia did to that collection.
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