The Three Stooges Collection
What is it about the Stooges that makes me feel so damn good? It could be because every day after school I would walk to my Grandma’s house and plant my ass in front of her black and white television to watch Tom & Jerry, Leave it to Beaver, and The Three Stooges, all back-to-back. Or it could be because every time I’d visit my father we’d rent a handful of Stooges shorts on VHS and watch them nearly all weekend. Or it could simply be the fact that they’re fucking awesome.
Whatever the case may be, being a Stooges fan has always meant watching low-quality transfers with bad audio and grainy visuals. Even when collections began popping up on DVD, they never bothered to clean up the footage, making them no better than their VHS counterparts. Some collections even removed scenes or cut out dialog. Fortunately, a little over a year ago, Sony Pictures took the reigns and finally gave the Stooges the respect they deserve. I’ve been picking up each volume upon release (currently up to Volume Five), and have yet to be disappointed.
The most notable aspect of these collections is just how clean the films look. Released in chronological order (Volume One covers 1934-1936), these films appear as though they were just filmed yesterday. The audio is also completely restored, cutting out the pops and fuzz from previous releases. Each set contains around 20-30 shorts, again, all presented in chronological order. Unfortunately, there are no special features on any of the sets, so while the films are presented in immaculate condition, there’s really no background given or historical perspective. Hopefully once we get to the later Volumes an all-encompassing documentary feature will be included. Considering the fact that a new Stooges movie is in the works (starring Benicio del Toro as Moe, Sean Penn as Larry, and Jim Carrey as Curly…no joke), the Stooges may become high profile enough for Sony Pictures to really let this series shine.
With each set running between $15 and $20, The Three Stooges Collection sets are worth every penny. You can pick them up at nearly any store, or find them on Amazon right here
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Tags: three stooges
April 6th, 2009 at 8:32 am
I’m gonna have to get a few of these at that price. I used to go to a campground as a kid every summer with my family. At night, they used to project a bunch of old films including the Stooges, Laurel and Hardy, The Lil’ Rascals and some old Heckle and Jeckle and Mighty Mouse cartoons. Good stuff and lots of great memories.
April 6th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
I’m all over these. Didn’t realize there were any good Stooges DVD’s available as all I’ve seen to date were worse than what was previously available on VHS.