The Three Stooges Collection, Volume Two: 1937-1939
The Three Stooges were an
American vaudeville and comedy act of the mid 20th century best known for their
numerous short subject films. They were commonly known by their first names:
'Moe, Larry, & Curly', and 'Moe, Larry, & Shemp', among other lineups. The act
originally featured Moe Howard (born Harry Moses Horwitz), brother Shemp Howard
(born Samuel Horwitz), and longtime friend Larry Fine (born Louis Feinberg).
Shemp was later replaced by brother Curly Howard (born Jerome Lester Horwitz) in
1932. When Curly suffered a debilitating stroke in 1946, Shemp rejoined the act.
After Shemp's death in 1955, he was replaced by baldheaded comedian Joe Besser,
and eventually by Joe "Curly-Joe" DeRita (born Joseph Wardell). After Larry's
death, Emil Sitka, a longtime actor in Stooge comedies, was contracted to
replace Larry, but no film was ever made with him in the role, although
publicity photographs exist of him with his hair combed like Larry's posing with
Moe and Curly-Joe prior to Moe's death. Larry's death marked the end of the act. Excerpt from Wikipedia located HERE ***
Moe Howard was born on June 19,
1897, in Bensonhurst, New York, a small Jewish community on the outskirts of
Brooklyn. Moe's real name was Moses Horwitz. Moe's mother's name was Jennie
Horwitz, and his father was clothing cutter Solomon Horwitz. Moe was the fourth
eldest of five Howard brothers. Two of Moe's brothers, Jerome (Curly), and Shemp
performed with him as members of The Three Stooges. Moe's other two brothers,
Jack and Irving, never entered show business. Excerpts from the Three Stooges Website (Bio's Section) located HERE. |
Short Titles
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DVD Review: Sony (2-disc) - Region 1 - NTSC
DVD Box Cover |
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CLICK to order from: |
Distribution | Sony Pictures - Region 1 - NTSC | |
Runtime | 24 X approx 18:00 each = 7 hours | |
NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes. |
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Bitrate: Disc 1 | ||
Bitrate: Disc 2 | ||
Video | 1.33:1
Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 4.10 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s |
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Audio | English (Dolby Digital 2.0) | |
Subtitles | None | |
Features |
Release Information: Edition Details:
• unrelated previews |
Comments: |
Up until Volume 1 (reviewed HERE) the Three Stooges on DVD had been a real mix'n match hodge-podge of un-restored titles and illogical entries. Sony are giving us the first concert effort to categorize, on digital, their huge body of work chronologically with many shorts seeing the digital light for the first time. The 2-disc bare-bones DVD package represents 13 shorts on dual layered disc 1 and 11 on dual-layered disc 2. They are progressively transferred and coded for regions 1 in the NTSC standard. Specifically:
Disc One (made in 1937 and 38'):
Three Missing Links (1938),
Mutts to You (1938), Flat Foot Stooges (1938) and They are better looking than I ever remember from Saturday mornings and although there are no extras (save some unrelated Previews) the 7 hour plus entertainment value should suffice most fans. Contrast is exceptionally good considering the age, detail fairly strong with some light damage marks here and there - this package has no subtitle options. Audio shares some of the weakness but overall these look and sound exceptionally viewable. The best I have ever seen them.
Great fun and another healthy addition to the library to start any film night! Their body of work is so immense you can watch at anytime and it will probably seem fresh to you as these did to me. They are so fun and addictive (all Curlys too!) with zany plots and desperate physical visuals. This is actually superior to Volume 1 as there are 5 more 'episodes' and the trio were right in their slapstick stride. So do we recommend? - 'Soitenly... Nyuk, Nyuk, Nyuk'. |
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