HIGH DEF UNIVERSE

Reviewed by Sean Ferguson

Fans will enjoy more than 60 hours of fun and laughter for the whole family from the masters of mirth, merriment and mayhem when Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released The Three Stooges Ultimate Collection on DVD June 5th. The entire Three Stooges Columbia shorts catalog spans three decades of slapstick silliness, featuring 190 shorts, plus three discs of rare and unreleased content. Fans will revel in this chance to see several of the Stooges work separately in solo shorts, developing the comic skills that would lead them to their roles as successors to Curly in the comedy trio. The collection includes 28 never-before-released short films starring Stooges actors Shemp Howard, Joe Besser, and Joe DeRita, as well as the feature length films Have Rocket, Will Travel and Rockin’ in the Rockies available for the first time on DVD. From the classic teaming of Moe, Larry and Curly to later cast members Shemp, Joe and Curly Joe, this 20-disc set is a must-own collection for any Stooges fan.

Despite being the longest running comedy act in motion picture history, The Three Stooges never received the same respect that other acts and comedians did.  Part of that may be due to their type of humor since they didn't have Chaplin's sentimentality, Keaton's inventiveness, or Lloyd's precision.  The Three Stooges focused mainly on slapstick and their own brand of physical humor that involved hitting each other which seemed to divide audiences into those that thought they were hilarious and those that just didn't get it.  That lack of respect also included the studios that the Stooges worked for, since they reaped the rewards from the various shorts and movies but never let the Stooges know just how valuable they really were and didn't share the wealth like they should've.  Time has been more kind to the Stooges as they've gained fans across the world and now with this complete collection, they've finally gotten the respectful treatment their legacy deserves.

The Three Stooges included Moe Howard (born Harry Horwitz, June 19, 1897 – May 4, 1975), Larry Fine (born Andrew Feinberg, October 22, 1902 – January 24, 1975), Curly Howard (born Jerome Horwitz, October 22, 1903 – January 18, 1952), Shemp Howard (born Samuel Horwitz, March 4, 1895 – November 22, 1955), Joe Besser (August 12, 1907 – March 1, 1988) and Joe “Curly-Joe” DeRita (born Joseph Wardell, July 12, 1909 – July 3, 1993).  Moe and his brother Shemp got their start as Ted Healy's Stooges, a vaudeville act that Larry joined three years later.  The act was successful enough that it led to a movie starring all of them called Soup to Nuts and not long after that the Stooges went off on their own.  Healy begged them to return which Moe and Larry did, but Shemp decided to focus on his solo career. Shemp was replace by the younger Howard brother Jerry, who would later be known as Curly and the core group of the Stooges was born.  

It wouldn't be long before The Three Stooges left Healy and MGM to start making their own shorts at Columbia, starting with Woman Haters, Punch Drunks, and the Oscar nominated Men in Black in 1934.  Their great run came to an impasse in 1946 when Curly had to bow out of the group after having a stroke.  Shemp returned to replace Curly and  made 77 Stooge shorts and a feature film, Gold Raiders before his death in 1955.  Joe Besser was hired by Columbia studio chief Harry Cohn to become the third Stooge since he was already under contract. Besser was a successful comedian in his own right, but he wasn't the best fit for the Stooges since his whiny persona was grating and his contract didn't allow for much punishment to be dished out to him which goes against all of the things the Stooges stand for.  In 1957, Columbia shut down the shorts department and the Stooges were out of work and Besser decided to leave the team to take care of his wife after her heart attack.

In 1958, their fortunes took a surprising turn when their shorts were put into heavy rotation on TV where they found a new level of popularity.  "Curly" Joe DeRita became the sixth Stooge and they went on to more success and five more feature films - Have Rocket, Will Travel (1959); The Three Stooges Meet Hercules (1962); The Three Stooges in Orbit (1962); The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze (1963); and The Outlaws is Coming (1965).  They also continued to try their hand at television shows off and on, but that all came to an end when Larry suffered a paralyzing stroke in 1970 and later died in 1975.  Ever the trooper, Moe tried to reform the Stooges once again but he died six months after Larry and that dream died with him.  Curly Joe DeRita kept a new lineup of Stooges going until he decided to retire in 1979.  Joe Besser died in 1988 and DeRita followed him in 1993, which marked the final passing of the last of the original Stooges.  Since then, there's been movies made about them and even an new theatrical movie with a new lineup from the Farrelly brothers, so interest in the Stooges has never waned which is a good thing since these box sets wouldn't have been released otherwise.

Here are all of the episodes from each of the eight volumes in this set:

The Three Stooges Collection, Vol 2: 1937-1939

1. Back to the Woods
2. Cash and Carry
3. Dizzy Doctors
4. Goofs and Saddles
5. Healthy, Wealthy and Dumb
6. Playing the Ponies
7. The Sitter-Downers
8. Tassels in the Air
9. Three Dumb Clucks
10. Violent is the Word For Curly
11. Wee Wee Monsieur
12. Grips, Grunts and Groans
13. Termites of 1938
14. A Ducking They Did Go
15. Calling All Curs
16. Flat Foot Stooges
17. Mutts to You
18. Oily to Bed, Oily to Rise
19. Saved by the Belle
20. Three Little Sew and Sews
21. Three Missing Links
22. Three Sappy People
23. We Want Our Mummy
24. Yes, We Have No Bonanza 

The Three Stooges Collection, Vol. 3: 1940-1942

1. You Nazty Spy!
2. Rockin' Thru the Rockies
3. A Plumbing We Will Go
4. Nutty But Nice
5. How High is Up?
6. From Nurse to Worse
7. No Census, No Feeling
8. Cookoo Cavaliers
9. Boobs in Arms
10. So Long Mr. Chumps
11. Dutiful But Dumb
12. All the World's a Stooge
13. I'll Never Heil Again
14. An Ache in Every Stake
15. In the Sweet Pie and Pie
16. Some More of Samoa
17. Loco Boy Makes Good
18. Cactus Makes Perfect
19. What's the Matador?
20. Matri-Phony
21. Three Smart Saps
22. Even as IOU
23. Sock-a-Bye Baby 

The Three Stooges Collection, Vol. 4: 1943-1945

1. They Stooge to Conga
2. Dizzy Detectives
3. Spook Louder
4. Back From The Front 
5. Three Little Twerps
6. Higher Than A Kite 
7. I Can Hardly Wait 
8. Dizzy Pilots (wartime)
9. Phony Express
10. A Gem Of A Jam
11. Crash Goes The Hash
12. Busy Buddies
13. The Yoke's on Me
14. Idle Roomers
15. Gents Without Cents
16. No Dough Boys 
17. Three Pests In A Mess 
18. Booby Dupes 
19. Idiots Deluxe 
20. If a Body Meets a Body
21. Micro-Phonies

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

1. Beer Barrel Polecats
2. A Bird in the Head
3. Uncivil Warbirds
4. The Three Troubledoers
5. Monkey Buisnessmen
6. Three Loan Wolves
7. G.I. Wanna Home
8. Rhythm and Weep
9. Three Little Pirates
10. Half-Wits Holiday
11. Fright Night
12. Out West
13. Hold That Lion
14. Brideless Groom
15. Sing a Song of Six Pants
16. All Gummed Up
17. Shivering Sherlocks
18. Pardon My Clutch
19. Squareheads of the Round Table
20. Fiddlers Three
21. Hot Scots
22. Heavenly Daze
23. I'm a Monkey's Uncle
24. Mummy's Dummies
25. Crime on Their Hands 

The Three Stooges Collection, Vol. 6: 1949-1951

1. The Ghost Talks
2. Who Done It?
3. Hokus Pokus
4. Fuelin' Around
5. Malice in the Palace
6. Vagabond Loafers
7. Dunked in the Deep
8. Punchy Cowpunchers
9. Hugs and Mugs
10. Do pey Ducks
11. Love at First Bite
12. Self-Made Maids
13. Three Hams on Rye
14. Studio Stoops
15. Slaphappy Sleuths
16. A Snitch in Time
17. Three Arabian Nuts
18. Baby Sitters Jitters
19. Don't Throw That Knife
20. Scrambled Brains
21. Merry Mavericks
22. The Tooth Will Out
23. Hula La La
24. Pest Man Wins 

The Three Stooges Collection, Vol. 7: 1952-1954

1. A Missed Fortune
2. Listen, Judge
3. Corny Casanovas
4. He Cooked His Goose
5. Gents in a Jam
6. Three Dark Horses
7. Cuckoo on a Choo Choo
8. Up in Daisy's Penthouse
9. Boo ty and the Beast
10. Loose Loot
11. Tricky Dic ks
12. Spo oks
13. Pardon My Backfire
14. Rip, Sew and Stitch
15. Bubble Trouble
16. Goof on the Roof
17. Income Tax Sappy
18. Musty Musketeers
19. Pals and Gals
20. Knutzy Knights
21. Shot in the Frontier
22. Scotched in Scotland 

The Three Stooges Collection, Vol. 8: 1955-1959

1. Fling in the Ring
2. Of Cash and Hash
3. Gypped in the Penthouse
4. Bedlam in Paradise
5. Stone Age Romeos
6. Wham Bam Slam
7. Hot Ice
8. Blunder Boys
9. Husbands Beware
10. Creeps
11. Flagpole Jitters
12. For Crimin ' Out Loud
13. Rumpus in the Harem
14. Hot Stuff
15. Scheming Schemers
16. Commotion on the Ocean
17. Hoofs and Goofs
18. Muscle Up a Little Closer
19. A Merry Mix Up
20. Space Ship Sappy
21. Guns a Poppin
22. Horsing Around
23. Rusty Romeos
24. Outer Space Jitters
25. Quiz Whizz
26. Fifi Blows Her Top
27. Pies and Guys
28. Sweet and Hot
29. Flying Saucer Daffy
30. Oil's Well That Ends Well
31. Triple Crossed
32. Sappy Bullfighters